California Story Fund - California Council for the Humanities

Grant Name: California Story Fund

Funding Organization: California Council for the Humanities

Grant Cycle: November 15, 2011. This is the deadline for electronic submission of the online application with attached proposal narrative and budget, and for receipt of mailed hardcopy work samples at CCH’s San Francisco office. Late or incomplete applications will NOT be accepted.

Address:

CA Story Fund Grant Program
California Council for the Humanities
312 Sutter St., Suite 601
San Francisco, CA 94108

Website: http://www.calhum.org/guidelines/csf_2011_guidelines.htm

How to Apply: Online Application with some appendices

Application Materials:

Please create your proposal narrative in this order using the numbered headings at the start of each section. Proposal narratives should be single spaced and in 12 pt. font, and be formatted with one-inch margins and numbered pages. Do not exceed 10 pages in length. You may submit your narrative as a Word document or PDF file..

1. Project Summary (maximum length: one paragraph)

Briefly describe your project, including the story or stories that is your subject; key participants and target audiences; scope, duration, and format(s) of proposed public programs and work products; and significant proposed outcomes and/or results.

2. Project Rationale (maximum length: one page)
• Why is the story or stories your project will tell of significance?
• How will the project enhance the public’s understanding of California and its cultures, peoples, and histories?
• Why will this project interest California audiences?
• Explain how your project addresses the theme of democracy (if relevant).
• What will result from your project and what impact do you hope it will have on participants, audiences, and/or the field? What is the importance of this project?
3. Humanities Content and/or Approach (maximum length: one page)
• How will the humanities inform your project? What are the important questions you want your project to help answer? How will you use the knowledge and insights of the humanities to develop, for example, the social, cultural, and /or historical context for your stories? What criteria and methods will you use to identify the people you will gather stories from and how will you document them?
• Describe the role(s) your humanities advisor(s) will play in the planning and implementation of your project. (Provide one-paragraph advisor bio(s) under “Project Personnel.”) Please note that the Council encourages collaboration between academic institutions and community groups as appropriate, as well as the participation of both academic and community scholars on projects. For information about who qualifies as a humanities advisor, see the FAQ.
4. Project Activities and Programming Plans (maximum length: two pages)
• Provide an overview of your program plan, including planning and research as well as implementation activities such as completion of a public program and/or public presentation(s) and discussion(s) of a work product. Describe how you will identify storysharers, collect and record stories, and edit, curate or compile them for presentation purposes. If applicable, describe plans to share or disseminate project products with the public after the end of the grant period. Provide as much detail as possible regarding venues and dates of your public program(s). Note that interactive programming, either real or virtual, is strongly encouraged.
• Describe your target participants and audience(s), e.g., geography, race/ethnicity, age, cultural background, and other relevant demographic information. Include estimated numbers of direct participants as well as audiences for your programs and dissemination activities.
• Describe your outreach strategies for securing participants and audience(s), including any partnerships with other organizations that will assist with engaging the public.
5. Project Evaluation and Documentation (maximum length: a half page)
• Tell us how you will evaluate your project. Be sure to explain how you will assess the extent to which it achieved the desired result(s) you specified in #2 above, as well as achieving process goals (e.g. putting on a public program, creating a website, etc.). Consider possible effects or outcomes for participants, audience members, your institution, and your community.
• Tell us how you will document your work over the course of the project so that information about the project process as well as results can be shared with others.
6. Project Personnel (maximum length: one and one half pages)
• List the key staff roles involved in the design and implementation of the project, including the project director, the humanities advisor(s), technical personnel, and others important to the realization of the project. (Include volunteer and pro-bono assistance, if relevant.) Be sure to list all positions in which personnel will be paid with CCH funds.
• Provide one-paragraph bios and email addresses for all confirmed personnel. Bios should include information about each person’s expertise that is relevant to their role on the project.
• If a key project position is currently vacant, indicate how you plan to identify and select qualified candidates.
7. Applicant Organization or Fiscal Sponsor (maximum length: a half page)

Briefly describe the mission and purpose of the applicant organization or the mission and purpose of the organization that is acting as the fiscal sponsor for your project. Please explain why this organization is well suited to sponsor the proposed project and how it will contribute to the success of the project, e.g. assistance with outreach, provision of a programming venue, assistance from an evaluator, etc. Please include the name of the organization’s executive officer and a link to its website.

