Background Information -- Scope of Services
This plan is always tailored to meet the client's needs.
- Training and Technical Assistance – Staff training specific to alcohol, drug and mental health programs can be designed and delivered by direct contract with GWS or through Dave's work with the California Association of Addiction Recovery Resources, Inc.
( CAARR ), which provides free training and technical assistance to alcohol, drug and related agencies.
- Needs Assessment: Comprehensive needs assessment in the alcohol, drug or mental health field can be performed for your agency or group by direct contract. Using a combination of research, interviews, survey tools, and other data collection, we can help your agency identify its customers and their needs, to support grant proposals or to inform your agency's strategic planning efforts.
- Project Management: Fixed-term or ongoing projects requiring multiple skills in planning, organizing, budgeting, monitoring and coordination can be performed for your agency in situations where hiring to fill the need is not a preferred option. Dave's specialized knowledge and experience in the publicly-funded behavioral health field can help you to organize your effort in a way that will maximize efficiency, effectiveness and cost-benefit.
- Initial Resource Development services often include the following:
- Research . Private foundation research & recommendations – Approximately 20 hours for each project, completed within 30 days. Corporate prospect research or government source research are generally conducted hourly and can often take two months - due to the huge scope of government sources and the obscurity of much corporate data.
- Case statement development – A full case statement includes agency mission, the problem/need, the agency's strategic approach and history in addressing the need, the target audience, the program design and objectives, organizational resources and structure, and budget development/fundraising plan. The case statement document, usually about 12-15 pages once complete, is the template for all future writing - for brochures and other public materials as well as for grant writing.
- A full case statement requires about 30 hours of interviews, writing and editing, and can be completed within 2-3 months, depending on scale of the project and your availability to review materials. Much of it can be done in the same time frame as the research.
- Boilerplate proposal - We take the most promising private foundation prospect asking for a full proposal and write the boilerplate proposal to meet that foundation's guidelines. With the case statement completed, the process is largely editing down the larger document to approximately 5 pages, writing new sections required by the specific foundation, compiling all necessary attachments and writing cover letters, etc. This can be done within three weeks of completing the case statement and research; the initial proposal takes about 15 hours to develop.
- Boilerplate letter of inquiry - We write the letter to meet the guidelines of the most promising private foundation prospect asking for a letter of inquiry. We edit and sharpen the argument further, compiling all necessary attachments, etc. for your signature. This can be completed within one week of completing the boilerplate proposal; this initial letter takes about 10 hours to develop.
- Research . Private foundation research & recommendations – Approximately 20 hours for each project, completed within 30 days. Corporate prospect research or government source research are generally conducted hourly and can often take two months - due to the huge scope of government sources and the obscurity of much corporate data.
This initial phase of work takes about 3 months. For this investment you receive: a prioritized foundation prospect list; a full case statement; and a full proposal and a letter of inquiry submitted to your best foundation prospects. At this point, you have professionally-developed materials that would allow your staff or volunteers to write and submit materials to the rest of the list, if you choose.
Additional proposals or letters to all other identified prospects can then be contracted on an hourly basis. We can usually complete submissions to the entire list within two months (once the prospect list is complete, we can give an estimate of cost). Proposals in response to foundation invitations can be added on an hourly basis. The cost of corporate proposals is about the same as foundation proposals; government proposals can take anywhere from 20 hours up to more than 100 hours. Reviews of proposals by your own staff or volunteers can also be done on an hourly basis.
