This template was designed in 2015 and placed into the revised Preservation Iowa Handbook to be a guide to future administrators who will be approved by the board to oversee the annual Iowa Historic Schoolhouse Conference & Mini-Grant program. This template is only a guide and is subject to change upon the board/administrative suggestions
This mini-grant consists of a portion of the revenue generated by the school house conference. The number and amount of funding will change year to year. Preservation Iowa has agreed to forgo receiving their portion of the profit from sponsoring this event and instead turn it into a Mini-grant. This mini-grant which was adapted by the board in the Fall of 2015 is sponsored by Bill Sherman in regards to the Annual Iowa Historic School House Conference. Single, multiple, or no awards may be given at the board of Preservation Iowa’s discretion and in accordance to funding availability.
Step 1: At the end of year annual meeting decide whom will take on this initiative. At this time you should decide 2-3 members of the board that are willing to sit on a judging panel for the Iowa Historic Schoolhouse Mini-Grant program.
Step 2: Check your calendar and clear the date for the School House Conference that year, so that you may attend. You will need to reach out to William Sherman, who is the event coordinator and originator. Bill will fill you in on all conference information. At this time you should also request a conference brochure to go out to all of our membership to bring publicity on this conference. Here is Bills information:
William & Faith Sherman
Phone #: 515 278 2242
3928 Twana Drive, Des Moines, IA 50310
Step 3: Prepare the Call for nominations form and application form to go out to the Preservation Iowa directory, be posted on our web page, and make 100 hard copies of each for the attendees of the school house conference. These documents are templates which are saved. These documents will need to be updated yearly.
Step 4: Begin receiving and processing the applications until the deadline. Applications should include a fully completed application document, a narrative not to exceed 750 words, and 2-6 pictures of the project. More information on guidelines and expectations can be found in the Call for nomination/guidelines document. At this time while receiving applications you need to communicate with your judges on how to access and view these nominations. These applications should be uploaded into the Preservation Iowa Dropbox account at director@preservationiowa.org . Judges should also receive their scoring sheets in this correspondence with direction on ranking these projects from most deserving, as #1, to least deserving. A teleconference should be set up at this time to allow the judging panel to visit about the final scoring results to come.
Step 5: You should upload all projects to drop box by the day after the application deadline. Judges should be given 1 week to read through and process these applications before returning their score sheets.
Step 6: Since you have received all of the score sheets now you need to add the number from each judge’s ordinal ranking on these projects. The lowest 1-2 numbers will be most likely to be awarded the Mini-Grant(s) depending on how much funding is available and how much is requested by the project. This final score sheet you have created is a means to help expedite the voting process. It is completely up to the judging panel to finalize the decision being made on the award(s).
Step 7: Once you have received a complete decision on where funding will be administered you need to send out an Award letter(s) to awardee(s). At this time it is also good to send out a letter letting other applicants know their project was not selected as a winner. Both of these documents for winners and non-winners are drafted templates. The awardee letter will discuss further obligations and the rules for administration of the Mini-Grant as outline by the Board of Preservation Iowa in the Project Compliance Document.
Step 8: Recipients should respond to your award letter and give you the information you need to develop an award plaque. This is a good time to figure out if you can meet to present them with their award plaque and get a picture with them. This may take place after the award is given at the following years Annual Historic Schoolhouse Conference. The certificate of award document is a drafted template. Only one plaque will be provided by Preservation Iowa at no cost to the recipient. Additional plaques may be produced at a $30 charge to the pursuant purchaser.
Step 9: Projects funding will be received by recipients within 3 weeks of their award letter date or at the discretion of the Preservation Iowa Board. At this time a check will be mailed to the recipient with the Project Compliance Document. This compliance document is a template which is saved. This document is to be completed and returned in accordance with the instruction given to the awardee as set forth on said document and in compliance to the grant guidelines. Recipients have 365 days or one fiscal year to use the monies of this Mini-Grant from the time these monies are released. These monies are only to be used in accordance with the original applicants request as outline in the narrative which was selected by the approved panel of judges.
Step 10: Write up a brief summary of this year’s winning project(s). Make sure that the projects receiving funding are highlighted in the next quarterly newsletter and that information on this dispersal of the Mini-Grant is highlighted on Preservation Iowa’s Webpage and Face Book Pages.
Step 11: Follow up on the grant should be conducted within a reasonable time frame and before and next year’s schoolhouse conference. This will allow these recipients to give a report on funding use and project progress. Make sure if the recipients have not completed their Project Compliance Document that they are on track to. If any project and Mini-Grant award falls outside of compliance, these monies shall be subject to reimbursement to Preservation Iowa at the discretion of its board.
Step 12: Finally, if you have questions reach out to former members who have conducted this initiative and receive their input. Good luck on a great round of the Mini-Grant!
Document drafted fall 2015 by Caleb Giesel Executive Director
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