Contents What is AIGA Innovate?
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Dates at a glance
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Program goals 2 Selection criteria 2 Funding 3 Evaluation 3 Application overview
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Deliverables 5 Things to keep in mind
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FAQs 8 Applicant agreement
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Questions? 9
WHAT IS AIGA INNOVATE? We believe designers have a special capacity to improve experiences. As an organization of more than 26,000 designers and 70 chapters, AIGA has an extraordinary pool of talent to draw on as we look to the future and aim to continually optimize the member experience. As designers, our members solve the world’s problems all day professionally, and so it stands to reason that these talented folks are the perfect people to help lead AIGA into its next 100 years. The Innovate fund recognizes and supports game-changing projects at AIGA chapters across the country which improve the member experience, impact the wider community, extend beyond regular chapter programming, are scalable to other chapters, and are sustainable after the initial grant period. At its core, it’s an opportunity for chapters to suggest, develop, and prototype exciting projects for rollout to the wider organization. AIGA Innovate is a four-year fund with up to $250,000 to be awarded each year. The first group of projects was funded in 2015. This document outlines AIGA Innovate’s goals, funding criteria, selection processes, application information, and more. Before applying for funding, please read this document in full, as well as all the information at aiga.org/aiga-innovate.
DATES AT A GLANCE December 7, 2015
AIGA Innovate 2016 application opens
January 29, 2016
Round 1 application due
April 1, 2016
Applicants notified of round 1 result
April 25, 2016
Round 2 application due
June 6, 2016
Applicants notified of round 2 result
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PROGRAM GOALS AIGA Innovate was established to support and empower members and chapters in a whole new way, with the following goals: • Create and implement transformative projects, programs, activities, and initiatives that will benefit membership service, growth, or chapter development. • Increase effectiveness of programs, events, initiatives, and ideas that are shareable and scalable amongst chapters. • Foster the entrepreneurial spirit of membership and promote engagement in design. • Measurably increase the visibility of AIGA. • Fulfill goals and prioroties of AIGA Strategic Framework 2015–2020.* • Promote collaboration within the chapter, its membership and local community, as well as between chapters. *See aiga.org/AIGA-strategic-framework-2015-2020/
SELECTION CRITERIA The selection committee uses the following criteria when reviewing and selecting proposals.
Projects must: • • • • • • • • •
Align with the mission, values, and direction of AIGA. Meet a strategic goal (see page 6). Be developed in collaboration with your chapter’s board of directors. Meet an opportunity or need within the chapter, for its members, or community. Offer effective tools, resources, platforms and strategies to enhance chapter activities and facilitate active member participation. Be shareable/scalable among chapters: support and facilitate interactions, collaborations and learnings among chapters. Be new and demonstrate inspiration. Be sustainable: projects must be able to be implemented and maintained at other chapters without funding from AIGA Innovate. Grow membership and associated revenue through broadening and deepening strategies.
AIGA Innovate does not fund: • • • •
Regular or expected chapter events/programming Operational/administrative costs Giveaways Board member training
For more information, see “Things to keep in mind,” on pages 6–7.
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FUNDING AIGA Innovate will consider all grant proposals for any amount—there are no minimum or maximum restrictions to how much you can request. Having said that, there are two different routes to go:
<$2,500 Applicants requesting less than $2,500 may be “fast-tracked” in round 1—approved for funding or declined after the first round. The selection committee reserves the right to ask any applicant requesting less than $2,500 to participate in application round 2 to provide additional information about their project.
>$2,500 Applicants requesting more than $2,500 should expect to participate in the two-step application process. After round 1, applicants will be approved to move to round 2 or declined. Those who are moved to round 2 will be required to provide additional information about their project.
Funding will be distributed by the AIGA national office. Approved proposals will be paid in regular installments as negotiated by the national office; as you develop your proposal, do not plan for one lump sum payment. Proposals selected for funding will receive the first installment of granted funds within one month of approval. Funds will be electronically transferred to chapters; chapters will distribute the funds to project leaders.
