No MOOting again this week. Many professors are at 4C's this week. But, please spend a lot of time really digging into the rhetorical aspects of budgets, which you read about last week and some this week. The numbers you relate are very telling. Think carefully about what in-kind is. What is in-kind, exactly, and what in-kind sources for your two projects are you thinking about relaying in your budget and why?
I have to admit that I’ve have to spend time considering what I think “in-kind” means. For the most part, I’ve been thinking of it in terms of payment. Can I pay so-and-so for services by a return in services? But, truthfully, I’ve had to also begin considering “in-kind” in terms of what church members can do for the project. This can include services that they may perform as a professional, but often provide for free with regard to friends or the church. My mother is a music teacher and has offered her talents, but musical and pedagogical, on many occasions. I have quite a few friends my age who do construction of various sorts, and they often build/fix/improve things for the church.
What are the in-kind aspects of the playground project? Well, we’ll have to have the existing gravel hauled off, that’s for sure. And we’ll need to do the same with the existing playground equipment. None of that work takes trained professionals, so I may be able to get a group of college students to perform it as a service project, so long as I can round up some trucks and a place to take these things. Installing the new equipment is something which can be done by volunteers so long as we have a supervisor. And the design itself is being taken care of by one of our members already!
So I guess that means the only part of the project which cannot be handled by in-kind sources is the placement of the shredded rubber pour-n-play surfacing. Hmmm.
I'm a doctoral student in TCR at Texas Tech University. Most of my interests center around various sorts of writing technology (pencils, paper, laptops--whatever) and how they affect the writing choices we make. My dissertation, however, will focus on research methods for programmatic change in technical communication.
1 comment:
Good post here. Seems to me that there is a lot that is in-kind that should and should not be indicated for different reasons in the budget. Basically, this is a rhetorical tool to demonstrate buy-in and support while not trying to overwhelm or make yourself look better than you are in your proposal. But, some in-kind is positive, especially if it's coming from somewhere else than the organization itself.
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