INFO 282-12
Grant Writing and Alternative Funding Resources
Spring 2020 Syllabus

Patty Wong
E-mail
Cell phone: (530) 848-8768

Office Hours: All times are based on Pacific Time. Course begins January 23, 2020, and is based on a Monday to Sunday week. All units are 2 week sessions.   Pre-course orientation and introduction session will be held Friday, January 10, at 7 p.m. and repeated Saturday, January 11 at 9 a.m.  Pre-course orientation will be recorded and student review prior to the course is mandatory. Office hours/Zoom Sessions will be held for seven sessions on the following Fridays at 7 p.m. and repeated on Saturdays at 9 a.m. unless indicated: January 31 repeated February 1, February 7 repeated February 8,  February 21 repeated February 22, March 6 repeated March 7, March 20 repeated March 21, April 3 repeated April 4, April 17 repeated April 18.  Student Presentations held on May 1 and May 2.   Office hours are about 1.0 hours in length and consist of a supplementary lecture and a question and answer session. Zoom Sessions will be recorded and are mandatory to review.   Tours of various databases will be held on Sunday, February 2 and 9 at 9 a.m. Pacific.  Sessions are all recorded and archived for student review at any time.  Office hours may also be scheduled by individual appointment.

Canvas Information: Courses will be available beginning January 23, 6 am PT unless you are taking an intensive or a one-unit or two-unit class that starts on a different day. In that case, the class will open on the first day that the class meets.

You will be enrolled in the Canvas site automatically.

Course Description

BEFORE THE COURSE BEGINS:

1. A Pre-Course Orientation session will be provided on Friday, January 10 at 7 p.m. Pacific and repeated Saturday, January 11, at 9 a.m. Pacific and will be recorded for student review. Students are only required to participate or view one of the archived Pre- Course Orientation sessions prior to the start of class.
2. You must select a library or nonprofit or another similar organization to work with in writing a grant. The work you provide is based on real casework, in a real situation. You may choose any type of library or nonprofit, including a work or volunteer environment.  In selecting a library or nonprofit, consider your options carefully. Prepare your potential client with a copy of this Syllabus so they have a firm understanding of the expectations and the timeline All students will be sent a document of considerations prior to the course. You must have a client already determined prior to class.  If you need suggestions for clients, the instructor can provide you with a list of key contacts.  Critical information is shared with students prior to the course; share your email with the instructor for more details at pattywong61@comcast.net
   

This is a hands-on introductory course in grants and alternative funding resources for all libraries, with an emphasis on public libraries. Skills developed are applicable to other organizations as well. Students will work with a real library or other organization, assess library needs and future service development, create a marketing piece that outlines organizational mission and strengths, research current and potential funders, develop an actual grant or proposal for implementation, and determine funding and management priorities for alternative resource development. Students will become familiar with various types of funding resources for libraries and program development. 

Assignments
Each two-week unit will focus on written and discussion board examination of the topics related to grant writing and alternative funding sources for libraries. Most of the research will be conducted through online resources and fieldwork with a library or other organization of the student’s choice. These organizations may include nonprofits, information agencies, schools, and even the student's own workplace.

Preparation: Before enrolling, students should make contact with a library or organization that is interested in a small grant project. For more information on how to approach an organization or for suggestions on partner libraries, contact course instructor at  pattywong61@comcast.net.

Students need to identify a library or organization of their choice, a key contact and begin research with the "client" prior to course initiation.

The student will be evaluated on the content of their ongoing grant proposal development, documentation to accompany the proposal, and related supporting materials, as well as ongoing communication and participation, analysis and collegial support, demonstrated through the Discussion Board.

Course Calendar
Subject to change with one week notice, the following calendar of coursework will be:

• Unit One - January 23-February 2– Welcome and introduction, goals of course, student identification of personal objectives for course, identification of one organization and project to consider; grants and funding vocabulary; ethics, confidentiality, integrity of the process for the client and the funder, intellectual freedom issues, integration of mission and vision of organization with funder priorities. Organizational Profile.  CLO#1
• Unit Two -February 3-16–  Know Your Client: Assessing the Library needs and wants: mission, vision, existing and future programs and services. Identification of one program/project/service area to develop or enhance and identification of key potential grantors. Initiate research of grants and alternative funding sources. Begin funding priorities template. CLO #2
• Unit Three - February 17-March 1: Determining funder goals, learning about the funder organization, preparing for the first contact, documentation accumulation, 990 IRS analysis. CLO #3
• Unit Four - March 2-15: Program readiness and preparation, internal Library team development, gathering supporting documents. Goals and objectives for the program including implementation and evaluation criteria. Grant deconstruction. CLO #5 and CLO #6
• Unit Five -March 16-29: Writing, editing and preparing the proposal/grant request/application and implementation.  CLO #4
• Unit Six- March 30-April 12: Budget creation and justification; Analysis of results and more research; Annual reports; data mining of like organizations; partnerships and joint ventures CLO #6
• Unit Seven - April 13-26: Ingredients for success. Marketing and promotion; program/project management; documentation of success; communication with funder, community and staff; evaluation and success metrics. CLO #7
• Unit Eight - April 27-May 10: Alternative resources and approach priorities; building funding capacity for the future; managing success and keeping track. CLO #7
• May 11- FINAL Grant application and checklist, bibliography and funding priorities due.
• May 11 -Final Day of Class.

