If Cowell's grant staff wants to learn more about your community and/or proposal, they may work with you to schedule a site visit. Such a visit often includes a community tour and forum.
Scheduling a site visit means that we are interested in learning more about your organization and community. It is not a guarantee that your community will qualify for Cowell's place-based grantmaking or that your proposal will be funded. A site visit is simply another tool we use to evaluate where and when to make grants
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That said, don't be nervous! A site visit is just a long conversation about topics you know well: your organization and your community. Our purpose is not to judge your community or the work you do. Our job is to be good stewards of Cowell funds by finding opportunities that best match Cowell's mission and approach.
Although time-intensive, site visits also offer an opportunity to showcase your organization and program and gain the attention of other community leaders and potential investors.
Community Tour and Forum
We have found that during site visits, a community tour and a community forum provide the best opportunities for us to learn more about your organization's work, meet local leaders and become acquainted with a community in a short period of time.
We recommend that you work closely with your program officer to ensure that the community tour and forum you plan is appropriate for our visit.
The purpose of a community tour and forum is for Cowell staff to:
- Meet you, your neighbors and colleagues, and begin to understand what it is like to live, work and attend school in your community
- Increase our understanding of your community and, the proposed grant project, if there is one, and how it fits into your community's "big picture"
- Assess your community's readiness to develop multiple complementary projects in Cowell's main program areas: Family Resource Centers, K-12 Education, Youth Development, and Affordable Housing
- Understand how key stakeholders are working together in your community
Stakeholders include community residents, public and private partners, elected officials, schools, local business, civic and religious leaders, the local community foundation and other funders
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Community Tour
We ask that the community tour take place before the community forum. This tour gives us a "sense of place" and allows us to orient ourselves to your community. On the tour we would like to learn about the following:
- Demographic profile of your community
- Where people live and work and where children go to school and play
- School attendance patterns
- Fundamentals of the local and regional economies
- The cost and availability of housing, including workforce housing
- Community strengths and challenges
- Your organization and where services are provided
- Partner organizations
- Key landmarks, historical milestones, and cultural characteristics
Community Forum
A community forum allows you to showcase your organization, partners, proposal and/or neighborhood improvement project(s). We expect to hear how key stakeholders, including public and nonprofit service providers and residents, are committed to the proposed project and/or your neighborhood.
After the forum, a Cowell program officer may want to meet separately with the key leaders involved in the proposed grant project.
Organizing Community Tours and Forums
While you are responsible for organizing and facilitating tours and forums, you can expect Cowell staff to fully participate and ask questions throughout the site visit. As you plan, we are also happy to offer ideas and share sample agendas that show how past tours and forums have worked best. We also recognize that you know your community and what to showcase better than we do.
During or after the community forum, some Cowell program officers may meet independently with community partners involved in one of our program areas. We may ask you to assist us in identifying these stakeholders and programs.
Cowell's Grant Staff
At least two or three members of Cowell's grant staff attend most site visits. In addition, we often invite others to join us, including members of Cowell's board of directors, program officers from other foundations, and program and public policy experts.
Expenses
The Community Tour and Forum will cost money. Cowell does not want you to pay the cost of hosting us. Typical expenses include transportation for the Community Tour and lunch for participants at the Community Forum. Before making the arrangements, please discuss how much you plan to spend with the program officer you are working with. Make sure that you save receipts and either give them to Cowell staff during the site visit or mail them afterwards. A check reimbursing you for the expenses will be mailed to you.
Conclusion
We hope this guide provides a sense of why Cowell values community tours and forums and what we hope to learn from them. We encourage you to work with your program officer to determine the best site visit format for your community and/or your proposal to the Cowell Foundation. Please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions about the visit.
