General Tips for Grant Writing

by: Henry Van Dyke - http://www.GrantProposal.com

When explicit application guidelines are published by the foundation, carefully follow the instructions. If outlines or a series of questions are provided, follow the indicated order, answer each section, and avoid evasive language.

Before mailing, ask a co-worker to help you doublecheck that every required attachment is included.

Do not send the same generic boilerplate proposal to a random list of foundations. Always tailor the proposal and the specific budget request based on extensive research into the foundation’s priorities.

Use declarative rather than conditional verbs. Avoid the words if, could, and might. Instead, boldly declare that the gift will create a positive outcome.

Shorter is better. Keep your prose tight and the details condensed. Never exceed the recommended page length or fiddle with margins to squeeze in more words. Foundation officers are buried in paperwork, so make your proposal an easy read.

Document the “need” or “problem” on multiple levels. If space allows, provide a recent national statistic with the source identified by name or title and date. Next provide a statistic related to your geographic region or town. Finally, summarize internal data to show how many participants are helped or services are provided by your organization. Thinking ahead, your organization should develop a system for documenting unmet needs, such as the number of monthly referrals that must be turned away due to current facility limitations.

When submitting a proposal to a corporation, use language describing an investment, rather than a gift. Be more explicit on the benefits for the company, such as visibility through press releases or naming opportunities.

Baby boomers also prefer viewing their philanthropy as an investment, instead of a gift. Especially when submitting a proposal to a new foundation created by a high-tech millionaire, emphasize the long-term payoffs from an initial grant investment, the ability to leverage additional funding, and the role of the grantmaker as a valued partner in the project's operation.

Avoid dwelling on problems. Although proposals traditionally document the “need” for funding, make sure that the challenges do not sound insurmountable. Focus on opportunities that result from the challenges your organizations faces.

Establish the credentials of project leadership and the qualifications of the sponsoring organization.

Provide a realistic assessment of the urgency that drives your proposal submission. Is the unemployment rate dramatically increasingly in your community because of recent layoffs? Has the population of local wildlife declined rapidly due to creek pollution? Remember however that funders commonly require two months to one year to process grant applications. Your proposed timeline must reflect both the need for urgent action and the realities of anticipated funding cycles.

In The “How To” Grants Manual, author David Bauer distinguishes between reactive and proactive grantsmanship. The reactive mode involves developing a project first, hunting for funders, and then scrambling to meet a deadline. In contrast, proactive grantseeking begins with researching funders, matching their interests to possible projects, and then cultivating a relationship with the grantmaker. Be proactive by setting aside time for broad foundation research each week.

Old AOL Search Blog: New! AOL Search Gadget in Beta

Old AOL Search Blog: New! AOL Search Gadget in Beta

Rain Forest and Carbon

A hectare of mature rain forest (already containing 200 tonnes of carbon as stock) can absorb an extra 6 tonnes of carbon a year, negating the belief that mature forests are at 'equilibrium' and lose their capacity as a sink at maturity.

Tropical forests act as a stock of a significant amount of carbon (containing over 430 Gt or million tonnes carbon globally), whilst capacity to act as a carbon sink can absorb over third of fossil fuel combustion and cement production each year .

Annual Carbon emissions due to deforestation in south-east Asia equal almost half the total annual carbon emitted from fossil fuel combustion

Most areas of Southern American rain forests act as sinks (although some areas are sources), with the total uptake of carbon = 0.5 Gt per year. However, CO2 is produced from the banks of the Amazon River, from the decomposition of litter, which may provide a reconciliation (and balance) of figures from the annual amount absorbed by the Amazon Basin as a whole.

Prevention of deforestation would not only reduce carbon emissions, as well as avoiding the huge emissions caused by clearance and safe-guarding the absorption capabilities of the tropical biosphere.

Managing the biosphere effectively could contribute to mitigating climate change in the short term, through afforestation and the prevention of deforestation.

