Transgender Leadership Initiative Request for Proposals

Transcription

1 Eligibility & Allowable Project Types Transgender Leadership Initiative Request for Proposals Frequently Asked Questions Updated May 17, 2017 Who is eligible to apply? Community based organizations, AIDS Service Organizations, and individuals with communitybased organization fiscal sponsorship are invited to apply. Applicants must be non profit, taxexempt organizations, per the guidelines set forth by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with proper 501(c)3 status, or apply with a fiscal sponsor. Applicant organizations should also be viable with or without the grant. If you are unable to secure a fiscal sponsor or are unsure if you qualify, please contact Shannon Wyss, Program Manager at swyss@aidsunited.org for more information. Is there a formula being used for funding distribution? No. AIDS United and the External Review Committee for the Transgender Leadership Initiative do not have or utilize a formula for determining funding distribution. AIDS United will conduct a competitive selection process that will include a committee of qualified reviewers, most of whom shall be transgender individuals. How are funding decisions made? Reviewers are provided with a review score sheet template to guide their evaluation of the proposals to which they have been assigned. The reviewers task is to evaluate the merit of the proposed projects based on the goals outlined in this Request for Proposals (RFP) document and delineated in the review scoresheet template. Reviewers will assess the quality of numerous factors in the proposed project. The score sheet will provide a starting point and guidance for discussion. Detailed notes assessing the quality of the proposal will be used to make the final recommendations from the committee. What type of projects will be funded through the Transgender Leadership Initiative? Projects should seek to: a. Increase leadership among transgender individuals by incorporating Meaningful Involvement of People Living with HIV and AIDS (MIPA) principles in transgender advocacy for resources and appropriate HIV services for transgender people; and b. Increase transgender leadership capacity of organizations in either transgender led or transgender serving agencies by incorporating MIPA leadership principles in their efforts to address HIV and transgender populations. Are there any priority areas for funding? Priority will be given to applicants that demonstrate the greatest relevance to the RFP. To demonstrate relevance, your application must address at least two of the below:

2 a. Clear description of the need for transgender leadership in your community based organizations, planning bodies, and networks; c. Socioeconomic and health disparities experienced by the target population; d. Opportunity and timeliness for policy initiatives that will improve the local response to the needs of people who are transgender and living with HIV or to the policy environment including why the applicant is well positioned to play a critical role in this effort; e. The scale of impact that the investment can have on the local HIV response as it relates to the transgender community; and f. Sustainability of the effort after this funding cycle. Initiative Objectives & Project Design How much funding can we request? Applicants should only apply for necessary funding, up to a maximum of $20,000. As with any funding opportunity, grant requests may not be approved for the full amount. Awards will likely range between $10,000 and $20,000. Our organization s fiscal year is different from the Transgender Leadership Initiative grant year stated in the RFP. Can we use Transgender Leadership Initiative funding over the period of our fiscal year instead? No, all your grant funds must be expended and all your project objectives must be met by the conclusion of the grant period. The RFP asks for the diversity table to be completed. Should this information reflect the diversity of the project management or organizational management? The diversity table should reflect the demographics of your staff, network, and board. This table serves as an indication of how your organization reflects the community of focus. The RFP asks for a list of Board of Directors with professional or community affiliations and in what capacity the Board of Directors will support this project. Why do we need to list the professional affiliations of our Board of Directors? What if a member does not have a professional affiliation? We ask you to provide the affiliations for your Board of Directors so that we can identify the diversity and/or areas of expertise being represented on your board. If a member does not have a professional affiliation, you may indicate who they are representing on the board (i.e., consumer, community advocate, etc.). What if we do not have a Board of Directors? If the organization does not have a Board of Directors, please send your fiscal sponsor s board of directors list. If neither is available, a detailed letter of explanation is required. Why doesn t the RFP ask for a detailed, line item budget? The RFP only requests you to note your total, one year funding amount. If your application is selected for funding by the review committee, AIDS United will reach out to you to collaboratively develop a line item budget, based on your program deliverables and the funding amount approved by the review committee.

3 Will funding be available for more than one year? Grant periods may not exceed one year, and 6 to 8 month project periods are encouraged. Funding after this grant period will be announced if it becomes available. Submitting an Application (AIDS United Foundation Connect) Can we submit our proposal using the online system before the application deadline? Yes, please feel free to submit your proposal and all corresponding/required attachments before the June 14 th deadline. We strongly encourage you to begin the submission process early to allow for any technical difficulties you may experience. For the online submission process, are we allowed to initiate a proposal, enter information, save, and return for completion at a later date/time? Yes. The system allows you to save the proposal as you go and submit once completed. Please keep in mind that the system will automatically log you out if too much time is taken completing a question. Additionally, you must enter text into all the required fields to save the application or to view the attachments tab. It is strongly advised that you complete the application in a Word document before copying and pasting the answers into the Foundation Connect system. The application will not load in the online system. Please use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to access Foundation Connect. Frequently, users experience issues with Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge, particularly with older versions of Explorer, not loading Foundation Connect. I hit the save button, but my application did not save. You are able to save your application, so that you can work on it in phases. However, you are required to enter text into all the required fields in order to save the application or view the attachments tab. You can also enter test into all the required fields to save the application before your narrative is complete. We recommend completing your narrative in a Word document, then transferring it into Foundation Connect. My work did not save, is there a way to recover it? Unfortunately, unsaved work cannot be recovered. Please complete your narrative in a Word document before transferring it into the system to avoid any issues. Hit save often once there is text in all required fields, as the system will automatically log you off if too much time passes. I received an error message stating that my narrative has exceeded the character count. Writing your narrative in a Word document first can help you to monitor the character count. However, please also paste as plain text into the system. Any formatting (bullet points, bold/italics, etc.) requires HTML code, which counts against your word count in the system.

