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Scoring Process
Give us your boldest ideas to advance racial equity.
Thank you for participating in Racial Equity 2030, a W.K. Kellogg Foundation challenge (the “Challenge”). This application is designed to help you submit an entry in response to the Challenge (an “Entry”) that clearly and succinctly tell us about your bold solution to drive an equitable future. Given that the Challenge has multiple phases and out of respect for your time, we have made every effort to keep this step of the process concise. The information required in your Entry is what is needed for peers and expert reviewers to sufficiently score and provide comments on your Entry without prior or outside knowledge of your work. An Entry is estimated to take 15-20 hours to complete. We recommend reading the application materials in full, as well as the Scoring Rubric, before you begin.
Given the global nature of the challenge, applications must be submitted in English. We acknowledge and understand the barrier this places on those for whom English is not a first language. However, because of the multiple review processes, peer reviews, and expert panel reviews, English was chosen to provide a consistency across all entries, and reduce the risk of translation error or misinterpreting an application. We have been intentional in the recruitment of expert reviewers to ensure representation of global perspectives and knowledge. We appreciate your accommodation and understanding.
Portions of your Entry may be published online and will be shared with others during the evaluation process. These include, but are not limited to, Organization Name, Proposal Title, Project Description, Executive Summary, and Video Presentation. Please visit the Bold Solutions Network to see what information is displayed from previous Lever for Change challenges.
Be sure to review your Entry as it will appear after it has been submitted (link at the bottom of the page) and confirm your changes have been saved. When you have completed all requirements, a message will be displayed on the screen. At that point, you can submit your final Entry. Once you have submitted the Entry, you will no longer be able to make changes and the status on your dashboard will confirm submission (you will not receive an automated email confirmation).
You must submit your Entry no later than 5:00 pm Eastern on Thursday, March 11, 2021.
This is your opportunity to make a strong first impression. Offer a brief and compelling overview of your proposal. Avoid using jargon, abbreviations, or language that a layperson may not understand. The information in this section is likely to be made publicly available in a variety of online settings and will be viewed by peers and judges of the Challenge.
Project Title (10 words)
Provide the title of your project. Choose a name that easily identifies your solution and distinguishes it from any other project.
Project Description (25 words)
Provide a short description of your project in one sentence.
Executive Summary (150 words)
Write a one-paragraph overview of your project that answers the following three questions:
Your Executive Summary should be a stand-alone statement of the problem and solution. It should not require any other context to clearly explain what you are seeking to accomplish.
You are required to submit a video that captures your project and describes why it should be funded. The video is an opportunity to showcase your passion and to pitch your story in a succinct format. We want you to share your vision with the expert reviewers in a way that is different from the written proposal format. This DOES NOT need to be a professionally produced video; video filmed on a smartphone is acceptable and encouraged.
In order to complete this part of your Entry, the Applicant will upload a short digital film using YouTube.
Set the Privacy Settings on your video to Public or Unlisted – do not set them to Private. This will be viewed by peers and expert reviewers of the Challenge.
Your video may be extracted from your Entry and made available to the public and other donors. Appeal to a broad audience. Video submissions should follow these guidelines or else it will render the Entry ineligible:
Here are general suggestions for delivering a high-quality video pitch:
Now that you’ve provided a brief overview of your project, focus on the talent and management of your team. This section will be viewed by peers and judges of the Challenge.
Applicant
During registration, you identified the Applicant responsible for receiving and taking accountability for any grant funds, as well as providing the direction, control, and supervision for the project. If the Applicant has changed, please Edit Registration Form from the Profile menu to update this information.
Project Website or Social Media Page (5 words)
Provide us with a URL to your project website or social media page of choice if one exists. Having a project website or preferred social media page is not a requirement for the Challenge and will not impact your eligibility. If you have not created a project website or a social media page, insert “Not Applicable.“
Primary Area of Expertise for the Applicant
Please select the primary area of expertise for the Applicant.
Team Collaboration
Does your team consist of two or more organizations with an executed memorandum of understanding ("MOU") (signed and dated by all parties, including the lead organization submitting this proposal)?
Partners
If your team consists of two or more organizations, please list them using the legal name of each partner. If your team does not consist of two or more partners, please enter “Not Applicable.”