8. Timeline (maximum length: one to two pages)
• Provide a timeline detailing major activities (e.g., meetings with humanities advisors, research, interviews, editing, curating, public programming, distributing or disseminating products, evaluation activities, etc.) from the beginning of the project until completion. Please note that project activities for which you seek CCH funding cannot occur prior to March 1, 2012 and that the maximum term of this grant is 15 months (projects must conclude by June 1, 2013).
  
  Please provide the timeline in this format:

TIME PERIOD	ACTIVITY	WHO IS RESPONSIBLE
March 2012	§  Project team meeting with humanities advisor, Los Angeles §  Begin archival research, Huntington Library §  Phone interviews with potential subjects	§  Project team, humanities advisor §  Project director §  Project director & trainees
Apr -May 2012	§  Consult humanities advisor about interview topics and approach §  Interview subjects §  Transcribe and review interview material	§  Project director §  Project director & trainees §  Project assistant
Jul – Aug 2012	§  Write narrative to contextualize interviews §  Review draft narrative with humanities advisor and community partners	§  Project director & trainees §  Project director, humanities advisor, partners
Sept 2012	§  Edit interviews	§  Project director, humanities advisor
	Etc.

•  
8. Work Sample (maximum length: a half page)

Applicants are required to submit a sample of relevant recent work by project personnel that demonstrates the capacity of the project team to successfully complete a project in the proposed medium. In this section, please explain your choice of a sample work and how it demonstrates your capacity to execute the project you are proposing. For example, if you are seeking support for an interpretive exhibit, provide a work sample that demonstrates your capacity to successfully organize and mount a quality exhibit; if you are seeking support for a radio documentary, provide a work sample that demonstrates project staff’s work on a similar project. Acceptable formats for work samples include audio or video recordings, photographic essays, oral history transcripts, scripts of performances, publications, exhibit catalogues, etc. Please limit yourself to one submission.

Be sure to also include the following information:

• Short description of the work sample and its relevance to your proposed project
• Name of person(s) who produced the work sample and their relationship to/role in the proposed project
• Date of production or publication of the work sample
• Length of the work sample

You may submit your work sample either as a link to a website, or provide two hard copies.

If your sample is available for viewing online, be sure to provide a URL and a clear
navigation path in this section. 

If you are submitting your work sample in hard copy (article or text, CD, DVD, flash drive, etc.), provide two, clearly labeled copies with the name of the applicant organization, project title, and project director name. Test any AV samples before mailing. Do not send unique originals as work samples. Sample materials will not be returned unless a SASE labeled with the project title is included.

Hard copy work samples should be sent to:

CA Story Fund Grant Program
California Council for the Humanities
312 Sutter St., Suite 601
San Francisco, CA 94108

Work samples must arrive no later than 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, November 15.

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PROJECT BUDGET

Applicants may request up to $10,000. We will generally not fund projects with a total budget of more than $50,000, including the CCH grant. The budget should reflect ALL expenses associated with the project.

The CCH grant and all matching cash and in-kind contributions must be spent on project-related activities that will take place during the grant period (between March 1, 2012 and June 1, 2013).

INSTRUCTIONS

To prepare your budget, please use the CSF Project Budget Form

Be sure to enter the project title, sponsor organization, and project director at the top of the Project Budget Form.

The form contains rows for various types of expenses–project personnel, program, administrative (project related only)–and subcategories of each. Please fill in these rows accurately (e.g. Project Director: 25% of salary = $12,500; Assistant: 20 hours @ $20/hr = $400; benefits: 20% of salary =$4,000). If you need more rows to accurately reflect your budget, please insert extra lines to accommodate additional expense categories.

You will also need to allocate expenses on each line to the appropriate column, depending on the funding source and timing of the expenditures:

1. SPENT PRIOR TO MARCH 1, 2012: All cash or in-kind resources expended on the project before MARCH 1, 2012 should be included in this column.
2. CCH FUNDS (up to $10K): This column should only include expenses deemed eligible by CCH.
3. MATCH

Each grant request must be matched by at least an equivalent contribution of non-federal funds or in-kind services and materials or any combination thereof. For example, if you receive a $10,000 grant, your total project costs must be at least $20,000 and you must provide at least $10,000 toward the project from non-federal sources. Provision of matching funds in excess of the required 1:1 ratio is acceptable and encouraged. These matching funds may be all cash or a combination of cash and in-kind contributions.

