Loomio
Sun 22 Feb 2015 3:20AM

Application for grants

AJ Adam Jorlen Public Seen by 286

There are many grants we can apply for. As we don't have any admin staff yet, and no one in their right mind like to apply for grants without getting something for it, I suggest that we give the grant applier a cut of the money if we receive it.

JL

Jen Lowe
Disagree
Tue 24 Mar 2015 1:14AM

As Andrew suggested- this needs more thought and is irregular.

AJ

Adam Jorlen
Abstain
Tue 24 Mar 2015 1:45AM

Thx for good input Andrew. A few thoughts:
-We could ask Lottery West about their position on this.
-The grant amount can't be too big / too small for such a scheme.
-I still like to find an incentive rather than fixed fee for grant writers.

DU

Deleted account
Abstain
Tue 24 Mar 2015 2:00AM

Thanks Andrew, I would like to explore this further though.

DU

Deleted account
Abstain
Tue 24 Mar 2015 2:01AM

Thanks Andrew, I would like to explore this further though.

JL

Jen Lowe
Abstain
Wed 25 Mar 2015 2:36AM

more research needed

AM

Andrew Molnar Mon 23 Mar 2015 4:58AM

I think you will find that this is highly irregular and NOT within the Grants framework, be it Lottery West or State Government.

Having had some dealings with grants in the past with Grant Applications and their Acquittal (accounting for all expenditure), I would doubt that a Grant application with 15% allocated for the writing of it would ever be accepted.

Should the Grant application not state that a portion of the money was fro the writing of it and not be shown in the Acquittal would cause a problem.

I have had legal advice that would that this could be fraud.

Tread very carefully.

JL

Jen Lowe Tue 24 Mar 2015 1:13AM

That is good advice Andrew Molnar- there will need to be some more thought put into this. I am sure there are ways to build capital that will pay for some of the admin costs which lie outside of grants. Thinking cap on...

DU

Deleted account Tue 24 Mar 2015 2:01AM

This is a first time for me, but shouldn't we be able to include "administration" within our list of expenditures? In which case we would have to think of things differently.The role of 'administration' would simply be shared between collective members; and include the compilation and application of grants.

JL

Jen Lowe Wed 25 Mar 2015 1:47AM

Yeah Jordan. I think you are right. Adam and I have been discussing this. An important element in enkel is that we must try and look for new ways of doing things that can make our system (outside of 'the' system) work. Which means operating within the law but outside of dated systems that hold progress back. We are preparing a bunch of stuff for lottery west and in discussion with them so I'll ask Pete to have a chat with them on this note.

JL

Jen Lowe Wed 25 Mar 2015 1:48AM

How do i change my vote guys?

AJ

Adam Jorlen Wed 25 Mar 2015 2:08AM

Clarification on one of the objections (to my own proposal):
The amount we seek should not be too small. I don't think there's much point in applying for grants that are less than say 5k.

I also wonder if this reward system would work for really big amounts. Say there's a 200k grant we win from a global philanthropic foundation in Singapore... Would the grant writer get $30000?

JL

Jen Lowe Wed 25 Mar 2015 2:13AM

I'm not sure I like the sound of that as it creates unease and makes financial gain a big imperative. How do you measure something like that? eg: we work for 18 months part time with zero income (unless we get in back later...)- many other people invest heaps of time and effort over many months. A new member comes along and uses a bunch of that material to write something and gets a hefty grant. All good news for enkel but might leave a few people sour if it becomes a personal gain game....

JL

Jen Lowe Wed 25 Mar 2015 2:14AM

Clarify if I am missing something- I ma not always the best at seeing the nigger picture on how these things can work....

JL

Jen Lowe Wed 25 Mar 2015 2:15AM

are you trying to be controversial beb? hehe

AJ

Adam Jorlen Wed 25 Mar 2015 2:26AM

@jenlowe1 - If you wish to change your position you can do so by clicking “edit” next to your position statement in the “Current decision” panel on the right-hand side of the page.