Why Your Team (250 words)
Describe your team’s leadership, its members, and its collaborators or partners. If relevant, include details about how and why the collaboration was formed. How is your team uniquely positioned to make a change, and why you are the best choice to solve this problem? How does the project team reflect and include the communities served by your project?
Biographies of Key Staff
For each of the top three managers responsible for the success of the project, please provide a name (First/Last), the name of the organization the manager is affiliated with, and a brief biographical statement of up to 100 words. The biographical statement should include the title of the manager and emphasize those credentials and experiences, which are most relevant to the project.
This section will be viewed by peers and judges of the Challenge.
Challenge Statement (250 words)
What is the issue you are trying to address? Who is impacted, and why does the problem exist in the current environment?
This section provides the opportunity for you to more fully explain how you to intend to address the issue you have outlined above. This section will be viewed by peers and judges of the Challenge.
Solution Overview (250 words)
Describe how you will address the issue over the ten-year grant period. What are your anticipated results, and who will benefit? If relevant, what opportunities does your solution present for structural or systems change?
Your Intended Path to Impact (200 words)
While you may be in early stages of thinking through the details of your proposed solution, we would like to know more about how you think change will happen as a result of your efforts. Briefly describe your intended path to impact. How will you create a causal link between your shorter-term, intermediate, and long-term goals? How is your approach informed by, or built upon current trends and social movements? Please note that a more formal theory of change or logic model may be required at later stages of the Challenge.
Racial Equity and Racial Healing (200 words)
How will you embed the WKKF commitments to racial equity and racial healing in your project?
Opportunities and Accommodations (150 words)
How will you provide opportunities and reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities to actively participate and/or benefit from your solution, including as staff, advisors, partners, consultants, etc.?
Community Engagement (150 words)
How will you engage community members and organizations in your work?
Innovation (150 words)
How is your approach different from existing methods and practices? What is unique and creative about it?
Priority Populations
Select the priority population(s) as the primary beneficiaries for your solution. You must select at least one priority population, and you are welcome to provide up to three.
We will use primary subject area, locations of current work, and key words to tag your project in the Bold Solutions Network, making it possible for other funders to identify projects they might find interesting to support. This section will be viewed by peers and judges of the Challenge.
Primary Subject Area
Select the primary subject area of the solution that you and your team are proposing.
Key Words and Phrases
Provide a list of up to 5 key words or phrases that can best be used to describe your project [ex. Social-enterprise, vocation, internship, training]. Choose key words that capture the essence of your project and its intended outcomes. The key words should be different from the selected “primary subject area.”
Location of Current Work
Where are you currently implementing your solution? Select up to five locations that apply. If your work is national or regional, please select locations that best represent the work your organization does. If you are not currently implementing your project, you may select NOT APPLICABLE.
Location of Future Work
Where do you plan to implement your solution if awarded this grant? Select up to five locations that apply. These locations may or may not be the same as the locations where you are currently implementing your solution.
Sustainable Development Goals
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are considered by many donors when looking to support both domestic and international work. Select one or more of the SDGs that aligns with your solution. To learn more about each SDGs and/or to understand better where your work fits into the SDG framework you can read more here.
This section provides the opportunity for you to provide evidence that supports your solution. This section will be viewed by peers and judges of the Challenge.
Defining Success (150 words)
What does success look like for this solution? What indicators will you use to know you have achieved success?
Affirmation of Approach (150 words)
What gives you confidence that your project will work? Provide information and examples that support your thinking. These can include formal or informal studies, observations, and other indicators of change as defined by your community. If necessary, you may reference external sources. Use brackets and numbers to indicate relevant references [#], which you can clarify below.
External References (250 words)
If you included external references [#s] in the Affirmation of Approach section of your application, provide more detail here. If not applicable, please insert “Not Applicable.”
Timeline and Milestones (250 words)
What is your expected timeline for project completion and what outcomes or milestones will you track to know if you are successful or on track to be successful? You may find this Step-By-Step Evaluation Guide helpful.
Measurement of Results (250 words)
How do you plan to measure the effectiveness of your proposed project? You may find this Step-By-Step Evaluation Guide helpful.