4 Submitting via Phone/Video Call Do I have to submit my application via the online system, Foundation Connect? No, applicants can also apply via phone/video conference call or video submission (see below). Is the deadline for submitting a phone/video call application the same as a written application? No, you must contact Shannon at swyss@aidsunited.org to schedule a one hour phone/video conference call by May 31, How should I prepare for my phone/video conference call? Please refer to the RFP for a list of questions you should prepare to discuss on the conference call. Will I have a chance to review the information recorded during my phone video/conference submission? After the phone/video conference, applicants will be sent a written detail of their submission for their approval. Applicants will have one working day to acknowledge that the summary accurately reflects the information they provided during the phone/video conference. Submitting via Video Do I have to submit my application via the online system, Foundation Connect? No, applicants can also apply via phone/video conference call (see above) or video submission. Can you offer more details about submitting a video application? If you elect this option, you would video record your responses to the application questions (see pages of the RFP). You would then submit your video, which cannot exceed one hour in total, along with all attachments, by June 14, 2017, at 4:59pm Eastern Time. Video submissions will be sent to the review committee as submitted, and reviewers will be instructed to stop watching all videos at the one hour mark. Is the deadline for submitting a video application the same as a written application? Yes. However, keep in mind that you will need to submit your video recorded responses via Dropbox or another method that can transfer large files. Do not send your video as an attachment. Additionally, your attachments can be submitted either via Dropbox (or equivalent) or via to swyss@aidsunited.org. Please plan to submit early so we can be sure your video is received on our end. If you submit it right at the deadline and it bounces back to you due to file size or another issue, it will be considered late and will not be accepted. Technical Assistance Can you explain more about the Technical Assistance (TA) mentioned in the RFP? What can TA support be used for?

5 The Technical Assistance component of the Transgender Leadership Initiative may be requested as part of your application. Your agency s TA request must be aligned with your grant proposal but please note that all TA Consultants are identified by AIDS United. TA is defined as the provision of professional support designed to build the capacity of grantee organizations and to maximize the success of grant funded projects. Our committee of national reviewers may determine that an organization needs project TA even if it wasn t requested in the application. Additionally, not all applicants that request TA will receive it, and not all applicants that ask for TA will receive the type of TA requested. Additionally, over the course of the grant period, AIDS United staff will provide on going technical assistance to ensure the projects are being executed on time, and will provide other resources to ensure success. The recipients of Transgender Leadership Initiative grants will be expected to form a learning cohort facilitated by AIDS United. Do we have to secure funding for a TA request? No, AIDS United covers the cost of TA. Simply include the request in your application. If the national grants review committee approves your request, AIDS United staff will contact you to discuss the details. What are the reporting and oversight requirements for this grant, if awarded? Oversight and reporting includes a grantee webinar/conference call with TA team, two informational webinars, a one day grantee convening in Washington DC (travel and accommodations covered for one participant per grantee), and a final grantee progress report. Use of Grant Funds Are there any restrictions on how funding can be used? Yes, funding received through the Transgender Leadership Initiative cannot support direct or grassroots lobbying; direct services; expenses not directly related to the proposed project; medications or medical care; facility acquisition or renovation; deficit reduction or debt payment; displacement of existing funding sources; indirect expenses over 15%; program; or organizational development. The RFP says that AIDS United will not cover indirect expenses over 15%. What does this include? Indirect expenses include administration, fringe benefits, and other expenses that are not used for direct program activities. Can grant money be used to support development staff, office managers, or the executive director of the organization? The assignment of grant money to staff members outside of the direct programmatic personnel must be justified by demonstrating their role(s) in the program or should come out of the 15%

6 of indirect funds that can be allocated from the grant. Any staff time covered through this funding must result in real and tangible outcomes related to the local project. Additional Questions? Can we contact AIDS United with additional questions? Yes! We encourage you to let us know whenever you have a question or need clarification. Please contact Shannon Wyss, Program Manager (swyss@aidsunited.org) for more information. AIDS United will convene a one hour virtual meeting with Adobe Connect for the purpose of providing clarification about the RFP process and key application submission tips. This meeting will be held on May 11 from 3:00 4:00pm ET. To register; click here.