EVALUATION Selection committee An eight-person selection committee, made up of past and incoming presidents council chairs and six members at large with previous board experience, will evaluate applications in both rounds. Once the committee selects proposals for funding, AIGA's executive director will review and give final approval in each round. For more information, visit aiga.org/aiga-innovate-selection-committee.
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APPLICATION OVERVIEW Please note that the questions in the application system may vary slightly but the nature of the questions will be the same.
Round 1 All round 1 applications must be submitted online via the AIGA Innovate application system (see aiga.org/aiga-innovate for a link to the application system and more information) between December 7, 2015, and January 29, 2016, at 11:59 p.m. PST.
Applicant information: • Applicant (project lead) contact information • Applicant’s AIGA member ID number • Chapter and board member contact information
Project information: • • • •
Project title Project summary: succinctly describe your project in 800 words or less What is the goal of this project? How is this project innovative in its approach, concept, and goal? (Within the framework of innovation, proposals may be for new project ideas or a significant improvement/re-imagining of existing ones.) • What opportunity/need in your community will it address? • Provide any additional relevant contextual information. • Identify which strategic goal your project addresses: Focus on Organizational Viability Ensure a well-managed, financially sound, and responsive professional organization.
Focus on Designers Empower designers across the arc of their careers.
Focus on Members and Chapters Engage members and empower chapters to create vital communities and supportive networks.
Focus on Design Communicate, celebrate and demonstrate the value of design to business, government, media and the public.
• Describe in detail how another chapter would take this project on, with the help of a toolkit your team would create. • Provide a detailed project timeline within the parameter of one year, including major milestones. • How do you plan to document the project in a way that can be shared with your fellow members as it progresses? • How will this project be self-sustainable after initial AIGA Innovate funding? List specific revenue sources.
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• Complete project budget form (budget spreadsheet will be provided in the application system.) If budget includes stipends for web/UX/UI development, an estimate or bid from your developer must be uploaded. If the applicant is the developer, an estimate must be submitted to their chapter. This must be complete as part of your application. • How will you measure success? • List any persons you would need to involve outside your chapter to bring this project to fruition.
Round 2 Applicants whose proposals are selected for round 2 will be required to provide additional information about their project, whether or not they requested more or less than $2,500. All applicants asked to participate in round 2 will be notified by email on or around April 1, 2016. Round 2 applications are due in the AIGA Innovate online application system by April 25, 2016, at 11:59 p.m. PST. Round 2 requires additional detail about your project. Here is an outline of what round 2 applicants should expect to provide: • Respond to feedback provided to you by the selection committee. • Outline your toolkit. The toolkit is a guidebook created by your team for other chapter leaders who want to take on the project, from start to finish, in their own chapter, and will be listed in the workroom. • Provide a detailed list of persons needed for this project to succeed. • Build on the project timeline you provided in round 1 to include major and secondary milestones, and incorporating the feedback of the selection committee. • Complete project budget form (budget spreadsheet will be provided in the application system). • Provide any additional project documents (images, PDFs, etc.)
DELIVERABLES If your project is funded, you will also be responsible for several deliverables during the rollout and after the successful completion of your project, in addition to the outcomes outlined in your proposal: • Summaries of awarded projects to be shared online on AIGA.org and in the chapter workroom. • Regular check-ins, including phone calls and written reports, to AIGA national staff on project progress, including photographic evidence of work underway. • Program kits created by awardee and their chapters that outline processes, budgets, best practices, and more, so that other chapters can implement the projects.
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THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND Consider these core values as you develop your application: Inspiration
Provoke new thinking about the practice, education, or understanding of design.
Execution
Project is executable and sustainable within proposed resources.
Effectiveness
Incorporate evaluative measures to gauge success in working towards and achieving stated project goals.
Inclusivity
Consider the need for the impact to serve both the myriad constituencies of AIGA members and to encourage participation among underserved and underrepresented groups.