Barrier Assessment and Risk Mitigation (150 words)
How will you ensure your project is feasible and will work as you hope it will? Describe any barriers to success, as well as any unintended consequences, and your plan to address them.
Other Considerations (150 words)
This is your final opportunity to tell reviewers anything else you think they need to know. You may emphasize or expand upon a previous point or provide new information, as necessary.
Indicate and describe the financial resources required to successfully implement your project. This section will be viewed by peers and judges of the Challenge.
Total Projected Costs
Share the total cost to implement your team’s project (in US dollars); this can include costs beyond the total amount of the grant.
Budget Narrative (250 words)
Offer a general overview for how your team would use the $20 million (USD), including the projected needs by category. You may include any explanations of existing resources you have already secured. Please explain what portion of the budget, if any, is expected to be spent on capacity building (a perfectly acceptable use of funds) to ensure effective execution on the project. Please also specify what portion of the budget is expected to be spent on measurement and evaluation of results.
Budget
Provide specific line items from the budget narrative (above) for your work. To help us understand your priorities, please provide a detailed budget for how the $20 million (USD) would be spent. Please make sure that any funds identified in this table reflect and clarify your general explanations provided in the budget narrative above. Budget should follow these guidelines or risk ineligibility:
Total Resource Requirements (100 words)
If your total projected costs exceed $20 million (USD), explain how you have secured (or plan to secure) the balance of any necessary funds and provide an overview of how those funds will be used. You may find financial sustainability resources helpful.
If your total projected costs do not exceed $20 million (USD), insert “Not Applicable.”
The following information is required for due diligence purposes. This section will not be shared with peers and judges.
Current/Previous Funders
Has this project received support from any other funders?
If your project has received support from any other funders, then provide the following information for up to three of the top other funders. For each funder, provide the legal name of the entity responsible for funding your project. Provide the period of funding (in months to date) for the funding. Last, provide the amount of funding within the prescribed period.
If your project has not received any support from other funders, then please enter “Not Applicable” in the first box for Funder #1.
Lobbying Activities
This opportunity welcomes activities that lead to systemic public policy changes. However, the project may not include any lobbying activities, defined as carrying on propaganda or otherwise attempting to influence legislation within the meaning of United States Code Section 4945(d)(1). Please see the lobbying policy for more information.
Will this funding be used for lobbying activities?
In this section, please provide additional information about the Applicant. Before answering, use the Organizational Readiness Tool to understand your ability to be competitive according to the size of your annual operating budget. Note that there is no limit to the budgetary size of the Applicant. However, public charity Applicants should consult their attorney or accountant to determine whether accepting an Award would jeopardize their public charity status. This section will be viewed by peers and judges of the Challenge.
Applicant Organization Identification Number
The Applicant must be organized and in good standing in an appropriate jurisdiction. Please provide any identification number provided by Applicant’s jurisdiction upon incorporation/organization (e.g. by the Secretary of State).
Applicant Tax Identification Number
Please provide any identification number provided by the Applicant’s taxing authority (e.g., the Internal Revenue Service).
Annual Operating Budget
What is the annual operating budget in United States Dollars (USD) of the Applicant?
Number of Employees
How many full-time employees does the Applicant employ?
Organizational Demographics
WKKF has a longstanding commitment to racial equity. We are interested in learning more about the diversity of who composes the leadership, staff, and board of the lead organization of your project (the organization provided in question 1 of the Registration). Please enter the total number of individuals within your organization for each race/ethnicity, using the category that best describes them. (While the U.S. Census Bureau continues to separate race and ethnicity into separate categories, we rely here on emerging practice that recommends combining the two into a single question. We also recognize these categories are imperfect for a global pool of individuals.)
Self-Identification. We recognize that the previous categories do not allow people to express their cultural, racial/ethnic, social and ancestral background. Use this field to self-identify you/your employees preferred race/ethnicity, and/or other information regarding your organization’s demographics.
If your team is invited to participate in any future phases of the Challenge, you may be required to provide additional information (refer to the Rules and Timeline), including but not limited to:
Lever for Change and/or the W.K. Kellogg Foundation reserves the right to perform background checks on key individuals associated with the project, and the refusal by the key individuals to provide necessary authorizations will give reason to reject any application for further consideration. Background information and the results of any background checks will be kept confidential.
