The BikeTexas KidsKup race series has provided a free, non-competitive, safe space for families to learn about bike safety and how fun bicycling can be to about 200 children per year since 1999. Even reluctant riders have left KidsKup events with big smiles and a feeling of accomplishment, and many of these children return for other races, bring friends along, and are more likely to ride at home after finding out how fun it is to ride with their peers at a race. BikeTexas would like to continue this important program to fight childhood obesity, and expand it to even more children across the state, particularly in low-income areas.
BikeTexas has sponsors that provide bike safety information, healthy snacks, race numbers, and medals for children who participate in KidsKup. However, to continue the program, BikeTexas needs a partner who is committed to fighting childhood obesity to provide for the staffing hours needed to plan and present 20 races per year. BikeTexas is requesting $10,000 per year ($5,000 per school semester) from your organization to reach more children across Texas with the joy of bike riding and messages about bike safety.
1 CDC: Overweight and Obesity: Data and Statistics: Childhood Obesity Facts. (http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html)
2 CDC: Physical activity: How much physical activity do children need? (http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/children.html)
3 CDC News Room: New CDC Vital Signs: Obesity Declines Among Low-Income Preschoolers (http://www.cdc.gov/media/dpk/2013/dpk-vs-child-obesity.html#graphics)
Excellent work beginning the problem, succinctly, and factually, with plenty of logos and ethos. Good connection then to what the mission of Bike Texas can do to help attack the problem, and then pointing out exactly what Bike Texas and its sponsors can do together to make a difference.
ReplyDeleteYour first two paragraphs are only tangentially related, and your second paragraph is the stronger of the two. I might flip the order.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of heavy buzzwords here... "children" "obesity" "health" "low-income" "safe"... I think you might instead try to focus it a bit more. You start out with this grand statement about childhood obesity in the US, and then say that it is an ongoing problem throughout life... and I'm waiting for a next sentence that is something like "and please fund my miracle drug that makes all children skinny", not "Hey can I have 10k for some bikes". That's a really strange expectation to be reading through, and I think it makes your program seem a lot less "neat" than it actually is. You want your grant reader to get the application and go "Hey, bikes for kids, that's a cool idea! And they've been going for awhile and have some success! Great, I'll keep 'em going!" I think you want to avoid trying to bog them down in a grand national statistic that you really aren't going to change.
Since your organization has a history, I would also like to see just a sentence or two about the change you plan to implement... "We used to do X, and now, with your money, we'll do X AND Y!" I think it could also be powerful for you to take some time to draw out exactly where the 10k would go: This will buy 80 bikes, they will be distributed to these kids, of whom approximately 50 have younger brothers and sisters, and we expect them to last for four years, which with normal use, is 27,000 miles of riding time for children! Obviously I'm just making up numbers, but if I were funding this grant, that would be the type of data that I could really latch into, and go "Okay, I want to pick this source, because they showed me the outcome of my investment [which immediately places them above the people who did not] and it is an outcome I agree with [which means you get my personal support]. The second half is of course impossible to know unless you have insight into the actual committee doing the funding allocation, but it still is something you can strive for.
Grants Alert is a very useful tool. Thanks for sharing it!
ReplyDeleteSu: Honestly, the site looks a bit dodgy at first glance because of the ad placement and the plain fonts, but after looking at a few of the grants, I think Mr. Mizereck is just keeping the website costs down. The front page has a few resources, such as a small business guide and links to scholarships, plus links to the grant listings
Su: but you do have to skirt around the ads to get to the listings you want.
Dr. Rice: all about the search terms
Dr. Rice: our reading for today, in fact, talked about search terms
Su: If you scroll down to Choose a Grant Type, select Show all Grants
Dr. Rice: find something related to obesity or bicycling through grants alert?
What about capturing more measurables too? Such as "40% of kids that go through our program come back for more races." Or something similar? Just an idea that may work out to add weight to your organization's success story.
ReplyDeleteI agree with possibly flipping the first two paragraphs so that the focus is on BikeTexas and THEN on its goal, fighting childhood obesity.
Looks like you are off to a great start on your Needs Statement!