GUIDELINES FOR GRANT PROPOSALS

GUIDELINES FOR GRANT PROPOSALS
CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION
PROPOSAL FORMAT
REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
GRANT RESTRICTIONS
ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS
GRANT CONTACTS

 

The Revenue Watch Institute promotes the responsible management of oil, gas and mineral resources for the public good. With effective revenue management, increased citizen engagement and real government accountability, natural resource wealth will drive a nation's growth and development. RWI provides the expertise, funding and technical assistance to help countries realize these benefits.

Grant-making is RWI's primary tool for engaging civil society in resource-rich countries and is an important means to motivate, support and build grassroots movements that create sustained local and international demand for revenue and expenditure transparency. At the international level, Revenue Watch organizes and sponsors a limited number of conferences and workshops aimed at fostering broader public engagement in extractive sector/budget monitoring and fiscal transparency. At the resource-rich country level, where RWI devotes the bulk of its grantmaking resources, it places special emphasis on providing support to local partners to form coalitions and conduct analysis and advocacy on revenue transparency issues, with a special focus on supporting and deepening the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

Beyond EITI, RWI also provides support to local and international partners around broader revenue transparency work such as oil, gas and mining revenue monitoring; oil revenue management laws and taxation regulations; licensing and contracts policies; IFI and donor lending policies; participatory budgeting and expenditure tracking; study tours for NGOs; and civil society-company monitoring partnerships and dialogues. RWI has also introduced two new focal areas for grant support in FY 2008. The first aimed is at building the capacity of civil society to engage legislatures on improving extractive sector governance and management. The second is aimed at supporting civil society in producing regions to promote better extractive sector governance and management at the sub-national level.

Accordingly, all requests for funding should generally fall within one of the following focus areas:

• Independent civil society monitoring, research and advocacy on natural resource revenue flows and natural resource revenue management;
• Assistance to broad-based civil society coalitions working to support the adoption/implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), that have come with a joint research, capacity-building and advocacy strategy and action plan
• Support for groups involved in legislative monitoring, advocacy and capacity-building
• Support for groups in producing regions engaged in revenue and expenditure monitoring, advocacy and capacity-building efforts
• Independent civil society monitoring, research and advocacy on public budgets, with a focus on;
  • enhancing public/CSO participation in the budget formulation process;
  • enhancing the quality, timeliness and transparency of budget-related information;
  • enhancing the accountability and quality of public expenditures, particularly related to social services such as health and education;
  • enhancing the quality and quantity of public debate in the media and other multi-stakeholder forums
  • reducing the institutional opportunities for 'leakage' of public funds through promotion of policy reforms at the local, regional and national level
  • Support for civil society, media and/or parliamentary trainings and capacity- building focused on the extractive industries, budget policies and processes, and public finance management

Small grant proposals are reviewed by the Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) on a rolling basis, and must be submitted in English following the format indicated below; larger funding requests ($100,000 and over) are reviewed in January, June and October of each year at RWI Board meetings. The Revenue Watch Institute provides most grants on an annual basis. There is no set limit on the amount of funding a proposal can request; awards are based on RWI's independent assessment both of project costs and the feasibility of the work proposed.

 

CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION

RWI evaluates grants and funding requests according to the following criteria:

• Strategic importance to the resource revenue transparency movement
• Contribution to addressing RWI's mission and priority issues at present
• Implications for the broader resource revenue transparency movement
• Degree to which the project promotes and reinforces partnerships
• Degree to which activities are geared towards enhancing local capacities and developing sustainable skill-sets
• Degree to which the project contributes to the applicant organization's strategic vision and enhancement of the applicant's own work
• Degree of the project's strategic and financial sustainability
• Applicant's ability to secure other sources of funding and support (past and present)

 

PROPOSAL FORMAT

1. Cover Letter (must include):
   • Name of the Project
   • Date of Application
   • Name of applicant organization
   • Contact person and full contact information
   • Total amount Requested
   • Duration of grant period including start date
   • Have you submitted this proposal in full or in part, or for any work related to it, to any other donor organization? If so, to which one and when?
2. Proposal Narrative and Related Attachments
   • Project Summary
   • Statement of Purpose
   • Background, including the qualifications and experience directly relevant to the activities proposed of the applicant organization(s) and all personnel CV's
   • Project Description, including phases of implementation, estimated deadlines, etc
   • Statement detailing how the project supports our mission and will further RWI's charitable purpose
3. Project Financials
   • Itemized Budget
   • Budget Narrative

 

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

Grant recipients must agree to provide detailed narrative and financial reports at intervals that will be specified in the grant letter. For example, these reports should include, but are not limited to, details of the progress made toward the goal of the grant, any supporting documentation, such as publications or news articles, and information pertaining to receipt of required matching funds. RWI requires both a narrative report detailing the projects activities, as well as a narrative financial report detailing the project budget and spending. The deadlines for your reports are stated in your grant letter, if your reports will be late, contact us to let us know why and formally request an extension.