All Units are approximately 2 weeks long. Each Unit is comprised of a written assignment and discussion session. Each written assignment is worth 8 points, each discussion session is worth 2 points. Students are required to include an original posting in the discussion and respond to a minimum of two other students.  All written and discussion board posts are due at 11:59 p.m. the SUNDAY at the conclusion of each Unit. All students are required to lead a discussion with fellow students for one of seven discussion topics. 

Extra Credit

An extra credit assignment of 2 points will be provided during Unit 3 where students will be asked to provide feedback on their experience so the instructor can determine any course changes if needed.  If a secondary final grant application is submitted, up to 4 points of extra credit may be awarded. A final 4 points of extra credit is allowed for a presentation at the end of the semester.

Late Assignments
A one-point (1.0) deduction will be made for every day that the assignment is late, not to exceed 2.0 points for the Unit. Students must communicate with the instructor to advise her of any late work.

Readings
Most of the work will be conducted through online research and fieldwork and referral to the textbook.

Supplemental readings will be available through the King Library’s reserved reading program and distributed through the course.

Pivot Database is available online through SJSU iSchool Databases. Please be prepared to access the King Databases with your Student ID and password.  We will also be exploring several other grants databases. 

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Course Workload Expectations

Success in this course is based on the expectation that students will spend, for each unit of credit, a minimum of forty-five hours over the length of the course (normally 3 hours per unit per week with 1 of the hours used for lecture) for instruction or preparation/studying or course related activities including but not limited to internships, labs, clinical practica. Other course structures will have equivalent workload expectations as described in the syllabus.

Instructional time may include but is not limited to:
Working on posted modules or lessons prepared by the instructor; discussion forum interactions with the instructor and/or other students; making presentations and getting feedback from the instructor; attending office hours or other synchronous sessions with the instructor.

Student time outside of class:
In any seven-day period, a student is expected to be academically engaged through submitting an academic assignment; taking an exam or an interactive tutorial, or computer-assisted instruction; building websites, blogs, databases, social media presentations; attending a study group;contributing to an academic online discussion; writing papers; reading articles; conducting research; engaging in small group work.

Course Prerequisites

INFO 282 has no prequisite requirements.

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

1. Describe the grant-seeking process.
2. Conduct research to locate sources of grant funding, analyze grantmaker guidelines, and assess whether potential funding sources match an organization and a specific project.
3. Describe funder perspectives and know how to communicate effectively with prospective grantmakers.
4. Write persuasive material that clearly articulates purpose, responds to the needs of an audience, uses the appropriate voice and tone, and builds stakeholder support.
5. Analyze an organization's grant-seeking practices, identify areas of potential improvement, and prioritize grant-seeking opportunities.
6. Assess specific library needs and future service development, identifying appropriate projects for grant funding.
7. Develop a competitive grant proposal, including budgets, implementation plans, and evaluation criteria.

Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)

INFO 282 supports the following core competencies:

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Textbooks

Required Textbooks:

• Gerding, S.K., & MacKellar, P.H. (2017). Winning grants: A how-to-do-it manual for librarians (2nd ed.). ALA Neal-Schumann. Available through publisher.

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Grading Scale

The standard SJSU School of Information Grading Scale is utilized for all iSchool courses:

In order to provide consistent guidelines for assessment for graduate level work in the School, these terms are applied to letter grades:

• C represents Adequate work; a grade of "C" counts for credit for the course;
• B represents Good work; a grade of "B" clearly meets the standards for graduate level work or undergraduate (for BS-ISDA);
  For core courses in the MLIS program (not MARA, Informatics, BS-ISDA) — INFO 200, INFO 202, INFO 204 — the iSchool requires that students earn a B in the course. If the grade is less than B (B- or lower) after the first attempt you will be placed on administrative probation. You must repeat the class if you wish to stay in the program. If - on the second attempt - you do not pass the class with a grade of B or better (not B- but B) you will be disqualified.
  
• A represents Exceptional work; a grade of "A" will be assigned for outstanding work only.

Graduate Students are advised that it is their responsibility to maintain a 3.0 Grade Point Average (GPA). Undergraduates must maintain a 2.0 Grade Point Average (GPA).

University Policies

Per University Policy S16-9, university-wide policy information relevant to all courses, such as academic integrity, accommodations, etc. will be available on Office of Graduate and Undergraduate Programs' Syllabus Information web page at: https://www.sjsu.edu/curriculum/courses/syllabus-info.php. Make sure to visit this page, review and be familiar with these university policies and resources.

In order to request an accommodation in a class please contact the Accessible Education Center and register via the MyAEC portal.

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