Documentation
Impacts
Both numerical and narrative impacts should be recorded in order to track your program’s success in achieving its goal of both environmental impact and youth development.
Obtaining numbers to quantify the total environmental impact of all funded projects combined is an incredibly powerful way to show how much your program is making a difference. We have spent a lot of time creating an “Impact Assessment” spreadsheet by which you can calculate the numerical impacts, particularly amount of money saved and the carbon dioxide emissions prevented from entering the atmosphere, of common types of projects, including tree planting projects, recycling programs, water bottle reduction projects, shopping bag reduction projects, CFL bulb distributions, organic gardens, and more. Calculations not shown in the “Impact Assessment” spreadsheet are shown in the “Impact Assessment Calculations” document. For further help with impact calculations not included in these files, see the EPA Clean Energy Calculations webpage.
Once each project is completed, you can send them the “Project Impact Calculation Guide” so that they can calculate the impact of their project to put into their “Project Report Form.” However, because project reports unfortunately do not get returned 100% of the time, because some younger groups need extra help with calculations, and because numerical calculations will not always be done in the same system of measurements (ie, some groups will give the amount of carbon diverted rather than the amount of carbon dioxide diverted), it helps to be able to quickly plug project information into the “Impact Assessment” spreadsheet yourself to get out a solid number.
Numerical impacts will be crucial to awards applications, increased press, and continued program support.
Separately, quotes, stories, and personal reflections make help people connect on a more intimate level with the program. Hearing a bunch of numbers can be impressive, but hearing a story of a young person growing significantly or finding her passion for service through this program can be more emotionally appealing. Gathering quotes from applicants can be great, too. Keep a pencil handy during grant award ceremonies to record insights spoken by each projects’ youth spokesperson and use these in press releases, project webpages, and as general inspiration. One of our favorite quotes from the Carmel Green Teen Micro-Grant Program award ceremonies, spoken by a Cub Scout awardee named Sam, is, “A small change made by small people can make a big difference.” Quotes and insights like this give those who hear it a sense of joy, inspiration, and hope. They make the program and its impacts more real to us, and they give board members a feeling of fulfillment, that what they are doing makes a difference in the lives of young people.
Both numerical and narrative impacts should be recorded in order to track your program’s success in achieving its goal of both environmental impact and youth development.
Obtaining numbers to quantify the total environmental impact of all funded projects combined is an incredibly powerful way to show how much your program is making a difference. We have spent a lot of time creating an “Impact Assessment” spreadsheet by which you can calculate the numerical impacts, particularly amount of money saved and the carbon dioxide emissions prevented from entering the atmosphere, of common types of projects, including tree planting projects, recycling programs, water bottle reduction projects, shopping bag reduction projects, CFL bulb distributions, organic gardens, and more. Calculations not shown in the “Impact Assessment” spreadsheet are shown in the “Impact Assessment Calculations” document. For further help with impact calculations not included in these files, see the EPA Clean Energy Calculations webpage.
Once each project is completed, you can send them the “Project Impact Calculation Guide” so that they can calculate the impact of their project to put into their “Project Report Form.” However, because project reports unfortunately do not get returned 100% of the time, because some younger groups need extra help with calculations, and because numerical calculations will not always be done in the same system of measurements (ie, some groups will give the amount of carbon diverted rather than the amount of carbon dioxide diverted), it helps to be able to quickly plug project information into the “Impact Assessment” spreadsheet yourself to get out a solid number.
Numerical impacts will be crucial to awards applications, increased press, and continued program support.
Separately, quotes, stories, and personal reflections make help people connect on a more intimate level with the program. Hearing a bunch of numbers can be impressive, but hearing a story of a young person growing significantly or finding her passion for service through this program can be more emotionally appealing. Gathering quotes from applicants can be great, too. Keep a pencil handy during grant award ceremonies to record insights spoken by each projects’ youth spokesperson and use these in press releases, project webpages, and as general inspiration. One of our favorite quotes from the Carmel Green Teen Micro-Grant Program award ceremonies, spoken by a Cub Scout awardee named Sam, is, “A small change made by small people can make a big difference.” Quotes and insights like this give those who hear it a sense of joy, inspiration, and hope. They make the program and its impacts more real to us, and they give board members a feeling of fulfillment, that what they are doing makes a difference in the lives of young people.
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