Introduction to Program Design

By David Cherry

Summary

Preparing to design your program

Designing your activity continuum

Writing your funding request

About Me

Grant Writer for more than 5 years

Wrote/submitted more than 100 requests

Secured more than $6 million

Authored strategic plans

Focused on organizational development

Prepare to Design

Ex Post Facto Design

Plan and design before writing

Creative writers can frame unruly programs

Getting Started

Discuss need, resources, environment, values, and priorities

Tool: SWOT Analysis

Define your vision

Visioning

A vision is a present tense statement of your dream world

It guides program development

It is NOT your mission statement

Ask, “How do we want the world to be different in three to five years?”

Vision Statements

“All people are valued community assets”

“Homeless people have safe and stable housing”

“Children are properly nourished”

“Whales live safe and happy lives in the ocean.”

Activity Continuums

Activity Continuums

Missions, goals, objectives, strategies and activities are all actions, along a continuum, related by varying degrees of specificity

Understanding your agency’s continuum and highlighting parts relevant to the grant is essential to meeting funders needs

Mission

Your mission statement tells people what you do to achieve your vision

Its only one part of achieving the vision - others are needed, too

It should be simple, general, and concise

Staff should be able to recite it from memory

Mission Statements

“Help people thrive in home, school, work, and community life”

“Provide relief to victims of disaster and help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies”

“Do as much as we can for as many as we can”(Bad mission statement)

Goals

General things you do to fulfill your mission

Inverse of outcomes– Save the whales - The whales are saved

You shouldn’t have many of these, maybe 1-7, tops

Goal Statements

“Improve school readiness of children ages 0 to 5”

“Help the homeless find permanent supportive housing”

“Advocate for whales in Congress”

Objectives

Things you will do to achieve your goals

Less specific than strategies, activities

Include dates, amounts of impact

Objective Statements

“Increase the amount of time parents read to their kids by 10 percent by October 1st. “

“Decrease substance abuse among chronically homeless by 5 percent”

“Increase the number of hearings about whales in the Senate”

Strategies

How you will achieve your objectives

More specific than actions, less specific than objectives

General types of actions you will take

Strategy Statements

“Engage parents in summer reading program”

“Deliver substance abuse treatment at area homeless shelters”

“Lobby Senate leaders on behalf of whales”

Actions

Most specific description of activities you will carry out

Used when most detail is necessary

Often helpful regarding start up phase

Often hard to differentiate w/strategies

Action Statements

“Hire and train project staff”

“Develop website”

“Conduct audit of agency programs”

Sample Activity ContinuumMission: Help children grow into successful adults

Goal: Prepare young children for school success

Objective: Increase early literacy of 4 year olds by 10 percent by August 2009

Strategy: Provide parents of at-risk young children with literacy flashcards and encourage their use

Action: Create literacy flashcards

From General to SpecificMission

Goals

Objectives

Strategies

Activities

General Action

Specific Action

Continuum to Logic ModelInputs Activities Outputs

ImmediateOutcomes

Mid-RangeOutcomes

Long TermOutcomes

Clients

Staff

Funding

Partners

Facilities

Curricula

Supplies

Children grow into success-ful adults

Children prepared for school success

Adults maintain stable families

Early literacy increased among 4 year olds

Home health hazards removed from homes

Provide parents with flash cards

Read to children regularly

15 families receive flash cards

Children read to for 15 minutes 5 times per week

Collaboration and Sustainability

Collaboration

Funders like collaboration

Partners are like collateral

You need partners to achieve your vision

Collaboration is hard work and requires capacity

Collaboration ContinuumCooperate

Coordinate

Collaborate

Joint Program or Administration

Merger

Cooking with Collaboration

Bring a dish to pass

Bring a Mexican dish

Bring a Mexican desert

Come over and cook with me

Marry me and cook with me

Sustainability

Grants run out; tell funders how you will keep good work going

Products that last are sustainable

Information discovered is sustainable

Capacity and experience lend to your credibility

$ustainability Plans

Individual Giving

Organizational Giving– Corporate, foundation, government

Event-based

Earned Income

Other

Common Grant Format

Format SummaryExecutive Summary

Need Statement

Purpose or Description

Evaluation Plan

Budget and Narrative

Organizational Information

Attachments

Strunk and White

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

Executive SummaryOne to two pages

Touch hearts and minds

Summarize need

Summarize project

Include goals and expected impact

List partners

Identify request amount

Needs StatementDescribe the problem or situation you will address

Start general and get more specific

Describe target population, geography

Include data and anecdotes

Be urgent but possible

Grab heartstrings

Purpose/Description

Tell them how you will address need

Include goals, measurable objectives, and activities

Include implementation timeline

Discuss collaboration and sustainability

Stand out from your competitors

EvaluationAlways describe plans to evaluate

Identify indicators for every objectives

Tell how you will gather, analyze data

Be quantitative and qualitative

Make a logic model before you start

Use evaluation resources

Measurement PlanOutcome Indicators Targets

Data Source

CollectionMethod

When to Measure

Inverse of objectives

The amount of time parents read to their kids increases

How often will you collect and analyze data?

Monthly

Quarterly

How will you gather data?

Daily sign in sheets

Where will you get this data from?

Sign in sheets

What will tell you that you have had success?

# served

% helped

Quantit-ative or Qualitative achieve-ment you are shooting for

9 served

2% helped

Budget & Budget NarrativePlan your budget before you write your grant

Be sure to follow prescribed format

Understand what goes in what category

Yours should be part of a bigger pie

Identify in-kind, leveraged funds

Don’t be afraid to ask for help

Budget Categories

Staff

Fringes

Travel

Supplies

Equipment

Construction

Consultants

Other

Admin/Indirects

Organizational InformationVision and Mission

History

Values, beliefs

Describe your service array

Goals, objectives

Impact and return on investment

Be relevant to your proposal

Common AttachmentsTax exempt designation

Board Roster

Recent Audit

Recent Brochure

Logic Model

Evaluation Plan

Contact InfoDavid CherryProgram Development Officer

The Guidance Center

13101 Allen Rd.

Southgate, MI 48195

734-785-7700 x. 7081

Dcherry@guidance-center.org