Proposal and LOI Process
During the March 2-5, 2006, convening, the Progressive Roundtable participants identified six infrastructural capacities as top priority needs. When fully developed, these components of infrastructure will:
- Operate on a long-term, ongoing basis, not restricted to a finite time period, electoral cycles, a campaign for specific legislation, or specific projects;
- Support progressive values and goals as a whole, and not be constrained by single-issue boundaries;
- Develop relationships and linkages with other infrastructure entities; and
- Coordinate their activities with those of other components of the progressive infrastructure network on both short-term and long-term efforts.
If new capacity is set up within an existing organization, it will likely be able to become functional more quickly than if a new organization has to be created. It takes some time (probably at least nine months) to set up a new nonprofit corporation and get provisional approval of its 501(c)(3) status from the IRS. However, a new organization can also be set up initially as a “project” of another organization (such as Tides Foundation) that acts as its fiscal agent while the new organization is going through the incorporation and approval process, or even on an ongoing basis. In this case, an organization may propose to start developing infrastructure on a project basis, with plans to scale up subsequently. It is also possible that multiple organizations may want to propose to work together in partnership, a joint venture, or some other arrangement.
To help organizations apply for progressive infrastructure funding, the Commonweal Institute (CI) is offering to act as a coordinator in the fund-seeking process. We have designed the following proposal process to ensure, as much as possible, that all of the capacity needs prioritized during the Progressive Roundtable convening will be created in a timely and efficient manner. We have sought to have the process make sense and be helpful to both funders and the other Progressive Roundtable participants. (For a downloadable Word version of this document, scroll down to the bottom of this page.)
1. CI’s Progressive Roundtable team has developed a two-part standardized Letter of Interest (LOI) (essentially, a questionnaire).1
2. Participants who want to apply for funding to create one or more of the prioritized infrastructure capacities can prepare LOIs by using the LOI form(s) and submit the completed LOIs to CI by March 31, 2006.2
3. Participants can suggest other organizations, not represented at the convening, which might have potential for taking on one or more of the prioritized capacity needs.3
4. CI will send LOI instructions and information about the Progressive Roundtable process to those so identified, so they will have an opportunity to submit a LOI if they wish.4 5
5. CI will talk with funders about which of the prioritized infrastructure needs are of greatest interest to them, and on which they would like to receive LOIs and possibly proposals.6
6. CI will send the LOIs forward to all the funders we have identified that have expressed interest in receiving LOIs in that particular area. CI will let submitters know when their LOIs have been sent and to which funder(s).
7. Once the LOIs are submitted, decisions about soliciting proposals and funding will be made by the individual funders, who will be in touch with the submitters directly.7
8. CI will stay in contact with those who are funding new capacity,8 9 and will keep the Progressive Roundtable participants informed regarding the new capacity funding decisions.
9. If no LOI is received for one of the prioritized new capacities, CI will work with a small team to put together a proposal for a new organization (other than CI) designed to fulfill this infrastructure need.10
1. The purpose of the standardized Letter of Interest (LOI) form is to make the application process simpler and easier for both the proposers and the funders. An applicant organization can readily indicate what elements it already has (people, intellectual work, space, location, connections, etc.) that would make it a logical choice to fill a priority infrastructure need. Funders will easily be able to compare the strengths and weaknesses of competing LOIs, if they receive LOIs from more than one organization for a given infrastructure need.
2. Funders that are legally required or prefer to give only to 501(c)(3) recipients will be most interested in supporting new capacity that is centered in 501(c)(3) organizations. However, any type of organization may offer to fill a capacity gap—the LOI process is not limited to 501(c)(3)s. Many of the infrastructure tasks may be done by for-profit organizations specializing in PR, marketing, polling, etc., working in conjunction with 501(c)(3)s. For both funding and image reasons (information coming out of a 501(c)(3) is commonly perceived to be coming from an independent and credible source), these other organizations may elect to provide their services on an agreed-upon basis to non-profits.
3. Many of the Progressive Roundtable participants, including funders and others who are not likely to apply for funding themselves, will likely know non-attendees that might be qualified and interested in applying.
4. These organizations would be invited to submit LOIs electronically for any capacities for which they thought they were qualified, within three weeks of being contacted by CI.
5. Any organization, including those of Progressive Roundtable participants, that proposes to host a specific capacity (e.g., development of long-term strategy), could show an extensive list of subcontractors if they wish. For example, the list of potential subcontractors might include three different organizations with essentially the same capability. In this case, the organization responsible for the new capacity would not be committed to any specific subcontractor. As an alternative, organizations may wish to collaborate with specified other organization(s) or individual(s), e.g., as subcontractors or partners, in order to carry out an infrastructure capacity.
6. These funders include those who participated at the Progressive Roundtable convening, as well as others who were not able to attend. Some of the participating funders may suggest still others and perhaps even play a role in soliciting their involvement. Since a number of the funders represent funding groups, the list of potential funders may be expanded considerably.
7. We recommend that, if possible, a standard proposal format be used by all the funders. This would make it possible for an organization to prepare a single proposal that could be reviewed by multiple funders. Additionally, it would enable different funders who are considering funding the same capacity to readily compare proposals.
8. CI will also notify each funder of the other funders that are requesting proposals for the same infrastructure capacity.
9. If the funders wish, CI could convene or participate in a funder briefing. This would enable funders to interact with other funders who are considering funding the same capacity, to know which funders are covering which capacities, and to find out if there are priority capacities that are not yet being considered for funding.
10. If no LOI is received for one of the prioritized capacities or if all of the identified funders reject the LOI(s) submitted for a given capacity, a new organization may have to be created to fill that capacity need. In this instance, CI will request funds from the funders that attended the Progressive Roundtable or others in order to support the development of a proposal to fund a new organization. CI in combination with a small team (likely consisting of consultants, funders and persons with business experience – some who are Progressive Roundtable attendees, and perhaps others who will be identified by CI) will develop that proposal. CI will be given the proposal-development monies, but the proposal will itself will be to establish a new organization, not related to CI. The members of the proposal team will not be those who intend to head or be part of the new organization.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Proposal Process.doc | 30.5 KB |
