Ask an Advisor Answers

Hi Karim,
 
 
Welcome to the Community Tool Box (CTB) and Ask an Advisor and for your questions about assessing the Trees for Sustainable Economic Development (TSED) project and grant oversight. I hope that we can provide you with timely, useful, directly applicable, and accurate information to get you started. In answer to your questions, let me first say that the function of Ask an Advisor is to guide you to and help you in the use of the resources and tools found in the CTB you need in order to develop, evaluate, and sustain community-based projects. We don't actually do the work for you, but guide you in your work as best we can. That said, let me call your attention to the resources we have here in the CTB that address each question.
 
 
Let's start with your first question about criteria to measure the TSED project's achievements. In essence, the funder wants you to address how you are going to monitor and evaluate this project. The most important resource for your purposes can be found in our "Troubleshooting Guide." If you start on our homepage, click on the "Help Taking Action" button at the top of the page, then click on the "Troubleshooting Guide" and scroll down to number 10, "We don't know how to evaluate our program or initiative." Within this section there are 12 questions and their answers that will guide you through the process. Now, you don't actually have to monitor and evaluate TSED at this stage of the game, that will come later, all you need to do is provide a plan as to how you might do so. My suggestion is to work through questions 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, and 9 and then come back to the others if you have time. As I mentioned earlier, CTB provides the resources, the advisor points you in the right direction, and you do the rest; we learn best by doing so Karim, you will undoubtedly learn a lot about evaluation through your own efforts, which is the best way I think.
 
 
Your second question asks about how you will provide grant oversight for the TSED project. Well there are actually two aspects of oversight, one concerns fiscal capacity and the other concerns the organizational capacity necessary to actually manage the project. In the first case, the funder wants to know how you will handle the funding they provide so that there is no malfeasance on your part; in other words, what controls do you have or will you have in place to ensure the grant funding is spent as intended. Well, let's begin again on our homepage. At the top right of the page click on the "Learn A Skill" button, then click on the "Table of Contents." Scroll down to the section entitled "Generating, Managing, and Sustaining Financial Resources - Information on writing grants, preparing an annual budget, and planning for financial sustainability." The chapters and toolkit in this section you need to concern yourself with are: Chapter 42. Getting Grants and Financial Resources, Chapter 43. Managing Finances, and toolkit 14. Writing a Grant Application for Funding. The five sections in Chapter 42 and the entirety of toolkit 14 will provide you with insights as to what the funder is looking for in the grant proposal. The principles and tools found within Chapter 43's five sections should give you insight into how you might approach grant oversight; pay particular attention to Section 5. Creating a Financial and Audit Committee as many funders expect you to ether have or plan to have this committee in place before they provide you with funding. In the second case, the funder wants to know how your organization plans to manage the project from start to finish, this includes fiscal oversight, but so much more. The CTB resource that will give you the best information comes from the section entitled "Developing a Strategic Plan and Organizational Structure - Information about developing a strategic plan and organizational structure, recruiting and training staff and volunteers, and providing technical assistance." To get there begin on our home page, click on the "Learn A Skill" button, click on the "Table of Contents" and scroll down to this section, which I believe is the fifth section. Now, within this section pay particular attention to Chapter 9. Developing an Organizational Structure for the Initiative, sections 1 - 3 specifically. The other chapter that will offer guiding principles in terms of management is Chapter 15. Becoming an Effective Manager, specifically sections 1 and 2.
 
 
Okay, with that Karim, we thank you for visiting the CTB and for posing your questions to Ask an Advisor. To reiterate, please refer to our Troubleshooting Guide, specifically number ten regarding the monitoring and evaluation of the TSED project. For information on fiscal and organizational oversight of the grant, please refer to chapters 9, 15, 42, and 43. If there is anything else we can help you with, please let us know. Take care, be well, do good work.
 
 
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