Industrial Tree Plantation

Most people have, over recent years, become aware of just how important are trees to helping reverse the damage we have caused by polluting our atmosphere with carbon dioxide. Trees remove and store this gas, in fact 1,000 hectares of industrial tree plantation will remove and store nearly 28,000 tons of carbon dioxide. Every year, hundreds of animals, insects and birds face extinction because their natural habitat has been destroyed. Industrial Tree Plantations return the habitat they need in order to survive.

More than that, however, because industrial tropical forests need care and attention, not just in the plant raising and out-planting, but in keeping other growth of plants in check to ensure that the trees do not have to fight for nutrients and sunlight. The danger of fire is always present, so people are needed for detection, prevention and, in the worst case, containment.

All of these tasks mean employment for those who live in the area and who previously had to rely upon subsistence farming. The income of the community not only benefits from these jobs, but also over-plant the areas to ensure that the residents will have 10 percent for their sole benefit. Under agreements with the government, 5 percent of project costs are also set aside to provide improvements within the community, such as potable water, hygienic waste disposal, health clinic, etc .

Borneo Reforest Project Socially Responsible Donation

BRP Socially responsible donation can be defined as combining a contributor's financial objectives with their commitment to social responsibility and environmental sustainability.

BRP Socially Responsible Donation brings together contributors' financial objectives with their concerns about social, environmental and ethical issues. Socially Responsible Donation considers both the contributor's financial needs and an donation's impact on society.

BRP Socially Responsible Donation allows contributors to choose projects that meet certain ethical and moral standards. For example, an contributor might choose funds that invest only in environmentally conscious projects ("green funds"), funds that invest only in nursery, or planting activities, or transportation, or funds that avoid investing in plantation care of our rain forest tress plant.

Donating with Rain Forest Tree Plantations meets these strict Socially Responsible Donation standards not just by the fact the project plants tens of thousands of trees annually but also maintains both strict environmental standards in its practice and by supporting the local communities in which it is based.

Plants Give Anyone OXYGEN!

Plants give anyone oxygen! Plants give Earth next day live better! Lets care about rain forest!

Borneo Reforest Project Classified. Donate Us by place your ads on this site! Join to Borneo Reforest Project blog site. Your comment make us better work.

Great for you Forest Conservation Blog!

Borneo Rain Forest

Borneo Rain Forest blog!


Welcome to Borneo Rain Forest blog site! This site dedicated to support our independent reforest project - "Borneo Reforest Project".

Borneo Reforest Project is a nonprofit tree-planting foundation dedicated to properly planting, maintaining and protecting as many indigenous trees as possible Borneo Island.

We work with businesses, schools, organizations, municipalities, entertainers and individuals to coordinate tree-planting events throughout the Borneo and abroad.

For every US Dollar you contribute, an indigneous tree is planted in a non-harvest location that you select from our reforest list of sites.

For contributions via Credit Card or PayPal please click on the 'Make a Donation' link below:

Make a Donation


WHY ARE BORNEO REFOREST PROJECT LOCATED IN SOUTH BORNEO?

South Borneo, Indonesia is one of the best places in the world to plant rain forest trees. It has an excellent rainy season, superb fertile soil and rain forest trees here grow very fast and very thick. A rain forest tree planted here will absorb far more carbon than a tree planted in the US or Europe.

Another reason is: this is an ideal place to begin the reforestation process. The deforested areas of South East Asia cannot be reforested easily. The ground is completely stripped of nutrients due to erosion. Indonesia can be reforested and the political will and labor is here to do it. Owe plan to continue with Indonesia as our headquarters and spread our reforestation to neighboring states on Borneo such as East Borneo and Center Borneo and eventually West Borneo - Indonesia.



HOW MANY RAIN FOREST TREES ARE TYPICALLY PLANTED IN A REFORESTATION PROJECT?

Larger reforestation projects start at 200 hectares (there are 2.47 acres/hectare). Approximately 200,000 saplings are planted (1,000 per hectare average) depending on the rain forest specie(s) of tree selected. Blocks of 10, 20 or 50 hectares will be planted in stages. These plantations will be handled by forest engineer/specialists so that they produce wood, fix carbon and release oxygen to the atmosphere.

