Dear LR and All

I would like to volunteer for this task of writing.

Please create a "wiki page" for this task.It will help other neighbours to edit my drafted matter if necessary!

As soon as you create the wiki page,i will start the drafting task.

Best regards,
Sushmita,
India

As well as looking for funding and equipment internationally, it would be good to look within Uganda too.

Most of the thoughts below came from a post I made under the old project definition task. I have updated it a little to reflect later discussion.

Locally/within Uganda

You mention that in the past you were successful in getting money for another project via your MP. Do you have contact with the current one, can he help?

What (if any) money is available to schools there for making improvements etc?

If you belong to any networks of schools or community organisations they may be able to give advice on what is available.

If you know others who have successfully completed similar projects, how did they do it?

As you are a school, I assume that your teachers will have been to university - any chance of getting support that way, or through former students who are now studying there.

Are there any international (or larger national) organisations working in your area who may be able to assist?

Have you had any contact with local community service organisations - Lions, Rotary etc? They are sometimes able to link up with other branches internationally to raise money.
Rotary in Masaka http://www.rotary.org/en/AboutUs/SiteTools/ClubLocator/Pages/ridefault.a...
Lions http://www.lionsclubs.org/locator/lions/display_club_details.php?club_no...

Some embassies e.g. USA, Japan, UK, other European countries run grants schemes for community projects. They should be able to provide details of who can apply and what the procedure is if you contact them.

Many companies have Corporate Social Responsibility schemes where they provide grants, equipment or services to local community groups. Its worth finding out if this applies to any companies in your area.

Do you have ways of generating publicity for the school - radio, newspapers etc? You may find that this brings in money or good contacts.

Internationally

You can apply for funding from various non-profits, foundations etc. All will have their own rules for what they will fund and how you apply. There is a huge amount of competition for this, so information would need to be as complete as possible and you would need to focus on ones where you meet their criteria.
I have already posted details of the list at http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dgs9fnp6_0g5zp8p3n
I add to that as I find things, but there will be many more. The challenge is finding ones where there is a close match between your needs and their funding priorities.

You may find some neighbours who are interested in doing some fundraising in their area. Or who have good contacts with groups that may be interested in helping you.

You may be able to raise money online through sites like GiveMeaning or GlobalGiving. There are several Nabuur projects on GiveMeaning, but many of them have not been able to raise much money.

Mary

Under the Project Room task, I asked Christopher a few questions about the current sitation. I am posting the replies related to funding and other school support here:

"Question: You already have close links with the catholic church in the area. Are they able to link you up with any sources of financial support either in Uganda or internationally?

Answer: We had only tried to link through it and we contacted AID LINK IRELAND but we were not successful.We have tried to do so but the diocese has many problems to handle.

Question: Dormitories –
(a) How much money has been raised so far?

Answer: Happy to inform you further that this morning we receieved a messge that frienfs in Usa are sending $5000,this means that so far we have $ 7200 in total.

(b) How much still required, and do you still hope to pursue this through Nabuur?

Answer: We hope kind people if contacted through nabuur can come on board to help.If nabuur volunteers can design and post our project to kind people or organisations like Giveameaning or Global giving or other,we hope we can make it.
We are also arranging for a charity walk i aid of the school.Request nabuur volunteers to help further descuss possible other ways for our going forward.

(c ) You have added 30% (i.e. about 14,000,000 Ugandan Shillings/$US7400) for labour costs. I know you will need to employ skilled people for some of the work, but can some of the rest be done by volunteers to reduce costs?

Answer: We have not one yet,though we have requested to.

Question: International school links - I know you are linked with a school in the UK. Are you linked with others too e.g. you mentioned fundraising by catholic students in the US. Are these links purely about fundraising or do you exchange information too, to help teachers improve their skills, working together on joint projects, and so that students can make friends around the world?

Answer: YES,we are linked to a school in the UK,and we really need to be linked to another one but its not easy,because one told us that British Council in Ugand does the help with this linking.We have written 5 times without a responce.We do request that if there is a avoluntter to help us do the linking to another school or 2 ot 3 or 4.
We have had alot with this linkage,and we wish we had ome others.Our pupils have learnt alot through penpal progs,and ever on my door for this."

For finding partner schools, I suspect the most effective way will be via people who are able to approach local schools and ask. However, there are also websites that can assist - some are listed at http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dgs9fnp6_0g5zp8p3n#TWIN_SCHOOLS/PARTNE...

If anyone has any ideas on how the school can fundraise locally or internationally, or suggestions on finding more partner schools, please let us know!

Christopher, I am still intending to go through my list and pick out those organisations who provide grants to school-related projects when I get a chance. And also see the suggestions I posted here a few days ago about other possible ways of finding funding.

Mary

Hi Christopher

I have started to look through that list of mine for possible sources of funding for the school - when I have got all the way through I will post a list.

This reminded me.... is the school a member of any of the networks of groups that work on issues related to children. These won't be direct sources of funding, but will be sources of information and contacts which could prove useful in many ways.

One is:

Viva Network http://www.viva.org/ are a group of Christian-based organisations working with children around the world.
They have a branch in Uganda http://www.viva.org/?page_id=23

And I am sure there are many others.