Cash on hand for use during the grant period, and/or secured commitments to provide funds, labor, equipment, and services to the project during the award period, are all eligible sources of matching contributions. Cash or the value of goods, services, and labor spent on the project prior to March 1, 2012, however, cannot be counted towards the required match, although your full project budget should reflect these income sources in the SPENT PRIOR TO MARCH 1, 2012 column.

1. MATCH-Cash: A cash match may be composed of cash donations, grants, and/or earned revenues that are expected or have been received for this project. Do not include other federal grants that are anticipated or received.
2. MATCH-In-kind services/materials: An in-kind match refers to the fair market monetary value of any allocation by your organization or contribution by outside organizations or individuals of labor, materials, goods or services to the project. It can include salaried staff time; volunteer hours; office space; use of equipment for administrative or programmatic purposes; materials donated (e.g., for publicity, promotion or evaluation); public program supplies, including refreshments; and travel, lodging, and meals for project staff or participants. Applicants are expected to determine the fair-market value of these contributions.
3. ADDITIONAL FUNDS: In this column, please list all projected or actual resources being applied to this project other than those listed in the previous columns. Use the budget narrative space to identify other project funders and sources of income.
4. PROJECT TOTAL: This column should reflect the total project budget—that is, the sum of costs incurred before March 1, 2012, your CCH grant request, your non-federal match (greater than or equal to your CCH request), and any additional secured or projected project funds. We will generally not fund projects with a total budget of more than $50,000, including the CCH grant.

BUDGET NARRATIVE: Please provide a budget narrative in the space provided below the budget form, if any budget line clarification is needed. Include brief descriptions of any line items that require clarification, e.g. information about how salaries, professional fees, and/or travel expenses were calculated. The budget narrative should also be used to identify other project funders and sources of income listed in the ADDITIONAL FUNDS column. Provide information on all sources and amounts of project income received to date. List the status of other sources of funding currently under consideration, whether to be applied for or pending.

Project Requirements:

• Explore stories of California and its cultures, peoples, and histories
• Approach the subject matter from a humanities perspective—for example, make use of existing or new scholarship and research on the topic, incorporate a variety of perspectives, seek to foster critical reflection and thoughtful analysis on the part of individuals/communities
• Actively involve at least one humanities advisor in planning and implementing the project
• Provide opportunities for community engagement and involvement in project activities
• Include public programming elements
• Produce a work product that will be accessible by the public and sharable, in whole or part, through the CCH website

Background: Program Purpose: The California Story Fund (CSF) is a competitive grant program of the California Council for the Humanities (CCH). The purpose of CSF is to capture genuine and compelling stories from and about California’s diverse communities, and to ensure that those stories can be shared widely. Telling our stories can help us make sense of our existence, give us a window into other people’s lives, and make us feel part of something larger than ourselves. Sharing personal and communal narratives can enhance our understanding of where we live, with whom we live, and why we live the way we do. The Council seeks proposals for story-based projects that are informed by humanities perspectives, methods, and content; that reveal the realities of California and its cultures, peoples, and histories; and that will be of interest to local, statewide, and potentially even national and global audiences.

CSF & Searching for Democracy: CCH has launched a statewide initiative, Searching for Democracy, to energize, inform, and spark community conversations on the topic of democracy. The initiative is designed to promote greater public understanding of the American democratic experiment and the civic realm in order to improve our ability to shape our future as a nation. The initiative will comprise a wide range of humanities-based public programs in conjunction with the 2012 election cycle.