Please note also that grant recipients must agree to repay any portion of the amount granted that is not used for the purposes of the grant.

These reports help us understand how your project is progressing and problems that you may be confronting. This gives you the opportunity to explain any difficulties or challenges you have met, which may affect the outcome of your project.

Cover Sheet: the first page of your report should contain the following information

• Name of the organization submitting the report
• Project title
• Project dates
• Grant #
• Total approved grant amount
• Report title (Interim, Final)
• Date of submission
• Name and contact information (address, telephone, fax, e-mail address, etc.) for the project's point person.

Narrative Report format: the narrative portion of your reports should address the following issues

• Restate the project's objectives/outcomes and activities as stated in the original proposal.
• For interim and final reports, explain which activities were accomplished and which were not. Explain any variances from the original proposal.
• For final reports, explain which project objectives/outcomes were achieved and how their success was measured.
• For final reports, explain if certain project objectives/outcomes were not achieved and why.
• For interim and final reports, explain the main project challenges, and how you responded to them.
• For interim and final reports, describe the principal lessons learned.
• For interim and final reports, describe any unforeseen developments that have positively or negatively affected your project.

Financial Report format: the financial portion of your report should contain the following information

• Please include your original approved budget in US dollars in an Excel spreadsheet
• For interim reports, please add a column to the original budget with the amount spent (US dollars) to date for each line item.
• For final reports, add an additional column with the final amounts spent (US dollars) to date for each line item.
• Please include a narrative description of any variances (Note: any budget modifications must have been approved beforehand by the Revenue Watch Institute).
• If there are remaining funds, please send a check or include a formal request for their use.

 

GRANT RESTRICTIONS

In no instances are any grants to be used, directly or indirectly, to engage in partisan political activity such as for the support of or opposition to political parties or individual candidates for elective office at any level of government.

United States law not only prohibits the Revenue Watch Institute from funding any electioneering, including the support for or opposition to political candidates or parties in the United States or abroad, but also prohibits the earmarking of grant funds for lobbying activities. Lobbying is defined as an attempt to influence federal, state, local or non-US legislative bodies, or the outcome of referenda and ballot initiatives. This proscription includes attempts to influence treaty ratification by legislative bodies.

The prohibition against lobbying includes (but may not necessarily be limited to) communications with legislators or legislative staff that express a view on pending legislation or specific legislative proposals, and communications with the general public reflecting a view on specific legislation or a specific legislative proposal where such communication includes a "call to take action" by the public.

Public education, analysis and research on social issues of broad public interest, including issues that are also the subject of pending legislation, may constitute an exception to the lobbying prohibition. Similarly, the production of non-partisan studies, analysis and research providing a full and fair exposition of the facts and arguments may not constitute lobbying. Responses to written requests for technical assistance made on behalf of a legislative body, committee or subcommittee may also not be lobbying even though the problems discussed may be the subject of pending legislation.

If you have questions concerning whether your grant proposal includes lobbying, please contact us.

 

ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS

In addition to the terms spelled out in your grant letter (and those mentioned above), the following is meant to inform you of other conditions that apply to your grant, as well as to answer some of our grantees' most frequently asked questions. Please keep this important information for your files.

If you have any questions regarding your grant, please contact Morgan Mandeville at mmandeville@revenuewatch.org

1. The Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) is the source of funding for your grant. By countersigning your grant agreement, you agree to cooperate fully with RWI, or with any agent designated by RWI, for the purpose of monitoring and evaluating progress in carrying out the activities described in the project proposal. This specifically includes permitting RWI or its designated agents full and complete access to all financial records associated with the project, making available personnel involved in the project at all levels for interviews with RWI representatives or designated agents, and permitting site visits by RWI or agents designated by RWI to observe activities of the project and to meet with participants in the project.
2. As the grant letter notes, any and all changes to your project budget or grant dates must be approved in advance. This may be done by submitting a letter via e-mail to RWI program staff asking to modify your budget or project dates. This letter must include a detailed explanation of the reason for the requested change, and a revised budget reflecting the changes you want to make, if you are requesting a budget modification. If you do not hear back from the RWI, do not assume that your modification has been approved. You must receive official approval from RWI before making any changes.
3. If you would like to publicly acknowledge RWI's support for your project, please use the name "Revenue Watch Institute.

 

GRANT CONTACTS

All grant inquiries should be directed to Morgan Mandeville, Program Officer at +1-212-548-0608. Proposals can be sent via email, fax, or post to the following address:

Email: mmandeville@revenuewatch.org

Post:
Revenue Watch Institute
400 West 59th Street
New York, NY 10019
USA