The U.S. Embassy in Ankara announces its country-wide Grants Program. Funding is available to support projects that address one or more of the following key bilateral themes:
- Support Shared Security: Projects for consideration in this category could/should support and advance cooperation between the United States and Turkey in bilateral counterterrorism efforts and transnational crime as well as in NATO and other multilateral security organizations.
- Strengthen Economic Prosperity – Promoting Innovation and Fostering Entrepreneurship:Depending on the level of entrepreneurial opportunity and ability in the targeted region(s) for the activity, proposals here could include trainings to introduce the concept and principles of entrepreneurship, promote networking and mentorship opportunities, provide small-and-medium enterprise (SME) development planning, teach marketing and outreach techniques, foster research and development/innovation, etc.
- Reinforce Democratic Values – Media: Proposals should support journalists and/or citizen journalists through trainings or activities to bolster media literacy, investigative journalism, social media/internet publishing, research and fact checking, documentary film making, visual or other storytelling.
- Reinforce Democratic Values – Freedom of Expression and Public Discourse: Proposals should focus on activities to encourage cultural and arts projects promoting public discourse and freedom of opinion, such as through innovative forms of creative expression, reaching and teaching undeserved audiences (e.g., ethnic or religious minorities, LGBT, youth or women – or promoting awareness of their issues), encouraging respect of cultural and social diversity, pluralism and equity in cultural life and policy.
- Foster Turkish and U.S. Ties: Proposals for programs developing American Studies, English language teaching/learning, STE(A)M education among Turkish youth and which encourage study in the United States will be considered under this category.
Call for Proposals is now OPEN as of November 7, 2019.
Call for Proposals will CLOSE on January 21, 2020, 17:00 Turkey Time
Please click here to download the full Notice of Funding Opportunity for additional information
This notice is subject to availability of funding.
IMPORTANT NOTE
Due to the heavy workload, we are not able to accept telephone inquiries. If you have any questions about the grant application process, please submit your questions in English to [email protected] before 17:00 on December 13, 2019.
- To help us track our procurement effort, please indicate in your email where you saw this posting.
Who can apply?
Legally registered civil society organizations and non-profit organizations such as associations (dernek) or foundations (vakıf) and individuals operating in Turkey. The Mission cannot give grants to commercial firms, not-for-profit firms, municipalities, or government establishments. Non-profit higher educational institutions (universities) can apply.
All organizations including civil society organizations, non-profit organizations and higher educational institutions must obtain a DUNS number, NCAGE code and register with www.SAM.gov. All are free of charge. This does not apply to individuals. For instructions on how to obtain a DUNS number, NCAGE code and register with www.SAM.gov, check the Additional Resources section of this page.
Organizations or individuals with an existing, open grant with the U.S. Embassy to Turkey are ineligible to apply for additional grants until the existing grant is closed.
How much?
The total amount requested per grant cannot exceed $80,000. Minimum amount for a grant is $5,000. Staffing costs should not exceed 25% of the total budget requested from the U.S. Embassy. The budget must be submitted in U.S. dollars.
How to apply?
Applications must be submitted in English; applications submitted in Turkish will be considered ineligible. For an application to be considered eligible upon technical review, all mandatory documents must be submitted. Any documents missing would cause the application to be considered ineligible and will not be subject to further evaluation.
Mandatory Documents
- SF424 Forms: Please make sure to submit all three SF424 forms. These forms can be found under the “Docs & Forms for Applicants” section of this page.
- Form SF-424 (Application for Federal Assistance for organizations) if applying as an organization or form SF-424-I (Application for Federal Assistance for individuals) if applying as an individual.
- Form SF424A (Budget Information for Non-Construction programs)
- Form SF424B (Assurances for Non-Construction programs)
- Budget Justification Narrative: There is no specific form for this; any format is acceptable. Explain how and why a budget line item helps to meet the project deliverables. In other words, describe each of the budget expenses as to how the costs were estimated and justify the need for the cost. Include information about your project’s scalability. For example, can your budget increase or decrease based on such factors as the number of participants or geographic spread? Note that increased budget flexibility can increase a proposal’s competitiveness.