AJ

Adam Jorlen Wed 25 Mar 2015 2:34AM

Yeah, as mentioned earlier in this thread: How do we decide what's boring work and not?

My personal thinking behind this is that people work on what they like working on in enkel. Everything that doesn't get done (such as grant writing) must nevertheless be done and has to be outsourced.

On the other hand... Perhaps we should just simply not do things no one wants to do. We don't have to apply for grants. 99% of startups in the world don't...

AJ

Adam Jorlen Wed 25 Mar 2015 2:37AM

We can also start a "shit bucket", i.e. a database of crap work that no one wants to do. Then we portion out this shit among all members, which makes it easier to do. Maybe one hour / month / member. Admin work is fine for the shit bucket, but grant writing perhaps not...

DU

Deleted account Fri 27 Mar 2015 12:38PM

Great. I couldn't remember my loomio
password :-) but
I thought something calculated according to hours would be better.

Megan.

AJ

Adam Jorlen Wed 2 Dec 2020 5:08AM

Re-opening this thread from 2015 as I still think this might be a good way to get grant money. There's a lot of money out there but none of us members have the capacity to apply for them. Perhaps a incentive / commission to a member or external person can solve that problem. There's a comment from 2015 that this arrangement could be considered as fraud, but I'm not so sure about that.

BJ

Bev Johnson Wed 2 Dec 2020 11:06PM

When I go for grants I charge 10% for small grants - under $100k. If it's a big grant, $1m I charge 7%.

BJ

Bev Johnson Wed 2 Dec 2020 11:09PM

I am not sure about the fraud thing. I have assessed grants and you usually know the people/organisation that is applying. You know what they are up to and about how much it will cost. 15% is huge. I knew a woman who was charging 17%. I don't know how much work she got.

BJ

Bev Johnson Wed 2 Dec 2020 11:16PM

If we wanted to write up a grant now I would do it pro bono. My work cranks up again in January and this is part of my work so I would want to be paid if I did it later in the year.

AJ

Adam Jorlen Tue 8 Dec 2020 2:52AM

What happens if the grant application isn't successful @Bev Johnson ? Would you still get the same %?

BJ

Bev Johnson Tue 8 Dec 2020 7:34AM

No. That is part of the business and part of the risk. You get a percentage of what you get. If you get nothing your percentage is 0%. On the other hand. Whenever we have missed out on a grant we keep trying. It will be successful eventually. I have never had someone go to a different consultant to write the second application. I guess I would be shitty if I did all the work for the first, unsuccessful, application then another consultant used my work to apply for another grant.

AJ

Poll Created Wed 9 Dec 2020 12:28AM

We'll remunerate people who are successful in getting grants Closed Sat 12 Dec 2020 12:05AM

Outcome
by Adam Jorlen Fri 18 Dec 2020 1:06AM

We will remunerate people who are successful in getting grants for enkel, the Naval Store or other projects and initiatives managed or auspiced by the co-operative.
The grant application writer will receive an amount of between 7-10%, to be decided by a member Loomio vote initiated by the grant application writer.

Members and non-members who are successful in getting grant money for enkel will receive 10% of the sum.

Results

Results Option % of points Voters
Agree 100.0% 5 AJ AT JQZ MG GB
Abstain 0.0% 0  
Disagree 0.0% 0  
Block 0.0% 0  
Undecided 0% 6 PVS JS BJ KK MW

5 of 11 people have participated (45%)

MG

Marc Griffiths
Agree
Wed 9 Dec 2020 12:28PM

Good to incentivise success

AT

Andrew thomson
Agree
Wed 9 Dec 2020 12:28AM

so long as this is legally ok?

BJ

Bev Johnson Wed 9 Dec 2020 6:46AM

As the conditions of grants vary there may not be the opportunity to have this as a basic rule. How about something like, "Each grant application written on behalf of enkel should have a negotiated amount of between 7-10% for the applicant writer, to be negotiated with the board."