Grant-writing expert fills a need via UWRF

Grant-writing expert fills a need via UWRF

Chisato Hara, The Jakarta Post, Ubud, Bali

The Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) 2005 commenced on
Oct. 6 with a "soft opening" of workshops against a cool,
overcast sky, fresh from the morning's showers.

At the Toko-Toko Gallery, Restaurant and Bungalows on Jl. Raya
Campuhan Sanggingan, a group of about a dozen students listened
intently as their instructor, Barbara Thorpe, led them on a step-
by-step lesson on the ins and outs of grant writing.

A professor at the newly established California State
University Channel Islands (CSUCI), Thorpe has a Doctorate of
Education and a Masters in Public Health, and is also a
registered nurse who has written several books on alternative
healing. Furthermore, she is Associate Vice President of the
university's Research and Sponsored Programs office, which
provides services to help academics procure research and other
funding.

"I got involved in grant writing by accident," said Thorpe,
who has written over US$5 million worth of grant proposals to
date, including one that was key to establishing the CSUCI in
2002.

Her "accidental" entry into the field occurred following the
much-reported Los Angeles riots of 1992, which compelled her to
try and uncover a particular social need of the affected
community that might have contributed to triggering the riot.
With her experience in public health and nursing, she went out
into the field to research the community's healthcare and social
welfare needs with a Spanish-English bilingual team.

Initially funded by a local community nursing program run by
nuns, Thorpe and her team conducted 30-minute interviews of the
mixed-immigrant community over several weeks, and covered 750
families while focusing on existing healthcare and social welfare
conditions.

"What we found was that the only institution these immigrant
families trusted was schools," said Thorpe, "so we identified a
need for a public healthcare program based in schools."

She drew up a proposal toward this end, and procured state
funding to establish a pilot program that was replicated in other
target neighborhoods.

Armed with a 65-page PowerPoint presentation, Thorpe's
workshop provided a veritable A to Z of grant writing and the
grant proposal evaluation process, supplemented with anecdotes
and real-life examples addressing students' particular fields, as
well as insider tips.

Each student received a complete guide to grant writing,
including a planning grid to help them outline the objectives and
methods of proposed programs, a matrix on the different types of
grants available and their particular decision-making criteria, a
proposal style guide, a list of print and online grant resources,
and finally, terminology and vocabulary lists to aid students in
communicating their projects to grant providers.

"You're going to learn you have to use (grant providers')
language," underlined Thorpe.

The packet also included sample proposals as well as a copy of
a successful one developed by Thorpe to establish a seniors
lifelong educational program at CSUCI.

The workshop thus not only taught students how to write a
grant proposal, but also to write a successful one, beginning
with identifying grant providers -- from federal and state to
special-purpose and community, and from corporate to non-profit
grants - into whose broader mission their projects might best
fit.

"Although I have received funding before, I had never thought
about how to structure my mind in applying for a grant,"
Sudarsono, a rehabilitation specialist with the Reef Check marine
environmental organization, commented after the one-day workshop.

Following a morning covering technical aspects of grant
writing, Thorpe presented organizational and strategy skills,
then broke up the students into smaller groups to work on a
practical exercise in project planning.

The groups were then asked to elect a "representative" to
present their project outline, as other students were encouraged
to provide feedback and additional input on the plan.

While the students had varying levels of experience about the
subject, the atmosphere of the proactive, participatory workshop
was one of comfortable exchange, with students openly sharing and
building upon their knowledge.

One of the most pertinent points Thorpe emphasized repeatedly
in proposing a project was that "We don't whine when stating our
need. We don't look at the lack or the gap -- the statistics will
speak for themselves".

Kadek Krishna Adidharma, an environmental engineer and
translator who was attending in a personal capacity, said the
workshop "laid down the bare bones of the technical side" to
grant writing. "It was also good for brainstorming projects -- I
got a lot of ideas during the workshop," he added.

Kadek hopes to procure funding to translate literature from
Bahasa Indonesia and Balinese into English and vice-versa.

"While the workshop emphasized non-profit grants, (the
information provided) is still useful for arts grants," he said,
"and gave an introduction to all kinds of funds available out
there."

Another student, Marianne Spain, an occupational and
environmental health consultant based in Georgia, the United
States, and who signed up for the workshop while holidaying in
Bali, also found the session to be extremely informative and
comprehensive in her line of work.

Natalie Giusti, a research assistant with the World Wide
Fund's Asia Pacific Forest Program in Bali, who also attended in
a personal capacity, said the workshop was "very useful,
especially the sample materials and tips, the list of grant
resources and (proposal) checklists... and the mix of people with
different experiences".

But the nine-to-five session "was a little long for a day --
there wasn't enough time to cover all the material in detail,"
she added.

Sudarsono concurred, suggesting that the workshop be expanded
to two days. "The group simulation was particularly effective
toward setting up a similar structure for a real project," he
said.

Thorpe herself mentioned that "for a session like this, I
would usually get students on the Net to check out online
resources themselves". Once she returns to California, she plans
to use the workshop developed for UWRF - the first workshop she
has conducted involving external participants -- as a model for a
grant-writing session targeting faculty.

"It's wonderful and I'm thrilled. And I have to say I lucked
out, (as) all have such fascinating projects," she said.

She was clearly impressed by the scope of potential
development projects represented by the group, such as the East
Bali Project, a self-sustaining educational development and
localized job-creation initiative under the non-profit Indonesia
Australia Language Foundation; an emergency maternity care and
medical transportation project for isolated areas planned by the
non-profit maternity care and midwife Balinese foundation, Bumi
Sehat; and a revitalization project targeting western Sumatra --
including the disaster-hit areas of Nias and Aceh -- through the
promotion of eco-marine tourism under Reef Check.

"Initially, I had proposed an alternative healing workshop (to
organizers)," said Thorpe.

But as Kadek summed up for the group,"There is a lot of need
for this kind of (grant-writing) workshop in Bali."