I conduct interviews for the Improve Group and I speak with people from all walks of life. Just recently, I have had the privilege of speaking to a wide constutuency of community members - small social service non-profits, deans of colleges, foundations officials, teachers, state representatives, and minority group organizers. Everyone relays their economic concerns about the impact shrinkng budgets have on services. With the amount of unease around our country’s financial situation, whenever possible, I will do my best to find opportunities for sustainability in my upcoming Grant Gazings.

This Weeks’ Pick: The Archibald Bush Foundation is devoted to community involvement in problem solving by providing many avenues for funding. The opportunity I want to highlight today supports mid-sized arts organizations through the Foundation’s Regional Arts Development Program II (RADPII).

“The intention is to fund successful applicants for a period of 10 years in a series of separate grants.” Use of this grant money should emphasize organizational long-range planning, improvement and accountability.

Minnesota, North and South Dakota humanities and arts organizations with annual operating budgets larger than $250,000 but no greater than $5 million for the last three fiscal years are eligible to apply. Deadline for applications is November 17, 2008 at 5:00 pm.

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Get out the vote!

November 4th is coming soon! Please encourage your clients—new voters, those who have moved, or those who have changed their names since the last election—to register ASAP. We have until October 13th at 4:30 pm to pre-register voters.

• Important info about voter registration: http://www.mncn.org/mpp/doc/sixsteps.pdf
• Frequently asked questions about voter registration: http://www.mncn.org/mpp/doc/faq.pdf

Transportation• If clients or people you know need transportation to the polls (wheelchair accessible available) they can set up rides ahead of time by calling
1-877-NOV-2008 (1-877-668-2008). Reservations are recommended, but not necessary.
• Individuals can also call their political party to get a ride.

Other resources related to voting• For info on special populations such as homeless individuals, people who have been charged with felonies, and more http://www.mncn.org/mpp/registration.htm
• Also, if problems arise the day of the election have clients call 1-866-OUR VOTE
• Absentee voting starts October 3rd. To help clients understand the process and register (Hennepin County):
http://www.co.hennepin.mn.us/portal/site/HCInternet/menuitem.3f94db53874f9b6f68ce1e10b1466498/?vgnextoid=a9199bb82e9fc010VgnVCM1000000f094689RCRD

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A training opportunity for those seeking funds for their organization.

Access Philanthropy is offering workshops on grant writing and prospect research for new and experienced development staff. From October 2008 through February 2009 the following topics will be covered:

• Grant Writing and Prospecting
• Corporate Funders - Minnesota Based and Outstate
• On-Line Grant Applications
• Grant Writing and Prospecting for Board Members and Others
• Working with Family Foundations
• Nooks-n-Crannies Funders

Fees for each session are $65. Go to www.accessphilanthropy.com for more details on the workshops and how to register.

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Each year my younger son’s grade school has a great program called Theaters of Learning. In this program, teachers and community members are allowed to bring their unique talents to teach in the school and students are given the opportunity to choose their own elementary-level elective twice a year. Topics are widely varied and applied by grade level. Students can chose from interesting subjects like learning about the Hmong culture, to an in-depth look at specific authors, to healthy eating and exercise, to filmmaking. It is a great program and I think it deserves more recognition than it gets. If you have a special school program out there and want to find some support for creating a unique school experience, take a look at this week’s funder.

This Week’s Pick: The ING global financial service company funds innovative classroom projects through the ING Unsung Heroes program.

Public or private K-12 educators in the United States are eligible to apply. 100 finalists will each receive a $2,000 award to further their education project within the school or school system. From these 100 finalists first, second and third place awards will be given out of $25,000, $10,000 and $5,000, respectively.

Questions regarding the program should be addressed to Scholarship America at ing@scholarshipamerica.org. Application information for the 2009 school year can be found by clicking here. Applications must be postmarked by April 30, 2009.

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My earlier Grant Gazings have talked about the love of literature among our staff here at the Improve Group. This type of respect for the written word often begins at home when we are children. We see our parents’ example or we have an inspiring teacher that brings us the joy of reading. Sometimes it is the work of one special book or an exciting library storybook hour that helps grab our interest. This exposure to reading and literacy skills is essential to produce upcoming readers and writers, and in creating an educated society. The funders today want to encourage our youth to involve themselves in a quest to honor and expand literacy in our country.

This Week’s Pick: Youth Service America (YSA) in collaboration with the National Endowment for the Arts awards funds for student-lead projects through their Youth Leaders for Literacy initiative. This program started in 2001 to “encourage and celebrate literacy service of our nation's young people, and to provide them with resources to conduct reading-related activities that benefit others.”

Projects are evaluated by their ability to show leadership, provide youth involvement, show the ability to administer the grant and provide outcomes (an evaluation report is required from those who are selected). Twenty grants of $500 are awarded. Applicants 21 years of age or younger may apply and this year’s deadline is October 30, 2008. To get more information click here.

FYI: The NEA's Read Across America Day starts March 2, 2009 and concludes on Global Youth Service Day 2009 on April 24-26, 2009

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Livana Bree Mattila was born to Improve Group staff member Deborah Mattila and her husband Andy on August 15th, 2008 coming in at 9 lbs, 8 oz; 21 inches. She made her first visit to our office last week and slept peacefully through it all. We wish the new parents the best with their beautiful new daughter.

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If you are a parent, like many of us here at the Improve Group, you may have already received a form to fill out for a school field trip. I have. The first one I received this year asked for a $15.00 donation from the parents. With rising gas prices for transportation it is no wonder schools need help providing quality out-of-school education experiences for their students. Here’s a little help from today’s highlighted funder.

This week’s pick: Minnesota’s own Target Foundation is accepting requests for their Target Field Trip Grants program from US teacher, educators, principals, paraprofessionals or classified staff. Field trip grants are intended to “fund trips to art museums, cultural events, civic experiences, and environmental sites”.

Those interested may submit their applications electronically by November 1, 2008. Grant maximum is $800. Target plans to award up to 5,000 grants to schools across the US. For more information, click here to go to the Target website. Be sure to check out the many other community and education grants offered by Target.

Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com

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Whether you travel in your own town, state, country or around the world, you are bound to come across special places that are sacred to people. I have been lucky enough to do a lot of traveling in my life and I am particularly touched by places like Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota or the Indian Mounds Park in Saint Paul, MN. You can feel the spirit and history of the people when you visit a spots like Redwood National Park, Pipestone Monument, or Pearl Harbor. These important places are too numerous to mention, but I will say that the loss of any one of them would be a loss to humanity. My funder today has a mission to support issues of residency and status of American Indian lands and that includes preservation of the places they hold as hallowed.

This week’s pick: The Indian Land Tenure Foundation offers a unique grant opportunity to preserve, educate about, and protect places that are sacred to Native American people. Their RFP for the Protection of Sacred Sites “seeks projects that convey the importance of ties between Indian culture and land to as many people as possible.” Important to this funder is giving native tribes the resources to take action to strengthen Indian culture and land management.

Past grants amounts have ranged between $20,000 and $70,000. The deadline is October 16, 2008 for tribes to submit proposals on projects that will identify, secure and protect sacred land. The application form and requirements can be found by clicking here.

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