Elevator Grant Session at 7^th Annual NACCE Conference

The Coleman Foundation announces grant program to grow entrepreneurship education in community colleges.

On Monday October 12, 2009, from 2:30 – 5:30 pm, as part of the 7^th Annual NACCE Conference, The Coleman Foundation will conduct an elevator grant session to support programs which establish or grow entrepreneurship education in community college settings. The session will provide community college faculty members with the opportunity to compete for grants of up to $7,500 to fund entrepreneurship projects. The foundation is targeting awards totaling up to $100,000.

The elevator grant method is based upon the business presentation model which involves describing a new business venture in a three-minute pitch that could be given to a potential investor during an elevator ride. Using these same concepts, the foundation has conducted similar sessions for secondary, community college and collegiate educators over the past seven years, employing a rapid grant making process to award well-placed, small grants in support of entrepreneurship education.

The goal of the elevator grant program is to support three categories of activities which introduce or expand self-employment education on campus. These categories are:

1. Pathways – Programs linking community colleges and four-year institutions and/or high schools (not middle or junior high schools), to include articulation activities and/or collaborative programs for students or faculty.
2. Community Outreach – outreach to existing businesses; student consulting projects; efforts to establish committed and ongoing advisory/funding partners.
3. Campus Enrichment – Programs enabling direct student exposure to entrepreneurs in the classroom and in the community; efforts to implement Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization clubs (see www.c-e-o.org for more info) on campus; or entrepreneurs-in-residence.
4. Professional Development – Implementation of faculty development training for teaching entrepreneurship in non-business disciplines.

In an era of expanding and divergent definitions of the word “entrepreneurship”, funded programs will directly advance the Coleman Foundation’s definition of Entrepreneurship.

The Coleman Foundation Definition of Entrepreneurship Self-employment through business ownership which has significant elements of risk, control and reward.

 

Eligible proposals may represent the initial effort by a community college to build pathways, do outreach and campus enrichment or introduce faculty development, or build upon prior work by introducing new program elements within these categories. Proposed programs from returning grantees must not merely increase the numbers served through existing programs, but clearly reflect a leveraging of prior funded work.

Interested applicants must be NACCE members and must complete a short proposal which will be evaluated in advance of the elevator grant session. The foundation will invite select applicants to participate in the session. At the session, the Project Director from each invited community college will present an overview of their proposed project, not to exceed 3 minutes, to a panel of representatives of the foundation. Up to 2 minutes of questions from foundation representatives will follow. Grant funds will be awarded during the NACCE conference. Presentations by students or anyone other than the Project Director will not be allowed. Winners may be invited to present their project at future NACCE events.

Registration materials consist of a completed registration form including a two-page project description, a project budget and evidence of institutional support. Evidence of this support may include hard dollar contributions, and commitments of faculty release time or other dedicated staff support. Registration forms are available here.

Registration materials must be received BY Tuesday, September 8, 2009. Registration forms and project descriptions must be submitted as MS Word or Adobe Acrobat documents to The Coleman Foundation via e-mail at info@colemanfoundation.org. The Foundation will confirm receipt of proposals at the end of the workday via an e-mail to applicants who have submitted proposals that day. However, please send submittals such that a delivery receipt is returned to you to provide immediate confirmation of receipt (if your e-mail system allows this).