Advocacy Advance Grants

Purpose & Overview
Types of Grants
Who May Apply
Application Process
Evaluation Process
Conflict of Interest Statement
The Advocacy Advance Grants Committee
Advocacy Advance Partnership
Past Grant Recipients

Purpose & Overview

Purpose:
Bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organizations play the most important role in improving and increasing biking and walking in local communities, states, and provinces. Advocacy Advance Grants will enable state and local bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organizations to develop, transform, and provide innovative strategies in their communities.

Grants Overview
Thanks to remarkable support from SRAM, Planet Bike, Bikes Belong, and 42 below, the Alliance for Biking & Walking is pleased to provide approximately $225,000 in grants to member organizations annually. The Advocacy Advance Grants are one-year grants, awarded twice a year (Spring and Fall) to startup organizations and innovative campaigns to dramatically increase biking and walking. Through the Advocacy Advance partnership with the League of American Bicyclists, the Alliance will provide necessary technical assistance, coaching, and training to supplement the grants.

Types of Grants

Startup/Capacity Building Grants

Startup/Capacity Grants assist emerging and expanding organizations with matching grants. $5,000 to $30,000 will be matched dollar for dollar to new funds raised within one year of the grant award. The goal of these grants is to leverage private and public investment and launch campaigns that clearly demonstrate an ability to grow and sustain biking and walking organizations. Grants will be used for organizational development, to hire staff, to stimulate membership, and for other organizational tools to foster a sustainable advocacy organization. Successful applicants will demonstrate how these capacity building activities will impact new and existing campaigns and programs to increase biking and walking. Priority for Startup/Capacity Building Grants will be given to organizations serving cities and states that demonstrate the greatest potential for biking and walking advocacy organizations.

Innovation Grants

Innovation Grants help organizations take innovative steps to improve bike/ped safety and increase biking and walking. Successful applicants will demonstrate a campaign that shifts personal behavior and builds an inclusive movement. Priority will be given to campaigns and programs that create successful models that can spread throughout North America and that have a clear plan for sharing their success.
These grants can be used to fund activities that will:

Spur groundbreaking designs (e.g. Euro designs, reprogramming of streets space)
Yield new sources of funding for biking and walking (e.g. new revenue streams and old programs that are ripe for change)
Create cause-related marketing and encouragement programs (e.g. new media, new audiences, social marketing)
Develop mainstream partnerships (e.g. transit, seniors, health, business)
Improve, expand, or extend an existing program that promises further success

Successful applicants will demonstrate a proven track record and an achievable work plan. Grants of $5,000 to $30,000 will be matched dollar for dollar to new funds raised within one year of receipt of award.

The Alliance’s ability to award grants is dependent upon receipt of the support pledged for this program.

Who May Apply

Organizations and groups may apply for Startup/Capacity Building Grants if they are:

A bicycling and/or walking advocacy organization
A current Alliance member or a newly forming organization (less than 1-year old) who is not yet a member of the Alliance*
Organizations need not be incorporated as a 501c3 charitable organization or a charity with the Canadian Revenue Agency to apply; however, a fiscal sponsor or tax ID number is required

Organizations may apply for Innovation Grants if they are:

A biking and/or walking advocacy organization that is a current member of the Alliance for Biking & Walking*
A 501c3 charitable organization or registered as a charity with Canada Revenue Agency
Must be a mature organization with: paid executive director, sufficient capacity, and operating budget of at least $100,000 per year

*Non-members are encouraged to join and/or partner with an Alliance member organization to present a proposal.

Application Process

To minimize time invested on proposals, the application is administered in two phases (inquiry and full proposal). The inquiry phase is a simple application to provide a basic overview of your proposal. The Alliance will review all inquiries and invite the most promising proposals to submit a full application. Organizations are invited to submit an application during each round. An organization may only receive one grant per year.

Inquiry:

In a single email, send the following form to grants@PeoplePoweredMovement.org with the subject “Advocacy Advance Grant Inquiry (Startup/Capacity or Innovation) Application – [Your Organization]”

Check Back Soon- Applications will be available in the coming week

Download Start-Up Grant Inquiry Form (Word Doc)
Download Innovation Grant Inquiry Form (word doc)

Full Proposal:

The Alliance will provide organizations invited to submit a full proposal with the application, which includes a budget and work plan template.

Application Timeline

There are two grant cycles and corresponding deadlines in 2010.

Advocacy Advance Grants Round 1

Applicant Question and Answer Call: December 8, 2010, 3PM Eastern – Register Now…
Deadline for Inquiry Application: January 13, 2010
Inquiry Applicant Notification: February 5, 2010
Deadline for Full Proposal: March 3, 2010
Applicant Notification: March 31, 2010

Advocacy Advance Grants Round 2:

Applicant Question and Answer Call: May 5, 2010
Deadline for Inquiry Application: June 1, 2010
Inquiry Applicant Notification: June 22, 2010
Deadline for Full Proposal: July 22, 2010
Applicant Notification: August 24, 2010

If you have questions, or need help with your application, do not wait until the last minute to contact Chanda Causer, Grassroots and Training Coordinator, at Chanda@peoplepoweredmovement.org.

Evaluation Process

Inquiry Evaluation:

The Advocacy Advance Team will evaluate inquiries based upon the following:
Work That Is:

Action and outcome oriented
Builds organizational capacity (i.e. hiring of key staff, membership development, etc.)
Is strategic to increasing biking and/or walking
Accomplishes clear goals and measurable objectives
Builds public support, inclusion, and involvement
Replicable to advance the movement

We Do Not Fund:

Organizations whose primary purpose is not advocacy
Events whose primary purpose is not advocacy
Campaigns for political candidates

Full Proposal:

The Grants Committee will evaluate full proposals based upon the criteria above and the project’s ability to grow the bicycle and pedestrian advocacy movement.

Please bear in mind that each review process is very rigorous, and we are only able to fund 5–10% of the applications we receive in the inquiry phase.

If your proposal is not selected, it will need further improvement for possible consideration in future grant rounds.

Conflict of Interest Statement

Those serving on the Grant Committee will recuse themselves where there is a direct conflict of interest.

The Advocacy Advance Grants Committee

Grant Reviewers: Inquiries are prescreened by the Advocacy Advance Team of Alliance and League staff. Selected organizations will be invited to submit a full application. The Advocacy Advance Grants Committee plays the key role of reviewing and selecting the grants for funding.

Grants Committee members are volunteers comprised of Alliance advisors and partner organizations. Any applicant(s) who intentionally attempt to lobby or influence individual members of the committee risk their proposals being removed from evaluation.

Committee Members

Jeff Frehner, Saris
Tim May, Enterprise Community Partners
Dick Mark, Philanthropic Advisor / Buttonwood Partnership
Susan Polan, American Public Health Association
Martha Roskowski, Go Boulder
Sarah Strunk, Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities / Active Living by Design
Elizabeth Train, Bikes Belong

Advocacy Advance Partnership

Advocacy Advance is a partnership of the Alliance for Biking & Walking and the League of American Bicyclists to support local and state advocacy efforts. Leadership funding by SRAM has enabled the Advocacy Advance Program. In addition to grants this program provides technical assistance, research, training, and coaching for grassroots bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organizations.