Eligibility:

• Have California tax-exempt organizational status or partner with a California tax-exempt  organization that will serve as a fiscal sponsor
• Not have an open grant with CCH
• Be in good standing with CCH (e.g., without overdue reports), if a previous grantee
• Not submit more than one application per deadline unless acting as a CCH-approved fiscal sponsor—see FAQ for more information
• Have a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number prior to submitting an application (see How to Apply for more information)

Other Important Information: For this round of the California Story Fund, applicants are encouraged (but not required) to submit proposals for story-based projects that will examine the meaning of democracy in alignment with the Searching for Democracy initiative. For example, a project might explore an instance in which the promise of democracy has been fulfilled, or a time when we have fallen short; it might lead us to understand struggles to make democratic change, or cause us to reflect on the challenges of living up to the ideals of our democracy. Story ideas could include, but are not limited to: exploring how a group of neighbors came together to improve their community; documenting the experience of becoming a citizen or voting for the first time; sharing the challenges a group has faced in exercising their right to practice freedom of speech or religion; or examining an instance when a community tried to resolve conflicting views of “the common good.” Stories could address the experiences of new immigrants or of an established community, focus on young people or elders, or explore an incident in the past or a story that is currently unfolding.

The Role of the Humanities: The Council views the humanities as a body of knowledge and a set of practices springing from a fundamental interest in understanding the ideas and values that inform our lives; the need to reflect on the past and the present to make critical choices; and the desire to understand others’ lives and experiences as well as our own. Humanities-based inquiry, both within and outside formal educational settings, involves reflection, analysis, contextualization, interpretation, and the exchange of ideas. The Council advocates for the role the humanities can play in enriching and deepening community stories. For example, taking a humanities approach to a story could mean making use of existing or new historical research to frame questions, considering a variety of perspectives on an issue, and/or seeking to foster critical reflection on the part of audiences about new idea or a familiar topic. Although the humanities are not limited to the disciplines of academic-based study and inquiry, the insights and methods of humanities scholarship are important sources of knowledge and wisdom. For that reason, CSF projects require the participation of at least one humanities advisor—who could be, for example, an academic, a community elder, an independent scholar, or recognized field expert.

Public Access and Engagement: CCH is committed to providing opportunities for the general public to experience the humanities through the California Story Fund. Accordingly we seek projects that foster public discussion of and/or engagement with the meaning and significance of the stories projects explore. All projects must therefore include some form of public programming activity—whether in-person or virtual or both—and result in a work product (e.g., a text, an audio recording, a video recording, digital photography, a website, etc.) that can be shared with wider audiences.

Review Criteria:

Quality

• Clarity and significance of project purpose, content, and proposed outcomes
• Enhancement of our understanding of California peoples, cultures, and histories
• Depth of humanities content and approach
• Potential for fostering public interest and engagement
• Potential to produce a work product that is engaging and accessible to the public
• Strength of thematic focus (if applying for a democracy-themed project)

Capacity

• Capacity, experience, and demonstrated ability on the part of project personnel (e.g., project director, humanities advisor(s), technical staff, etc.) to successfully implement the project proposed
• Feasibility and soundness of budget, timeline, outreach, and evaluation plans
• Capacity of the applicant organization or fiscal sponsor and level of its contribution or commitment to the project’s success

Eligible Costs
Include, but are not limited to:

• Project-related programmatic and administrative salaries and fringe benefits
• Professional fees, including honoraria and stipends for humanities advisors, interviewees, artists, technical consultants, etc.
• Programming, publication, dissemination expenses (e.g., exhibit fabrication and installation, venue rental, web page design, videography, broadcast or screening expenses)
• Travel, lodging, and per-diem expenses; see FAQ for guidelines.
• Supplies and materials for program activities
• Equipment (rental, unless purchase cost is less)
• Project-related administrative expenses including phone, postage, photocopying, and printing
• Marketing expenses (e.g., printing and mailing of announcements or flyers, or ad placement)
• Evaluation expenses
• Program documentation
• Food costs directly tied to project activities (alcoholic beverages are not eligible costs)
• Fiscal agent or indirect administrative fees (only up to 10% of your request)

We Do Not Fund

• Projects that are primarily promotional or purely celebratory in nature
• Advocacy – projects aimed to advance a specific policy or partisan agenda
• Research activities or in-school projects without significant public programming components or benefits to the general public
• Course development for K-12 or degree-granting programs
• Projects focused on the production of work primarily for scholarly or other highly specialized audiences
• Fundraising activities

Review Process
Applications are evaluated by staff for eligibility, completeness, and competitiveness before being forwarded to a review panel made up of peer reviewers and CCH board members. The panel makes its recommendations to the CEO and Council, who approve all grant decisions. There is no appeal process.