2012 Phase 1 Application Guide

Submission Policies
Echoing Green will only accept applications submitted through our website. You may not mail, fax, or email your application. Applicants will be able to access the application between December 5, 2011 and January 9, 2012 through the Echoing Green website at www.echoinggreen.org/fellowship/apply. Do not send supplemental materials via email or postal mail to be matched to your initial application. Echoing Green will not accept attachments or supporting documents as part of the initial application. Any extraneous documentation sent to Echoing Green as part of an initial application will not be reviewed in the evaluation and cannot be returned. Applications cannot be revised once they have been submitted to Echoing Green. Echoing Green will accept only one application submission per applicant per year. Any applicant who submits multiple applications for the same project or single applications for multiple different projects will be disqualified from consideration. Partnerships (organizations led by two individuals) must submit a joint application for their project. Partners who submit separate applications for the same project will be disqualified from consideration. If you have questions about the application process, please consult our Frequently Asked Questions section on our website.

Application Tips
1. Review the Echoing Green website (www.echoinggreen.org). Many otherwise strong applicants have disqualified themselves by failing to review our support materials, such as this document, or by failing to understand Echoing Green as an organization prior to applying. 2. Dont wait until the last second to start an application. The best answers are those that are well-thought out and reflective as well as to the point. Therefore, time should be built in for several rounds of proofreading. 3. Be specific in your answers! The number one reason applications are rejected is due to lack of clarity. Don't just tell us that you're going to save the world - show us how you're going to do it. Your answers have character limits, so don't waste time with vague generalities. Instead, provide concrete examples and statistics and demonstrate a clear connection between your work and your goals. 4. Make sure that you explain the why in your application. While Echoing Green seeks to know the what and how about your organization, we also want to know why you are the right person for the job. Be sure to detail your personal connection to the community you will serve. 5. Provide an appropriate resume. Your resume should make clear your qualifications to be the leader of the organization. Echoing Green does not expect applicants to have started an organization previously nor do we require they have formal education in their program area. However, we do seek applicants who have demonstrated their interest, passion, and leadership abilities through their previous work as well as their academic and volunteer experience. Focus on relevant skills and experiences that demonstrate your qualification. 6. Have several people proofread your application! Have a good editor read for mechanics (style, structure, spelling), have a content area expert read for feasibility (logic and persuasion), and have someone who knows nothing about your organization read for coherence and clarity. After reviewing your answers, ask each person to pitch your organization back to you to see if your application is conveying your organization accurately.

Program Area Clarification

On the Phase 1 application, you will be asked to select the program area category that BEST describes your organization. Review the examples beneath the program categories to help you determine which best fits your organization. The examples under each category are not meant to be exhaustive, but should give you an idea of the types of programs that might fit into each category. Arts & Culture - Media - Performing Arts - Preservation Civil & Human Rights - Access to Legal Service - Humanitarian Relief - Legal Advocacy - Peacebuilding - Social Justice Education - Programs/Services - Reform/Advocacy - Tools/Software - Mentorship/Leadership Environment - Clean Tech/Alternative Energy - Green Building - Green Jobs - Protection/Conservation Food & Agriculture - Agriculture - Food Systems - Nutrition Health & Healthcare - Access/Health Service Delivery - Prevention/Treatment Poverty Alleviation & Economic Development - Access to Capital - Employment/Job Training - Entrepreneurship Public Service & Civic Engagement - Citizen Advocacy - Volunteerism

Phase 1 Application Questions and Help Text

Echoing Green is looking for innovative ideas for changing systems and developing new approaches to old problems. We are interested in proposals for high-impact, sustainable organizations with the potential to create lasting social change beyond their immediate communities. Please review the following Phase 1 short answer questions. The supporting information under each question should help you focus your answer. We highly recommend that you consult this help text before completing the application. Remember to take note of the character limits following each essay question. Character limits include spaces. Answers to each question are very limited in size, so keep answers concise and focused to make sure each word is important. We also recommend that you draft your essay responses offline and copy and paste your answers into the online form when you are ready to submit your application to avoid potential loss of information. Please note that the online form will not accept rich text, which includes any formatting such as bullets, bolding/italicizing/underlining, text color, etc.

