Glory Ho

I am working on a Small Project Assistance (SPA) grant for Traditzia. SPA grants are worth $5,000 and they are funded by Peace Corps, which receives its money from United States Agency for International Development (USAID). For many reasons, SPA serves as a terrific training ground for learning to write grant proposals. 1) There is a comprehensive handbook full of details, frequently asked questions, guidelines, checklists, forms and schedules to help you work out the details. It’s a kind of grant-writing starter kit. 2) SPA is very picky. Details such as “all documents must be in twelve point Times New Roman font” and “budget for outside labor must not exceed $500” and “25 % of all funds must be contributed by the applying organizations (15% in-kind and 10% cash)” are perfect to prepare for the more complicated grant apps in our future. 3) We can submit our proposal early to a SPA committee made up of volunteers who will coach us to fill in blanks we’ve forgotten and clarify confusing statements, therefore enhancing our shot at winning the grant.

Most ideally, a SPA project should include a transfer of skills, fulfillment of a community need and sustainability, so the project can live beyond our service. It is a grass-roots grant, created specifically for Peace Corps projects. Past SPA-funded projects have included a leadership skills camp for adolescent girls, a customer service training program for NGO employees, English classes for employment seekers and a solar water heater for an elderly social home.

For those not living or working in the public sector, a grant application, as those of you in the private sector can only imagine, since you’re basically asking for free money!!! goes like this: Through a series of questions, forms, statements and ideas, (most of which all ask you to say the same thing in a slightly different way) you prove to the donor that you are a legitimate organization that is suited to tackle this project, that you will handle their money responsibly, that you will spend it reasonably and that your project will fulfill a justifiable community need.

I am writing a SPA grant for Traditzia to launch an educational campaign on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Giving for private firms in Sofia. What exactly does this mean? Traditzia, in partnership with the Bulgarian Donor’s Forum, will provide classes to employees from 5-10 Sofia businesses once a month for six months, then host an event at our gallery for the launch of these participant’s programs.

So what, exactly, does Corporate Social Responsibility mean? In the vaguest sense, CSR is about how companies manage business processes to produce an overall positive impact on their internal and external society. The original model includes a balance of social, economic and environmental factors. The trick, it seems, is to capitalize on your firm’s expertise and resources and then create programs to enhance your employee’s and your community’s quality of life, while also contributing to the “global good”. For example, in Costa Rica, a pharmaceutical company donated over one million doses of measles, mumps and rubella vaccines to the Pan American Health Organization, demonstrating a commitment to health and strong support for their regions vulnerable groups. In Brazil, where in certain areas, many people don’t finish basic education, a construction company offers employees a chance to complete the program. This firm discovered what their workers had missed and helped them get it back, improving morale, increasing skills and enhancing employee loyalty. Here in Sofia, First Investment, who used to throw money at orphanages during Easter and Christmas, now distributes funds to offer teenage orphans to provide the professional training and job opportunities for a successful societal integration once old enough to live on their own.

The concept of CSR and corporate giving is widespread across the globe. And in recent years, due to non-profit scandals, dubious internet giving Web sites and hopefully, evolving humanity, corporate giving (arguably the sexiest part of CSR) has changed. No longer satisfied with large sum donations to once-trusted charities, companies and well-off individuals want to know exactly where their money is going, who the beneficiaries are and how they can build a philanthropic program to ensure results. They are making distinctions between “charity” and “philanthropy”. As author Claire Gaudiani recently said “charity is about easing symptoms of distress while philanthropy is about investing in solutions to the underlying problems.” Hence, the latter is actually less about pity and more about practicality.
Bulgarian businesses, however, aren’t quite there. While some are afraid of additional tax burdens once they flaunt their ability to give, others retreat because there’s no standard. How much should we give? To whom? How will it reflect our reputation? Too, the idea of broadcasting one’s generous donations, from a Christian perspective, is sometimes thought to demean the act itself.

Why should Traditzia take this on? Because as an NGO in a country that will soon join the EU and watch their aid organizations take off into the sunset toward a less developed nation, we, along with scores of others, are in need of funding. The more we educate companies about long-term, sustainable corporate giving programs and encourage public-private partnerships, the more likely we are to receive support. And that means our own beneficiaries–socially disadvantaged individuals from all across Bulgaria–can improve their quality of life.

So, we’re writing this project. We must work out exactly how $5,000 will be spent, convince the SPA committee and the eventual decision makers that we deserve such a grant and then cross our fingers to wait for the call. My job here may not be hands-on with fast, tangilbe results, but I am trying to change a mindset–to help evolve the foundation on which Bulgaria rests. I just have to chip away and hope that I’m making a difference.