The forest plantations begin with 1,000 rain forest trees per hectare, and little by little we glean slow growing and weak tropical rain forest trees until all that are left are those that grow best and will accumulate more carbon in their trunks, branches, foliage and root system.

At the end of the gleaning/production cycle, there are around 200 to 300 rain forest trees per hectare, each having a diameter between 35 to 50 cm (approx 14-20 inches) and a height of around 25 to 30 meters (approx 80 - 100 feet). Note: the growth dimensions are simply estimates and will depend on the species of tree selected for planting.

Some rain forest trees grow more quickly than others, but all fix carbon and release oxygen to the atmosphere. Each one of these large rain forest trees has the capacity to clean up to one ton of CO2 during 20 years of its life. Therefore, each seeded hectare of rain forest trees can clean, at least, 200-300 tons of CO2. If the project is 200 hectares, the removed CO2 of the atmosphere will be of 40,000 to 60,000 tons over the life of the project (20 years).

Smaller projects for children’s education or for protected areas may include very small amounts of rain forest trees for planting. Also, the age of the tree may vary depending on the application. For example: if we are planting rain forest trees to shore up a riverbank, we may elect to use more mature rain forest trees that have a better chance of survival and will take root more quickly. In cases where we are planting rain forest trees to restore lost animal habitats, we may choose many different species related to what wildlife in that area will require for survival. We often plant wild rain forest trees to attract the large of wild birds, deer, monkey, reptile, and more back to traditional feeding areas where farmers may have illegally cut them down.



DO BORNEO REFOREST PROJECT DO ALL THE PLANTING ITSELVES?

No. It would be very inefficient (and a poor use of your money) for your Foundation to hire so many employees to do this work. There are a number of organizations in South Borneo - Indonesia, who do reforestation activities and we typically use planting services, while providing the technical expertise to ensure our tree plantations have a high survival rate. Basically we cooperate with local community to build a nursery which will support our rain forest trees plant. And we also shop from local community for the best quality trees and planters for the best price we can get.



CAN I VOLUNTEER TO HELP BORNEO REFOREST PROJECT IN SOME WAY?

Yes. There are ways everyone can help us in spreading the word about Carbon Neutrality. Here are a few ways you can help our organization.

1) If you have a specific skill you believe would be of value to our project (we often need forest engineers, biologists, web developers, journalists, marketing executives and other skilled persons to help us in our development), please send us an email. We also have a classified ads page where you contribute us with be a paid ads member. Every penny you pay for an classified ads on our site will be used for our rain forest tress planting project. Please feel free to browse this and see a classified ad space you needs. If you are physically fit and would like a working holiday in South Borneo, Indonesia, we encourage you to consider working with BRPV (the Borneo Reforest Project Volunteer's).They care for the Rain Forest Trees habitats here in Borneo, supplementing the limited resources of the government. They protect the endemic of rain forest trees species here in Borne, help fight forest fires, stop deforestations, join in nursery activities and do many other necessary things within the beautiful rain forest trees habitats of Borneo. We actively support BRPV due to their role as protectors of the old growth forests. They have been instrumental in stopping the illegal poaching of timber in the remote forest areas.

2) If you have a web site and would like to help direct traffic to us, please link to us by place our website tag link below on your site: " Borneo Reforest Project!Plant a rain forest tree today. Tropical rain forest trees will capture 496lbs Carbon and free 1,311 of Oxygen! "

3) If you become Carbon Neutral, why not add the “I’m Carbon Neutral” logo to your emails with a link to our site? This will let all your friends know what you’ve done and encourage them to start thinking about Carbon Neutrality.

4) If your company has an email newsletter, why not mention our rain forest trees planting project? We appreciate a word or two about what we’re doing from any reliable source. The more persons who know about Carbon Neutrality and plant Borneo rain forest trees or save Borneo forested areas, the better off we all are.

5) Does your business send out lots of invoices or printed materials? Why not add the “Carbon Neutrality” logo? You could be responsible for people planting thousands of Borneo rain forest trees or educating hundreds of children. Or you can contribute fund (US 50cent/each) by reprint and resell our "Shorea Newsletter" to your subscriber.