Full Project Application
Following review of your Letter of Interest, you may then be invited to complete a full project application. Full project applications should include the elements listed in the sections below, unless otherwise directed by EcoWB.
Please do not submit a full project application prior to completing the LOI process.
If your proposal is accepted as an EcoWB project, we will ask that you sign an agreement acknowledging the scope of the project and EcoWB’s involvement, and certifying that the applicant organization will abide by EcoWB’s project criteria and standards.
Reminder: As you complete your full project application, please keep your text in all sections as concise as possible.
ABSTRACT/SUMMARY
Please provide a brief abstract/summary paragraph for your intended project. You should include any major points you deem necessary, including your role within it as the proposer, the geographical location for the project, and the proposed duration for the project, i.e., number of weeks/ months/ years. Please also elaborate upon why you believe your project is important and in what capacity, what potential impact it can make, the purpose it will serve, and what the intended tangible results are. You should also briefly mention your source of institutional support and any potential partners, local or otherwise.
BACKGROUND
Provide a detailed explanation of the ecological problem that you intend to address. This should include an analysis of the cause of the problem and the impacts to both the ecological system and surrounding communities. This might include a history of ecological changes over time, threats to specific species, cultural, political or economic influences, or patterns of practice in managing resources. Next, summarize your project and explain how it addresses the problem and its causes. When describing your project, indicate the significance and importance of this work to both the ecological system and the communities. If available, include examples of similar projects and how your project compares to these. If relevant, describe how your project relates to any broader issues beyond the project scale, and whether it is part of a larger existing project.
Please also describe how the project aligns with EcoWB’s Basic Criteria and Active Areas of Interest.
DESIRED OUTCOMES & OBJECTIVES
Desired Outcomes
Outcomes are the results you want your project to produce. Examples include but are not limited to: innovations, conservation progress, agreements, community improvements, reports, work products, research results/publications. Describe what will ideally be happening after your proposed project is completed. If someone came to your site in the future when the project is completed, what would they observe that is different from the present? Describe what will have changed: describe what your community will know, be able to achieve, and will be doing as a result of EcoWB’s assistance.
Provide both quantitative and qualitative details about the short- and long-term benefits of the project. Three outcomes are sufficient but you may include more. An example of a clearly described desired outcome would be “Program volunteers will have developed a logical task timeline for removing and replacing 25-50% of the invasive plant species within the project site area with beneficial non-invasive species before the end of 2022.”
Desired Objectives
Objectives are the real targets that your group will complete in order to achieve your desired outcomes. Please describe your project objectives to the best of your ability.
Objectives should always be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-Bound). This approach helps you make sure your objectives are things you can really do, and that they clearly connect to your desired outcomes. One example of a SMART objective that clearly links to the above desired outcome would be “Collect all available invasive plant species location data on a minimum of 50% of the project site before the end of 2021.” You can see that completing this objective of knowing where the invasive plants are located the first year will help you achieve the desired outcome of removing and replacing some of those invasive plants by the end of 2022.
METHODOLOGY
Describe the overall strategy for project implementation. For example, what methods and approaches will be used to complete the work, monitor progress, and evaluate the results? The following categories may be helpful for organizing your response.
Activities
Identify the key tasks and or activities that will be carried out to implement the program successfully. As much as possible, try to organize this section in temporal order, or in other words, which activities will be carried out in the short, intermediate, and longer term. (You will be asked to develop a more detailed schedule and timeline in the following section).
Stakeholder Involvement
Describe how the proposed methods will engage and empower the target population and affected stakeholders.
Outcomes
Describe how the proposed methods will lead to results reaching the above-defined outcomes and objectives. We recognize that there are a number of factors that can influence an ecological outcome. However, it would be helpful to demonstrate how the project activities are expected to lead to improvements in ecological systems and the connected communities.
Schedule and Timeline
Provide a schedule that details the major project program milestones and when they will begin and end during the course of work. You should ideally begin with the initial starting date you have in mind for the project, and a prospective end date, with the anticipated milestones marked in between. Please also include the schedule of project partners and accountability in a timeline format, delineating what particular role each partner will/may play at different points of the project. This can be provided in a Gantt Chart or any other format you deem fit, but should serve the purpose of showing the anticipated schedule, timeline, and partner responsibilities to the best of your ability.
