FLEX-E-GRANT PROGRAM: GUIDING QUESTIONS These seven guiding questions help an organization develop a project and identify the components of a successful individual, organizational or community capacity project. What do you hope to accomplish as a result of your project? What is your project purpose? Before you can determine your project’s purpose, you should identify the problem(s) you, your organization or your community is facing. In some cases, there will be an agreement among your stakeholders as to the problem(s) your project should address and the subsequent purpose. Sometimes grantees will conduct a needs assessment to identify and prioritize the range of problems that a project can address. Example: Problem: High unemployment rate Purpose of Project: To establish new jobs within the community Tip: Start by saying: The purpose of this project is: What resources—within and outside of your community—do you have at your disposal to conduct your project? Resources are the contributions (e.g., financial, organizational, material, personnel) that your project may rely on to conduct activities. Before beginning your project, consider the resources your community can offer. Example: What resources can be obtained? Individuals and Organizations inside and outside of your community can provide your project with: Funding Ideas Expertise and Technical Assistance Time Materials Technology and Equipment Staff Tip: Where can I obtain the resources to assist with my project: (Community members, local government, community organizations and national/regional organizations are some of the groups and individuals that can provide resources for your project.) What factors within your community are likely to affect the implementation and success of your project? Community assets help to facilitate change and can enhance a community’s ability to implement its approach and achieve its outcomes. Assets are unique to each community; therefore, each project should evaluate and maximize its assets as the project progresses. Examples: Community assets can include community organizations, innovative leaders, sparkplugs, energized citizens and partnerships. Community liabilities can inhibit community change and a project’s ability to implement activities and/or achieve desired outcomes. Every community has limitations or obstacles that they must overcome as they embark on community development; however, these liabilities should begin to decrease as a project progresses. Examples: Community liabilities may include an entrenched political structure, a lack of empowerment, a fear of change, apathy, distrust and limited resources. What strategies and activities will you use to achieve your goals? Examples: Vision and Direction: To develop a Vision & Direction for your individuals, organizations or communities, you might want to: Conduct strategic planning and analysis Conduct a local or regional needs and assessment Involvement: To promote Involvement, you might: Conduct a small scale project requiring the participation of community members for completion Establish/develop a community organization, program, foundation, association Conduct outreach to raise community awareness of local issues Organize and hold meetings, conferences, forums Skills and Knowledge: To enhance Skills & Knowledge, you can: Organize and conduct group instructional activities (e.g., workshops, courses, etc.) Facilitate, organize, and conduct one on one instructional activities, such as mentoring/counseling/teaching Develop, publish, or distribute materials Support: To increase technical Support, you can: Obtain or provide technical assistance/consultation Obtain technological support How will project activities enhance the capacity of individual community members, organizations within your community, and/or the overall community? Individual (Example): Enhance Skills Enhance Empowerment Increase Awareness of Community Issues Organizational (Example): Increase Collaboration Enhance Efficiency and Effectiveness Enhance Stability/Growth Community: (Example): Improve Planning Improve Community Self-Reliance Increase Civic Participation Increase Political Participation Enhance Community Pride Improve Infrastructure Improve Educational Opportunities As a result of enhancing your community’s capacity, how will your economic, environmental, and/or social conditions improve? Economic (Example): Increase in Tourism Increase in Commerce Increased and/or Improved Employment Decrease in Out-migration of Community Members Environmental (Example): Improved Water Quality Improved Air Quality Improved Soil Quality Improved Land Use Increased/Improved Recycle Social Conditions (Example): Improved Health Improved Learning Increased Safety Improved Governance Improved Community Housing and Structures How will you know if capacity has been enhanced and conditions have improved? As part of this process, you will need to identify a practical method for obtaining data to assess progress toward your benchmarks. While collecting data can be difficult and time consuming, the resulting information can prove useful in determining whether you have achieved your stated goals. You should be able to transform each of your goals and outcomes into a measurable benchmark. The use of benchmarks will enable you to assess whether your outcomes have been achieved. Whereas outcomes can be somewhat general, benchmarks need to be specific. They also need to indicate the timeframe by which the benchmark will be attained. Finally, benchmarks need to be simple statements that can be easily understood by all community members. Individual Capacity (Example): Goal: Enhance Skills Outcome: Increase in the skills of community members. Benchmark: 20 community members, who received training, will increase their leadership skills in 2006. Organizational Capacity (Example): Goal: Increase Collaboration Outcome: Increase in the number of service providers using input from community members to determine priorities and make decisions. Benchmark: 15 local service providers will report using input from community members to make decisions in 2006. Community Capacity (Example): Goal: Enhance Community Pride Outcome: Increase in the number of suggestions for community improvements from residents. Benchmark: 50 community members will suggest a community improvement in 2006.

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