For what organization will you be writing with your first grant for the course? What are some of the problems, difficulties, and or obstacles that this organization has? What are some plausible activities that would help overcome these weaknesses?
I think I'll be trying to find, and apply for, a small grant for my church. It's a non-denominational church (Grace Bible Church), and technically I guess it's on the small side. We only have about 400 members. On the other hand, we have something like 3,500 regular attendees, so it's also a large church. One the most impressive things is our education program, which includes twice-a-week schooling for children 12 months through 4 years. For five hours per day, twice a week, parents can drop their kids off for "school." While the church curriculum is heavily Christian, it is also quite good in other respects.
The children have music, movement, reading, memorization, and various other activities. Really good stuff, and people from all over town, many of whom are not members of the church, use it. In fact, the program fills up rapidly each year.
Here's the skinny: each of the workers, of whom there are roughly 20, needs to have Infant CPR certification. The church keeps it own certification personnel and equipment, and the equipment needs to be replaced due to age, wear, and tear. I've been thinking that this will be an interesting project for finding a grant. Surely there's some agency out there willing to donate money to update CPR learning tools so that nursery workers can continue to be certified. Surely. The training also includes some information and training on infection control, which is always a BIG issue with little ones running around.
Our two kids are, near as I can tell, generally covered with filth from about 30 seconds after exiting the bath.
The need for CPR training materials includes: videos, training material, supplies, Purell for each room, Clorox wipes, etc.
There are one or two other things the church needs: nursery-wide curriculum plan and materials, TV/VCR/DVD setups, organization stuff like bins, shelving units, and a new storage shed. Of these, I think money to help with curriculum development or multi-media equipment is probably the most likely. Bear in mind that I don't have enough experience to know this for sure--I'm just fakin' it.
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Good inclusion of the URL to Grace. What is its mission statement? That is, what purpose does it have? You mention it is non-denominational. Are there activities it does in the community which speak to its purpose and mission? What is involved in the education program curriculum?
You mention the children have specific activities, and many people from town use these services. The problem is in safety, as you say.
While you won't hide the fact that this is a church, highlighting who it serves (and you'll need data to back that up) will be helpful. Being clear about the activities involved will be important, as will highlighting the in-kind expenses that the church and that the teachers provide. Is there a cost for certification? Surely the tests aren't free, yes? Seems a logical place to start, too, would be seeing if there are like programs out there that have been funded already, and how they went about securing that funding.
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