Mary

Hi Christopher

From my list at http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dgs9fnp6_0g5zp8p3n the organisations listed at the end of this post appear to provide funding to secondary education and/or vocational training projects.

Before you send in any applications we would need to do more research to confirm that, as some talk about 'education' without explaining what kinds. Also to work out exactly what they will fund, how much money can be applied for, application processes, timescales etc.

We are far more likely to succeed if we target the correct organisations for the correct things. For example, some may not fund construction so there would be no point in applying for funding for the dormitories. But those may consider an application for money for other needs at the school e.g. to buy equipment or start income generating activities. Also, some organisations take several months to decide whether they will fund a project or not.

Here is the list:

Global Fund For Children
http://www.globalfundforchildren.org
http://www.globalfundforchildren.org/applyforagrant/index.html

The Hilden Charitable Fund
http://www.hildencharitablefund.org.uk
http://www.hildencharitablefund.org.uk/overseas.htm

World Emergency Relief
http://www.wer-uk.org
http://www.wer-uk.org/content/i-want-apply-a-grant-what-are-criteria-wer...

AVSI
http://www.avsi.org/EN/
http://www.avsi-usa.org/projectdevelopment.cfm

CAFOD
http://www.cafod.org.uk
http://www.cafod.org.uk/partnership/guidelines

Edukans
http://www.edukans.nl/english/
http://www.edukans.nl/english/partners/

Tzedek
http://www.tzedek.org.uk/
http://www.tzedek.org.uk/overseas-grant.php

Kitchen Table Charities Trust
http://www.kitchentablecharities.org
http://www.kitchentablecharities.org/grant.htm

Mona Foundation
http://www.monafoundation.org/
http://www.monafoundation.org/selection-criteria.htm

Turing Foundation
http://www.turingfoundation.org/
http://www.turingfoundation.org/aanvragen_edu_uk.html

CADRA - Canada-Africa Development and Relief Agency
http://www.canada-africa.org
http://www.canada-africa.org/grants/

The American embassy in Uganda have two grants schemes that could be relevant. These are not in my google doc as they are specific to Uganda.

Ambassador's Special Self-Help (SSH) Program
http://kampala.usembassy.gov/self_help.html

Community Grants Program (for HIV/AIDS and OVC support)
http://kampala.usembassy.gov/community_grants.html

I think the British High Commission in Kampala runs a similar scheme although the document I have about it are a couple of years old and I can't find anything on their website.

Other embassies will too - it may be worth trying to find out more about what is available.

As requested, I have also sent this to you by email.

Mary

hi,
With regards to help from Catholic agencies, Irish Aid link is the government and usually Irish NGOs apply to them. Trocaire is the Irish Catholic Agency for world development. They have successfull Lenten campaigns(2008 environment, 2007 the wall in West Bank, 2006 child labour). I'm not sure how you apply but they work with registered CBOs all over the world.
www.trocaire.org
Have you considered linking up with a religious order to have visiting teachers at your school and a network? I don't know the priest in Chicago might be able to advise you on this.
Sinéad

A quick update after chatting to Christopher earlier:

Christopher has not contacted any of the organisations we have identified as possible sources of funding as he has not had time. This is not a problem, as we need to be clear about funding needs and priorities first.

There is a meeting at the school to discuss project priorities next week. After this, the funding needs should be clearer, making it possible to find and apply to the most suitable groups.

He has made contact with someone from the German Embassy (GTZ programme I think) and they will be visiting the school soon. Initial discussions will be about the possibility of them assisting with providing power to the school (they already have some solar panels but not enough for the whole building), but its possible they will conside other things too. Christopher will keep us updated on this.

Many other Western embassies run grants schemes (have posted details of the American one before) so we can investigate this too.

Its also a good idea to look at other options within Uganda - where have other comunity schools/groups got their funding from?

Something we didn't discuss today but have talked about in the past is online fundraising e.g. GiveMeaning. Experience from other villages shows this is only suitable for small amounts of money (e.g. up to about $1000 per attempt), and requires a lot of effort in creating publicity. But if we identify a very clear small-scale need it could be worth a try.

If anyone has ideas, please post them!

We did not have time to talk about other forms of support e.g. school partnerships, school/child related networks, which provide information rather than money, but I hope Christopher will be able to give us an update on this and whether it is something he would like us to investigate further.

Mary

Hi Christopher

Back in December, I posted details of the small grants schemes run by the American Embassy in Kampala, along with other potential sources of funding. But as priorities kept changing and you were very focused on looking for equipment rather than money we never followed up on any of them. We will need budgets before we can put in any applications.

The American schemes are:

Ambassador's Special Self-Help (SSH) Program
http://kampala.usembassy.gov/self_help.html

Community Grants Program (for HIV/AIDS and OVC support)
http://kampala.usembassy.gov/community_grants.html

Applications for both of these close at the end of March so, if we are going to put in applications this year, we don't have much time - it may already be too late to get all the information together.

If you wish to pursue this I would suggest that you phone them to discuss which one (if any) the school could apply to. You should do this as soon as possible.

According to the website you should contact the Small Grants Office, U.S. Mission Uganda, telephone: 0414-259-791 ext. 6421/6444/6141

Mary