General Short Answer Questions

1. Summarize your organizations work and purpose in one sentence. (150 characters) Help Text: Keep it simple and concise! Try to answer who, what, where, and why. 2. Summarize your organizations work and purpose in one paragraph. (500 characters) Help Text: Expand on your answer to the previous question regarding who, what, where, and why. Imagine that a friend who knows little about your field of work asks you to explain your organization. How would you describe your organization to them? You may also think of this as your elevator pitch; if you only had a brief moment to describe your organization to someone during an elevator ride, what would you say to sell them on your organization? 3. Describe the specific social problem your organization is working to solve. Use statistics and references to identify the size and scope of the problem. (500 characters) Help Text: Identify the problem that you intend to address and explain why its significant. If possible, provide information substantiating that the need exists through the use of statistics from experts or constituents. Tell us about the lives of the population your organization will serve. Because your response is limited in length, it is acceptable to identify your references without providing the full level of detail that you would provide in a footnote (for example, you do not need to include publisher, volume number, page number, etc.). One common mistake made by applicants is stating the need without sufficient statistics, sources, or examples to support the claim. Another common mistake is presenting a need that is a market opportunity but not a true social challenge. Our evaluators are often able to gain insight into how well applicants understand the issues through their presentation of the need they plan to address, so show us that you have done your research and understand those you intend to help. 4. Describe the specific products or programs of your organization. (1000 characters) 5

Help Text: What will your work look like? What will you or your staff do on a daily/weekly/monthly basis? Think about a member of the population served by your organization and tell us how they will experience your products or programs. Be specific enough that you are not just repeating the idea behind your organization over again, but actually explaining how your organization will carry out that idea in reality. 5. How does this approach represent bold innovation versus the status quo? (1000 characters) Help Text: It is very likely that there are a wide variety of organizations and entities, from local community organizations to governmental agencies, which deliver services to the constituency/community that you have identified. It is also possible that one or more organizations are focused on the same area of need, either in your community or outside of your community. How is your idea for social change different from the ideas already at work? Name specific organizations working in your field. How is your organization a significant improvement on existing models? Why do you think your organization will be more successful than the others? Feel free to quote experts or publications that validate your assertion. This question offers you the opportunity to give us a small peek into the research you have done on your competitors and peers. 6. How might you measure the impact you will have over time? For example, how many people will you help? In what measurable ways? In what timeframe will this happen? (1000 characters) Help Text: How will the world be different because of your work? We want to know what you would consider successful in five years or ten years from now and how youll be able to tell at that point what effect youve had. Help us understand the connection between what your organization will be doing and the impact of those actions on the world, as well as how you might measure this impact. If youre able to give us specifics, please include those here. For example, if the work of your organization is to tutor low-income high school students to improve their college attendance rates, one output might be 500 hours of tutoring sessions over a year, while one outcome might be a twenty percent increase in college attendance among the targeted students. A measurement system for this project might include weekly reports from tutors on the number of tutoring hours logged and quarterly surveys of past participants in the program to determine their current education status. However, if you are still figuring out what your desired outcomes might be, thats okay as well. Walk us through what you think you might measure five or ten years from now to know whether youve done a good job. For example, if you were earlier along in the development of the example above, you might know that you want to increase college attendance but might not yet know what target number youre aiming for. Similarly, you might know you want to follow-up with students after they leave the program but might not yet know what that follow-up system will look like. Its okay if you dont have all the details figured out, just explain what youre currently thinking in terms of measuring your impact. 7. Budget Questions Help Text: Dont worry if you have yet to raise any money or develop a sophisticated budget. We fund entrepreneurs at all points within the start-up phase but we want to get a sense of where your organization currently stands. The purpose of this question is to force applicants to seriously consider their organizational costs, so they know approximately how much money will be needed for their program to function and be sustainable. a. In total, how much money have you raised for this organization so far (in U.S. dollars): $________ Help Text: This should be an honest assessment of your current financial situation and should reflect the total amount of money raised by your organization from its founding (not just the current year). This can 6

include money already received as well as confirmed pledges, but should not include any money you have requested but not been promised. b. List the names, and specific amounts given, of any individuals or organizations who have provided greater than $10,000 in funding to date: (250 characters) Help Text: We understand that many organizations applying for an Echoing Green Fellowship have not yet received sums of this size, so dont worry if you need to leave this section blank. c. How much money do you hope to spend in 2012 (in U.S. dollars): $______