- Grant Application Form: Please use the Grant Application form provided under the “Docs & Forms for Applicants” section of this page. The proposal should contain sufficient information that anyone not familiar with it would understand exactly what the applicant wants to achieve. Please do not exceed the character limits.
- Attachments:
4.1. Legal registration documents of civil society organizations and non-profit organizations
- One page CV or resume of each key personnel who are proposed for the program
- Letters of support from project partners describing the roles and responsibilities of each partner or a Memorandum of Understanding among all partners (if applicable)
- Official permission letters, if required for project activities (if applicable)
- If your organization has a NICRA and includes NICRA charges in the budget, your latest NICRA should be included as a PDF file.
All applications must be submitted electronically to [email protected] by the deadline of January 21, 2019 at 17:00 (Turkey time).
- Applications sent via cloud transfer systems will not be processed.
- Please do not send e-mail with win.rar and win.zip attachments.
- The Embassy’s e-mail system has a 25 MB limitation. Any e-mail which exceeds 25 MB may not be delivered. Should your application package exceed 25 MB, consider sending it in several smaller e-mails.
- Applications received after the deadline of January 21, 2020 at 17:00 (Turkey time) will be considered ineligible.
- To help us track our procurement effort, please indicate in your email where you saw this posting.
Applicants are only allowed to submit one proposal per organization/individual per grants cycle. If more than one proposal is submitted from an organization/individual, all proposals from that institution/individual will be considered ineligible for funding.
Shortlisted applicants may be asked to provide additional documentation or revisions to their proposal.
How are proposals evaluated?
Projects should have a public teaching/public dialogue or educational component. Applications with an American component are considered stronger, as are projects focused on underserved communities (youth, women, LGBT, etc.) and projects located outside Turkey’s metropolitan areas. Applications that have in kind or cost sharing support are also considered stronger. Preference will be given to individuals and organizations with a proven track record of executing superior cultural and NGO events and projects. Projects that have an established working Memorandum of Understanding among all partners will also be considered stronger. Project implementation timeline should not start before mid-April 2020.
Funding Restrictions:
Activities that are not typically funded include, but are not limited to: paying to complete activities begun with other funds; political party activities; charitable activities; construction projects; fund-raising campaigns; commercial projects; scholarships to support educational opportunities or study and research for individuals; or projects aimed only at primary institutional development of the organization. Lump sum overhead costs, alcoholic beverages, and vague budget line items, such as “Miscellaneous Items” or “Unforeseen Expenses” will not be funded. Proposals with budgets in large part requesting funding for travel to the United States will be viewed unfavorably.
Evaluation criteria
Proposals will be evaluated according to the criteria below:
Relevance to Key Bilateral Themes (25p)
* The project idea aligns well one theme, and preferably with at least two themes.
Project Quality/Project Planning/Ability to Achieve Objectives (25p)
* The project idea is well developed, with detail about how the project activities will be carried out.
* The proposal includes a reasonable implementation timeline and effectively allocates resources
Budget (20p)
* Realistic: The budget is realistic, accounting for all necessary expenses to achieve proposed activities.
* Reasonable: Costs are reasonable in relation to the proposed activities and anticipated results.
* Scalable: The budget can be decreased if necessary, based on such factors as participant numbers, geographic reach etc.
* Cost Sharing: Applicant is seeking funds from other sources or willing to contribute (in kind is acceptable)
Impact and Sustainability (10p)
* Impact: Goals and objectives are clearly stated and the project approach is likely to provide maximum impact in achieving the proposed results. The project shows strong potential to reach a new or large target audience.
* Sustainability: Project activities will continue to have positive impact after the end of the project.
Monitoring and Evaluation (10p)
* Applicant demonstrates it is able to measure project success against key indicators and provides milestones to indicate progress toward goals outlined in the proposal.
* The project includes output and outcome indicators and the proposed evaluation provides tangible products.
Organizational Capacity and Record on Previous Grants (10p)
* The organization has expertise in its stated field and has the internal controls in place to manage federal funds. This includes a financial management system and a bank account.
We will inform all applicants about the results of this competition by email by the beginning of March 2020.
This notice is subject to availability of funding.
- Please click here to download the full Notice of Funding Opportunity for additional information
- For FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) regarding this grants, please follow this link: https://vacanciesinturkey.com/FAQ