BUDGET & FUNDING STRATEGY
Please provide an overview of the budget or financial plans you have to support your proposed project. As you are writing your budget, consider how your budget supports or matches with the other parts of your proposal. Let this budget provide an overall story or general picture of how you will fund your project activities.
Write your budget so that it is both conservative and accurate, to the best of your knowledge and ability. Be sure to check all of your numbers with other members of your group to ensure that your cost estimates are considered accurate by your group.
If you are able to provide a detailed budget, please use a spreadsheet format and include clear column headings; it is important to organize your budget so it is easy to read and understand.
The budget overview should not exceed two pages (A4 size paper). If you need a template, click here for a general project budget template.
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Note: Your budget or financial plans do not need to be perfect for your project to move forward! Rather, EcoWB would like to see that you have considered your finances thoughtfully prior to beginning your project.
RESOURCES SUPPLIED & RESOURCES REQUESTED
Resources Supplied/Available
For the entities that support your project and other partner organizations that assist with implementing your project (those identified in your LOI and new ones), specify the type of support and/or resources they provide. Examples include endorsement, equipment, supplies (e.g. field and other research supplies) facilities (office, meeting, laboratory, storage, housing), communications, mobility (vehicles, boats, etc.), long distance travel and/or travel to and from project field site(s).
For key staff or volunteer personnel to be involved, specify their existing or expected relationship with the collaborating organization(s) and their qualifications (existing qualifications or those required for future local volunteers or staff, such as: coordination, accounting, management, logistics, education, research, research assistance, technical/social/cultural skills and knowledge, insertion in the community/district/region). Financial resources, if available or foreseen for the project, should be specified according to the categories you have identified, and detailed in the Budget/funding strategy section of the proposal.
Resources Requested
Describe the kind of assistance you would like for the project, and specify what form it would take, for both personnel (principally volunteers) and other needs. Please refer to EcoWB Project Support Services for examples concerning our principal areas of assistance: Research, Training and Teaching, Project Design and Management, Volunteer Support, and Fundraising/Fund administration. Be as specific as possible when detailing volunteer or personnel skills required and the time necessary (e.g. offsite: a few hours per week; onsite: full/part- time over one or several specified periods). Keep in mind that we do not provide direct grant funding, and only very limited travel funding for volunteers.
For both sections (supplied and requested resources), please provide realistic information and requests, as accurate as possible, in line with your project objectives and desired outcomes. Please organize both parts in a complementary way (if possible in a table format), and as much as possible concurring with your proposed budget and funding strategy.
EVALUATION PLANNING & MONITORING
Briefly describe the project monitoring and evaluation strategy that will be used. This should include how you will track progress (monitoring plan), define success (evaluation plan), and how and when results will be communicated, including a final report to EcoWB. The monitoring plan should include what success indicators will be measured throughout the project and the associated monitoring timeline. The evaluation plan should cover the outcomes you provided in the Outcomes/Objectives section. You may provide this information in a table format (see a template with examples below).
Example table of a project monitoring and evaluation strategy.
RISK ASSESSMENT
Describe potential risks to the completion and long-term sustainability of the project, and any potential adverse effects on the environment or human wellbeing (such as introduced species or disruptions to livelihoods). The description does not need to be exhaustive but should include things that would be unacceptable if left unaddressed. Explain the avoidance, minimization, and mitigation procedures that will be put in place for identified risks.
HEALTH & SAFETY PLAN
For projects requesting on-site support from EcoWB volunteers, a Health & Safety Plan must be submitted with your full proposal. The Health and Safety Plans should describe the physical and health hazards that could harm workers/volunteers, procedures to prevent accidents, and steps to take when accidents occur.
The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommends that each written plan include the following basic elements:
- Policy or goals statement
- List of responsible persons
- Hazard identification
- Hazard controls and safe practices
- Emergency and accident response
- Employee/Volunteer training and communication
- Recordkeeping
HOW TO SUBMIT THE FULL PROJECT APPLICATION
Please compile your Full Project Application into a single .PDF document and upload it below.
