Grant Cycle Process
Decision Notification
Once decisions have been made after the grant review session, groups will be notified of their decision via one of the following emails: “To Grant Applicant – Grant Accepted” or “To Grant Applicant – Grant Rejected.”
The “To Grant Applicant – Grant Accepted” email will not usually need major modification. However, if your group decided on conditional funding, all conditions should be clearly spelled out in this email. Be sure that the group feels comfortable with these conditions and knows that you can clarify the conditions for them, if necessary. In this email, you can also choose to let the project know who their project mentors are. Project mentors are members of your grant program’s board who will be in contact with the funded group throughout the process of the project completion and who will act as a support system for the group. Project mentors can also be given to groups in a later email, “To Grant Recipient – Project Dates Requested.”
The “To Grant Applicant – Grant Rejected” email should be strongly modified according to the project that you decided not to fund. Because the point of this program is to empower youth in environmental action, it is of the utmost importance to make this email kind and supportive to make sure that rejection for funding does not lead to discouragement from future environmental service. To avoid applicant discouragement, try to focus first and foremost on the strengths of the proposed project. Even if the project itself wasn’t especially strong, compliment the young peoples’ presentation or enthusiasm. If the application was well-written, say so, and make sure that the applicants know that you appreciated the time they put into the entire application process.
Kindly state why the project was not chosen for funding. Did it not meet the basic selection criteria? Was permission not obtained? Did the project have a non-environmental focus? Was there not significant environmental impact or educational aspect missing? Say that because these basic criteria were not met, your program is unfortunately unable to fund the project.
Finally, unless the project is dangerous, harmful to the environment, or has been rejected permission, encourage the applicants to continue forward on the project, if possible. Donated materials and other grants can help make this happen. If you know of another opportunity for small-scale project funding, let them know. United Way’s Youth as Resources (YAR) is a similar granting program to the Green Teen programs, but it has a focus of service in general rather than environmental service specifically. If your grant applicants either need more time to create a better project plan or have a service project with a non-environmental focus, check to see if there is a YAR in your area, and if there is, send your grant applicant information on YAR. If you know of any other resources that would be useful to the applicant, send those, too.
Finally, close the email by encouraging the applicant to apply again next year if they are still interested. Thank them for their dedication to service and the environment, and wish them good luck in future endeavors.
Have someone else read the email to make sure that it leaves a positive feeling about service before sending it off.
Once decisions have been made after the grant review session, groups will be notified of their decision via one of the following emails: “To Grant Applicant – Grant Accepted” or “To Grant Applicant – Grant Rejected.”
The “To Grant Applicant – Grant Accepted” email will not usually need major modification. However, if your group decided on conditional funding, all conditions should be clearly spelled out in this email. Be sure that the group feels comfortable with these conditions and knows that you can clarify the conditions for them, if necessary. In this email, you can also choose to let the project know who their project mentors are. Project mentors are members of your grant program’s board who will be in contact with the funded group throughout the process of the project completion and who will act as a support system for the group. Project mentors can also be given to groups in a later email, “To Grant Recipient – Project Dates Requested.”
The “To Grant Applicant – Grant Rejected” email should be strongly modified according to the project that you decided not to fund. Because the point of this program is to empower youth in environmental action, it is of the utmost importance to make this email kind and supportive to make sure that rejection for funding does not lead to discouragement from future environmental service. To avoid applicant discouragement, try to focus first and foremost on the strengths of the proposed project. Even if the project itself wasn’t especially strong, compliment the young peoples’ presentation or enthusiasm. If the application was well-written, say so, and make sure that the applicants know that you appreciated the time they put into the entire application process.
Kindly state why the project was not chosen for funding. Did it not meet the basic selection criteria? Was permission not obtained? Did the project have a non-environmental focus? Was there not significant environmental impact or educational aspect missing? Say that because these basic criteria were not met, your program is unfortunately unable to fund the project.
Finally, unless the project is dangerous, harmful to the environment, or has been rejected permission, encourage the applicants to continue forward on the project, if possible. Donated materials and other grants can help make this happen. If you know of another opportunity for small-scale project funding, let them know. United Way’s Youth as Resources (YAR) is a similar granting program to the Green Teen programs, but it has a focus of service in general rather than environmental service specifically. If your grant applicants either need more time to create a better project plan or have a service project with a non-environmental focus, check to see if there is a YAR in your area, and if there is, send your grant applicant information on YAR. If you know of any other resources that would be useful to the applicant, send those, too.
Finally, close the email by encouraging the applicant to apply again next year if they are still interested. Thank them for their dedication to service and the environment, and wish them good luck in future endeavors.
Have someone else read the email to make sure that it leaves a positive feeling about service before sending it off.
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