Help Text: Hopefully by now you have a thoughtful plan for how much your organization will need to operate next year. This should be the number you have in your budget for the amount of money you need to operate in 2012, not the amount that you hope to raise. d. Approximately how much money do think you might want to spend in five years, in 2017 (in U.S. dollars): $______ Help Text: This should be a realistic estimate of your future budget. While you may not have an exact budget for this far in the future, please give us your best projection of how much money you may hope to operate on in 2017, so we know your plan for growth and scale five years from now. e. How will you raise the rest of the money you will need in the future? Who or what might be the sources? (500 characters) Help Text: This is your ongoing plan for income generation and fundraising each year. How will you earn or raise enough income each year to continue operating and growing? This should include such sources as philanthropic donations, investment, and earned income. 8. Why are you, unlike the majority of people, so passionate about this issue that you are willing to take the risky leap of starting a new organization? (1000 characters) Help Text: What is driving you to take on this challenge and why is this the right moment for you to take this action? Be sure to include any experiences you have working in this field and geographic area, as well as any experiences you have with the population you intend to serve. Please be specific about the duration of your experience and the capacity in which you served. This should not be a reiteration of your resume, but instead should help us understand your passion and commitment to this issue, idea, and/or community. Partners, this answer should reflect both individuals and may be a shared story or two separate stories of how each individual was inspired to work on this particular issue. 9. When and how did you come up with the idea for your organization? Was anyone else involved in developing the idea? (500 characters) Help Text: Tell us about the moment you decided to pursue the mission of your organization. What were the major motivating factors? What elements of your life supported this decision? Did anyone help you come up with the concept and implementing plan for this organization? 10. Provide one or two examples of your ability to overcome challenges and adversity. (1000 characters)

Help Text: Starting a new organization or company is difficult, and entrepreneurs often run into many obstacles in this early stage of development. Describe a time in your life when you were faced with challenges that compromised your success and how you managed the situation. Your answer should help us understand how you deal with difficult situations, and could even highlight a time that you failed. Partners, each individual should list at least one personal example of adversity. 11. What skills or experiences demonstrate that you will you be able to attract money, people and other resources to your organization? (1000 characters) Help Text: Provide us with examples that show you possess skills to attract resources to your organization. Think about your experiences and describe a time when you were able to start something new or when you influenced others to join you in a challenging endeavor. Partners, this answer should reflect both individuals. 12. If you have previously applied for an Echoing Green Fellowship for this or any similar idea, what has changed since you last applied? (500 characters) Help Text: How has your organization changed? What are you doing differently? What has happened in the year (or more) since you last applied? For example, have you expanded or run a pilot program? Have you been able to measure the impact your organization has in a new or different way? If you received feedback from our judges in the past, this is your opportunity to address their concerns. If you have applied in the past for a completely different idea, you may want to use this space to tell us what has changed with you personally or professionally that caused you to change your idea.

Partnership Short Answer Questions

Please note: This section is only required for those applying with a partner. 1. Partnership History: How did you come to start this organization together? How long have you known each other, and in what contexts? Are there other co-founders? If so, what is their current status? (500 characters) Help Text: Provide a context for your partnership, including how you met, how long you have known each other, how well you know each other, and any previous collaborations. As conflicts are inevitable among partners, how will you and your partner work to resolve problems? Also, tell us who came up with the idea, who started the organization, and what prompted you to work together on it. If there are other founders or organizational leaders not included in the application, please elaborate on both their initial and current roles, including if they are still involved in the organization. 2. Roles/Responsibilities: Describe your individual roles within the organization and the nature of your working relationship. (500 characters) Help Text: Like any relationship, a successful partnership requires compatibility in many areas, including delineation of responsibilities. Explain what your respective titles will be and how you chose them (or how you will choose them in the future). When describing your responsibilities, please be extremely precise, explaining which specific tasks will each of you be responsible for within the organization.