Notice of Funding Opportunity for Alumni

For 2020, Inspira Ecuador aims to create satellite alumni communities in Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca to engage our alumni audience in community service projects and alumni-led events. Inspira´s mission is best captured by the words of U.S. President John Quincy Adams: If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.

Alumni may apply as individuals or through their organizations (if educational or non-profit) for projects that will support entrepreneurship, promote civil society and inclusion, and combat disinformation.

Special consideration will be given to:

• Projects that clearly demonstrate alumni leadership and community engagement.
• Alumni applying in teams.
• Projects implemented in or around Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca.

Purpose of Grants: Funding is available for alumni proposals to reactivate the Ecuadorian economy, or/and support their communities during and post COVID-19 through projects that highlight shared values between the United States and Ecuador. All programs must align with one U.S. Mission Priority and/or one U.S. foreign policy theme. We are particularly interested in proposals that fall into one of the following Program Priority Areas:

• Economy: Projects that revive the economy during and after the global pandemic, improve the business climate, entrepreneurship, innovation, and corporate social responsibility.
• Civil Society: Projects that promote civil society and inclusion by supporting human rights, racial / ethnic equality, gender equality and the empowerment of women, diversity and social inclusion and that can improve the lives of at-risk youth, women, or marginalized communities during or after COVID-19.
• Information: Projects that combat disinformation, by promoting press freedom that improves the quality of investigative journalism and transparency during or after COVID-19.

 The following types of programs are not eligible for funding:

• Activities that do not contain a distinctly U.S. component
• Programs relating to partisan political activity
• Development projects/programs
• Infrastructure/construction programs
• Individual scholarships
• Personal development
• Programs that support specific religious activities
• Fund-raising campaigns
• Lobbying for specific legislation or programs
• Scientific research
• Programs intended primarily for the growth or institutional development of the organization
• Programs that duplicate existing programs
• Social travel/visits
• Venture capital
• For-profit endeavors

This notice is subject to availability of funding.

Program Performance Period: Proposed programs should be completed in 24 months or less.

ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

This call for proposals is exclusive to alumni of U.S. Mission Ecuador. An alumni is a person who has participated in an U.S. Department of State funded exchange program, a program funded by the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in Ecuador, or a person who has received a grant for Public Diplomacy funds.

For-profit or commercial entities are not eligible to apply.

REQUIRED REGISTRATION AND MANDATORY FORMS

If your proposal is selected as a finalist, in order to be eligible to receive an award, all organizations must obtain an unique entity identifier (Data Universal Numbering System/DUNS number from Dun & Bradstreet), as well as a valid registration on www.SAM.gov. If submitting as an individual, this requirement is not needed. The Public Affairs section will notify you in writing if your proposal was selected as a finalist, and you will need to submit this documentation and other mandatory documents.

HOW TO APPLY:

All applications must be in English and must be submitted to contactocultural@state.gov using the following 2 forms:

1. Project Proposal-Alumni: Use this document to describe your proposal in detail.
2. Budget: Use this document to describe each of the budget expenses in detail.

APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION

Criteria: A grants panel will review and evaluate each application based on the criteria outlined below:

• U.S. Component: The project has a clear U.S. component that incorporates U.S. expertise, processes, or personnel.
• Organizational capacity and record on previous grants: The organization has expertise in its stated field and PAS is confident of its ability to undertake the program. This includes a financial management system and a bank account.
• Quality and feasibility of the program idea: The program idea is well developed, with details about how program activities will be carried out. The proposal includes a reasonable implementation timeline.
• Goals and objectives:  Goals and objectives are clearly stated and program approach is likely to provide maximum impact in achieving the proposed results.
• Embassy priorities: Applicant has clearly described how stated goals are related to and support U.S. Embassy priority areas and target audiences outlined in section A.
• Budget:  The budget justification is detailed. Costs are reasonable in relation to the proposed activities and anticipated results. The budget is realistic, accounting for all necessary expenses to achieve proposed activities.
• Monitoring and evaluation plan: Applicant demonstrates it is able to measure program success against key indicators and provides milestones to indicate progress toward goals outlined in the proposal. The program includes output and outcome indicators and shows how and when those will be measured.
• Sustainability: Program activities will continue to have a positive impact after the end of the program.

FEDERAL AWARDING AGENCY CONTACTS

If you have any questions about the grant application process, please contact PAS at: contactocultural@state.gov

Note: We do not provide any pre-consultation for application related questions that are addressed in the Program Statement. Once an application has been submitted, U.S. government officials and staff may not discuss this competition with applicants until the entire proposal review process is complete.

Please review instructions in detail for applications at the link provided.