Strengthening your proposal Think big. Think not only about how you can make an impact within AIGA but also how you can engage the larger community to find creative, design-oriented solutions to social problems. How can AIGA positively impact and engage the community of which we are a part? What programming, project, or initiative would activate your community? Is there a new community with which you can work? Find out if other chapters are interested in the same idea/goal as you. There may be opportunities to collaborate. Use your resources. Brainstorm with your board, your members, your community. There may be companies or other organizations that have experience in rolling out a related idea and can be helpful to use in understanding the project’s scale, audience, and budget. Your timeline should be highly specific with confidence of what the next twelve months will look like, as well as the ability of your team to complete your proposal successfully in an adequate amount of time. Proposed budget should be itemized and very specific. In the past funding period, less successful proposals had ambiguous budgets so it was unclear how money would be spent. Make sure your budget is itemized and specific. If your project requires UX/UI development, include the bid. Eliminate or minimize operational/administrative costs from your proposal. Examples are items such as travel or onetime purchases, such as one-time venue rental, physical supplies like laptops, projectors, office supplies, catering. For more information, see what it "does not fund,” on page 3.
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Your application will not be considered if: • • • • •
your proposal is not scalable your proposal is not sustainable after AIGA Innovate funding your proposal is not innovative or new you are not an AIGA member your idea has not been reviewed and approved by your chapter’s board of directors: your chapter’s board must commit to support of the project through its completion • your budget includes items that AIGA Innovate funds do not cover* ·· hospitality costs (travel, accommodation, food and beverage, etc.) ·· one-time expenses (one-time space or equipment rental, one-time events, catering, etc.) ·· regular administrative or overhead expenses (space rental, physical supplies like laptops, cameras, software, and office supplies) *If your budget does include any of these items, you must prove that they are necessary for the first year and that your project will be sustainable in future years without funding for these one-time costs. Be explicit in how these costs will be covered in future years. Further, prove that other chapters will be able to take on your project without the same coverage for one-time expenses. It is highly recommended that these items are kept to a minimum or excluded from your budget proposal.
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FAQS What are operational costs/administrative costs? • • • •
One-time purchases One-time venue rentals Catering Expected or assumed regular operational costs included in any part of a chapter’s annual budget for regular programs or events • Purchase of physical supplies, ie., laptops, hardware, etc. • Costs typically covered at chapter events or considered part of typical overhead costs. Always keep in mind how your project will be funded and sustained after initial AIGA Innovate funding and how other chapters would be able to carry out your program. Other chapters need to be able to adopt a project modeled on your own without the same, one-time funds.
What does “innovative” mean exactly? What does an “innovative” proposal look like? “Innovative” proposals are conceptually new or take existing ideas to stratospheric new heights; utilize design and design thinking to solve a problem in an inventive way; use fresh creative strategies to demonstrate the value of design; and create groundbreaking experiences for members and nonmembers alike. “Innovative” proposals go beyond what is expected. They are surprising, challenging, inspiring, and bold. As designers, you have an unusual capacity to solve problems and design meaningful experiences. How can those skills be put to use to transform your design community and beyond?
What is “regular or expected programming”? Events typically found during a chapter’s calendar year and covered under a chapter’s typical annual expenses, such as exhibitions, speaker series, social hours, portfolio reviews, open houses, panel discussions, studio tours, member parties, etc.
What is the project “toolkit” that must be developed? The toolkit is a program blueprint that outlines processes, budgets, best practices, and more, so that other chapters can implement the projects from start to finish. Toolkits will be included in the workroom as part of a resource library.
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APPLICANT AGREEMENT By submitting an application to AIGA Innovate, you agree that: • The project has been reviewed and approved by your local AIGA chapter board. • You will document the process of your project and share it with AIGA. • Funded projects will be announced across AIGA owned media, including the AIGA.org website, emails, and social media. • Your chapter will share the funded project at the next AIGA Leadership Retreat. • Upon completion of the project, you will complete a survey about the AIGA Innovate process and experience. • Upon completion of the project, you will create a project toolkit to help other chapters implement your project. • You agree to communicate with the AIGA national office on a regular and monthly basis through project completion, as requested. • Payments will be allocated in installments, as progress payments, pending the timely progression of your proposal according to the timeline you submit. The final installment will be distributed after the project is complete. • Deviations from approved budget, timeline, or approved application may result in rescindment of awarded funds. • Funding may be held for non-compliance of any of the above.
QUESTIONS? If you have any questions after reviewing this document and the pages on aiga.org, please contact innovate@aiga.org.
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