ROI Grants Overview

History

At the 2008 ROI Global Summit for Young Jewish Innovators, philanthropist
Lynn Schusterman announced the creation of two ROI Grant Funds to support the
realization of ideas being generated by members of the ROI Community.

Under the auspices of the Center for Leadership Initiatives, ROI is pleased to announce the launch of these two new funds aimed at providing young Jewish innovators with financial support, professional development and networking opportunities.

The first fund – the ROI Seed Fund - is offering up to $10,000 (USD) of seed funding to projects around the world to enable ROI members to kick-start projects quickly.

The second fund – the ROI Innovation Fund – is designed to support five advanced-stage projects. This fund is dedicated to larger, further-developed initiatives and collaborations that capitalize on the global network of the ROI Community, as well as its members’ leadership and interests. Both funds encourage collaboration within the international community of past ROI Summit participants.

See the table below for details on the fund that best suits your project idea.

ROI Grant Fund Goals

There are four overarching goals to both ROI grant funds:

1. To promote projects that build community around new forms of expressing Jewish life, culture and values;

2. To support the growth of local and global Jewish communities by providing more members with multiple access points to become more involved;

3. To promote idea generation within the ROI community by investing in projects that

nurture, strengthen and mobilize the ROI network through new expressions of Jewish innovation and creativity; and

4. To promote leadership, professionalism and collaboration within the ROI community.

	SEED FUND	INNOVATION FUND
Fund Objective	To offer seed funding that will enable ROI Community members to kick-start projects quickly	To support five large, thoroughly developed initiatives that can mobilize members and deploy the existing ROI Community
Application Launch Date	Monday, June1st , 2009	Monday, August 31st, 2009
Target Projects	Projects requiring limited seed funds to advance and/or gain momentum. Project may include content development, feasibility research, pilot events, etc	Developed initiatives that are ready for implementation Projects that take advantage of and maximize the ROI Community by involving members in a variety of ways Collaboration between ROI Community members is strongly encouraged
Project Stages	Seed stage, start-up, pilot, early implementation stage, etc	Mezzanine or advanced implementation stages, already in operation, growth and expansion, etc
Geographical Scope	Local, regional, global and virtual	Regional, global and virtual. Local projects focused on one individual community will not be considered
Language	Single and multi-language projects will be considered	Multi-language projects are encouraged
Themes	Projects should fall within one of the thematic categories featured as ROI Summit Tracks	Projects should fall within one of the thematic categories featured as ROI Summit Tracks
Funding Range	4 Budget Categories: Up to $2,000 Up to $5,000 c. Up to $8,000 Up to $10,000 for collaborative projects between ROI members only	Up to $50,000
Funding Terms	Projects with no prior funding are eligible Funding partnerships are encouraged, but not required Funding will be considered for portions of a larger project budget that have not yet been funded Grantees are encouraged to leverage ROI Seed Funds to secure additional funds	Priority will be given to projects where ROI Innovation Funds will actualize the immediate implementation of a work plan Consideration will be given to funding partnerships where ROI Innovation Grants are “last money in” – meaning, the ROI Grant should complete the project’s fundraising cycle in a case where the project budget exceeds $50,000
Payment Schedules	Payment schedules will be determined on a case-by-case basis	Payment schedules will be determined on a case-by-case basis
Measuring Success	See the 6 Parameters that will be used to gauge the success of the grants	Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the project’s success in deploying ROI community members; and the 6 Parameters that will be used to gauge the success of the grants

ROI Grant Program Components

Fiscal Support: Through two distinct funds, CLI provides support to projects in start-up stages as well as mezzanine funds for a small group of advanced-stage projects.
These funds are being launched to mobilize ROI community members to actualize their ideas now, at a time when the world is suffering an economic downturn that has had a devastating impact on the non-profit sector.

Professional Development: The ROI Grant Funds are more than just a source of funding. CLI’s dedicated ROI Grants Manager will offer personalized support to each grantee,
identifying relevant hard and soft skills needed for maximizing the return on investment of each grant. To accomplish this, CLI will focus on the longer term impact of the projects
and the ROI grantees themselves by offering a variety of capacity-building measures
for their initiatives and professional development opportunities for their personal career advancement. Additionally, a forum will be established for grantees to exchange ideas, to share lessons learned and to encourage communication and synergies.

Networking: Networking is vital for members of the ROI Community as they seek
to promote their projects and visions to impact leadership in their local and global communities. These grants will aim to offer a global Jewish platform for innovation, collaboration, cross fertilization and resource sharing.