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Enlight Project Grants

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Project Grants

Through generous support from the Enlight Foundation, VIA is able to offer funding for teams to further develop, test, and implement their projects as part of their successful participation in VIA’s Social Impact Leadership Accelerator.

Baseline Criteria

Teams must be current Social Impact Leadership Accelerator participants who are actively engaged in the course and completing all required activities or past participants who successfully completed the accelerator program (including those who have received a VIA grant in the past).

Timeline (2024-25)

  • Early April: Application opens
  • May 10: Application deadline
  • May 13 – 24: Application review period
  • May 24: Notice of awards
  • May 31: Teams confirm award acceptance
  • June: Coaching calls + funds disbursed
  • June 7-8: Grant recipients present on projects at speaker series
  • December 15: Interim project report deadline
  • June 2025: Grant recipients submit final project report and join a project reflection / interview

Amount

Teams may apply for a grant up to the amount of $3,000 USD. This is currently a one-time opportunity. VIA cannot guarantee funding will be offered in the future. However, if future funding opportunities become available, receiving this grant will not disqualify teams from applying for future funding.

Authorized Expenses

Funds can only be used for the items and activities approved per your project proposal budget. Funds cannot be used to cover salary or compensation for you or your teammates. Any changes to project scope and/or budget spend must be approved in writing by Kazutoh Ishida before action is taken. You will be required to refund VIA for any unauthorized spend outside of approved amounts.

Reporting Instructions

  • An interim report is due halfway through the grant period, on Dec 15, 2024.
  • A final report is due no later than 12pm PST on June 30, 2025. We will require you to return the entire fund if you fail to submit the final report by June 30, 2025.
  • Your interim and final narrative reports should be in Word format documenting the grant activities, outcomes, and next steps, and should include both a narrative report and financial report section with an itemized list of expenses incurred (see guidelines for each below).

Any unused funds from the grant will be due back to VIA at the same time as the final report. We will require you to return the entire fund if you fail to submit the final report by June 30, 2025.

Narrative Reporting Guidelines

  • Summarize the activities and accomplishments.
  • Describe the immediate and possible long-term impacts of the activities. How do they relate to the original goals and assessments of success?
  • How were the achievements of goals and impacts measured?
  • Were there any unexpected challenges? How were they addressed or mitigated?
  • What are your plans for continuing the project activities?
  • Please share pictures and captions that can be distributed on VIA’s social media platforms

Financial Reporting Guidelines

  • Dates covered by the report.
  • Grant funds received to date.
  • Actual expenditures compared to the approved budget and an explanation of a variance, if any.
  • Amount of remaining funds at the end of the grant period.

Application Questions

  • Team / Organization Name
  • Primary Contact Name
  • Primary Contact Email
  • Primary Contact Mailing Address
  • Current Members
  • Accelerator Cohort
  • Have you received an Enlight Project Grant before? (yes/no)
  • [Past Cohorts Only] Project Update – Please provide a brief update of how your project has progressed since you participated in the accelerator. Has your project or program design changed, and if so, in what way? What have you piloted / tested or implemented? What insights have you gained from testing or implementation, or through feedback from stakeholders (e.g., participants, community members, collaborators, etc)?
  • Project Goals – Please describe your team’s top 2-3 goals for the next 6-12 months.
  • Initiatives – How would this grant help you achieve your goals? Please describe the project development or implementation initiatives this grant funding will support.
  • Outcomes – Please describe your intended outcomes, or change you hope to achieve, as a result of the grant-supported initiatives.
  • Budget – Please upload a budget showing your anticipated expenses, including those funded by this grant and other associated expenses that will be funded from other sources.
  • Project Pitch (video recording) – Teams who receive this grant will present their projects at the Speaker Series in June. In preparation for the Speaker Series, we would like you to provide a video of your project pitch (up to 5 minutes). Your video should cover your project goals, initiatives, and intended outcomes (the change you hope to achieve), but the format is up to you! Please add a link to your video file (from Google Drive, Google Photos, Dropbox, YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) and make sure that the file will be accessible to someone with the link. If your team receives the grant, you may be asked to prepare a longer (pre-recorded) presentation.