Quote:
Nick Hennecke wrote:
Do you have any suggestions on where to start looking for available grants? I'm part of an Aikido group that is working on starting out on our own. Any advice/pointers you might have would be more than welcome. Though not impossible, it's harder to enter and blend when you don't know where your partner is. :-)
Thanks!
Nick
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One piece of advice I would offer is to establish exactly which service to the community you know your dojo to provide. Do you do work with youth-at risk, dis-advantaged populations, drug or alcohol rehab? Can you provide evidence that your dojo and art contribute directly to the betterment of a distinct population? This is what you may want to drill on. After you figure it out, go to a organization that is interested in that service directly. Say, county mental health, and match your program to their current funding. In CA we recently got a huge windfall of mental health dollars because of a statewide proposition. So we've been matching our grants to meet that money.
Otherwise, it can look like people having a good time looking for someone to fund it.
Not to lecture you,cuz I'm not, but training for ourselves isn't service enough to ask for community dollars. Only when we are in full circle with the community can we expect to recieve anything appropriately. Otherwise we become self-serving. No bueno.
If you need more help, check back with Lynn or PM me and I'll se if I can help.
jen