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Request for Proposals: Child Care Narrative Grant Application

Gary Community Ventures is seeking grant proposals from 1) journalists and newsrooms, 2) artists, storytellers, content creators and communicators, as well as experts in 3) story and data collection, and 4) storytelling measurement and analysis to surface, spark and evaluate statewide conversations aiming to highlight the issues facing our child care system, why those issues matter to diverse audiences across Colorado and how we might begin to deliver solutions. Please find the grant application for all four categories of the RFP below, and please note our expected timeline.

RFP Timeline

July 9: Application Opens
July 10-31: Informational Webinars & Office Hours (find schedules for both here)
Aug. 3: Applications Due
Aug. 13: Finalists Notified
Aug. 29: All Applicants Notified & Winners Announced

Are you an Individual or Representing an Organization?

Organization Name

Website

First Name

Last Name

Title

Email Address

Phone Number

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Questions

Please answer the following questions. You can also attach any documents.

Which RFP category are you interested in?

Why are you interested in this RFP?

Specifically, why are you interested in the subject of child care, and what will these funds allow you to do that you would otherwise be unable to do?

Describe your project & funding request

Before you complete this section, please make sure you first select the RFP category for which you will be applying. This will ensure your response addresses the RFP-specific questions about key project objectives, activities, deliverables, timelines and requested funding.

Please make sure to select the category of the RFP for which you will be applying and ensure your response addresses the category-specific questions about key project objectives, activities, deliverables, timelines and requested funding.

Please describe the story, series or project you plan to pursue, including:

The news hook and why this story or project is timely, topical and compelling
How you expect your story angle might fit into one of the three categories outlined in the “Description” section of the Journalism RFP
Why the story or project will be relevant to one or more of the eight priority audiences identified in the “Proposal Requirements” section of the Journalism RFP
Potential sources and how you will engage and develop them — please also let us know if it would be helpful to have Gary Community Ventures connect you to any child care sources, interview subjects or data
Any creative, visual, data or other supporting elements you plan to utilize to supplement or help bring your story or project to life
Where you plan to publish your reporting and how you plan to promote and amplify it so that it meaningfully reaches and engages one or more of the eight priority audiences mentioned above
A project timeline with key milestones and deliverables
Your funding request, including:

Whether you would prefer a grant or a contract
How much funding you are requesting (the maximum funding request is $25K)
A brief overview of how the funds will be used

Grant Amount Requested

Please describe the story, narrative, communications, marketing or creative project you plan to pursue, including:

A short creative brief, including why this project is timely, topical and compelling
How your story, narrative or creative angle fits into one of the three categories outlined in the “Description” section of the Arts, Creative Content & Storytelling RFP
Why your approach will be resonant and relevant to one or more of the priority audiences identified in the “Proposal Requirements” section of the Arts, Creative Content & Storytelling RFP
The potential storytelling subjects you will feature or sources of inspiration you pursue and how you will engage with those individuals or sources — please also let us know if it would be helpful to have Gary Community Ventures connect you to any child care sources, interview subjects or data
Any creative, visual, data or other supporting elements you plan to utilize to supplement or help bring your project to life
Where you plan to publish or distribute your content or project and how you plan to promote and amplify it so that it meaningfully reaches and engages one or more of the eight priority audiences mentioned above
A project timeline with key milestones and deliverables
Your funding request, including:

Whether you would prefer a grant or a contract
How much funding you are requesting (the maximum funding request is $50K and that the majority of grants or contracts will range from $10K-$20K)
Additional funds requested to be utilized for marketing or advertising spends or fees (the maximum ad funding request is $50K)
A brief overview of how all the requested funds will be used

Grant Amount Requested

Supplemental Ad Spend Funding Requested

ARTS Total Grant Amount

Please describe your measurement, analysis and research plan, including:

How you will track, measure and analyze the content produced by the awardees in the Journalism and Arts, Creative Content & Storytelling grant cohorts
How you will measure shifts in sentiment, awareness and engagement around the issue of child care among the priority audiences outlined in the “Proposal Requirements” of the Story Measurement, Research & Analysis RFP
How you will deliver clear and actionable learnings and insights to inform future child care campaigns as well as the growing body of research on narrative and storytelling efforts to establish and shift public understanding and sentiment
Your funding request, including:

Whether you would prefer a grant or a contract
How much funding you are requesting (the maximum funding request is $50K)
A brief overview of how the funds will be used

Grant Amount Requested

Please tell us how you will engage key communities and surface compelling child care narratives and stories, including:

How you will work in tandem with Gary Community Ventures’ network as well as other early childhood leaders and members of our 8 priority audiences on stakeholder engagement, story collection and elevation strategies and how might this process evolve across the grant period
A clearly defined scope of work with activities, timelines, deliverables and measurable milestones
A plan to create a pipeline capable of sharing stories, sources of information and insights regularly with members of the grantee cohort as well as other storytellers, partners and key stakeholders
A strategy for helping to elevate published and distributed stories through appropriate and trusted promotion and amplification channels available to the child care and stakeholder community
Your funding request, including:

Whether you would prefer a grant or a contract
How much funding you are requesting (the maximum funding request is $45K)
A brief overview of how the funds will be used

Grant Amount Requested

Tell us about your project team

Who will lead your team, who will be responsible for the day-to-day execution of the work and why are they well-suited to accomplish the objectives outlined in this RFP?

How many members of your project team are there and what percent identify as People of Color?

How will you measure the success of your work?

What are 2-5 key performance indicators you will track to demonstrate how effective your work or project was at elevating the issue of child care as a shared societal challenge for Coloradans?

How will you mitigate potential risks?

All creative and narrative projects come with some level of risk. What risks do you anticipate for this project and what are your mitigation strategies to address them?

Examples or summaries of past work

Please share examples or summaries of your past work that demonstrate your ability to execute the project you’re proposing.

Support needed from Gary Community Ventures?

Our team has been working in the early childhood space for decades, and would be happy to 1) share contacts, data and resources, 2) share new stories and data with you or your team that we will be actively collecting this year, and/or 3) arrange recurring cohort meetings for you to connect directly with other grantees to share learnings. Please let us know if you would be interested in any of these offers or if it would be helpful to receive any other form of support from our team.

Supporting Attachments:

Please feel free to attach any supporting documents or files. Be sure to indicate in the text of your application the relevance of the attachments.

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