Congratulations to our 2020 RBLS Civic Ignition Grantee! We received 12 submissions with a total financial ask of $17,500. These grants were discussed in a consensus based workshop with 12 participant leaders from the Northwest region of the United States. With $1500 in funds to allocate, we are hugely excited to congratulate our newest Civic Ignition grant recipient:

The Literacy Box with International Rescue Committee Boise (Boise, Idaho)
This project aims to create, distribute, and show how to use 40 literacy supply boxes to newly arrived children refugees and their families in Boise Idaho. Many of the youth’s families are from the war-torn country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Many of the children have been born in refugee camps in Tanzania, Burundi, and Uganda. Many of the parents are also non-literate even in their own native languages.  These kits will help prepare youth with the tools they need to support success in schools, foster the love of art, creativity, and literacy as well as strengthen their opportunities to integrate into their new home in America. This project promotes family interaction, language, literacy skills, and cultural and identity affirmation through supplying books with illustrations of people from their culture.

Want to share this opportunity with your network? Use this language for a quick copy/paste:

[Applications Open: RBLS Civic Ignition Grant!]

Do you have an innovative civic or community project happening in the Northwest, including Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, or as far north as Vancouver, B.C? Burners Without Borders and the RBLS want to seed fund your project!

This grant gives anyone the opportunity to submit a collaborative, creative, and principle-focused project with a chance to receive up to a $1,500 grant (USD). Applications are due March 7th at midnight!
Learn more and apply here: https://bmanbwb.wpengine.com/projects/civicignition-rbls2020

What is the Regional Burner Leadership Summit Civic Ignition Grant?

The Civic Ignition Grant is aimed at funding innovative community projects within the Burning Man Global Network. We are interested in programs that will create collaborations, produce direct actions, utilize the 10 Burning Man Principles, reproducible, and creatively tackle local problems. This Regional Burner Leadership Summit edition of the Civic Ignition Grant is aimed at funding civic activation in the Northwest/North America including Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, and Vancouver, B.C.

We are interested in programs that create collaborations, produce direct actions, utilize several of the 10 Burning Man Principles, are reproducible, and creatively tackle local social problems. This grant gives anyone the opportunity to submit a collaborative, creative, and principle-focused project with a chance to receive up to a $1,500 grant (USD).

Timeline:
–  Grant Opportunity is announced on February 7th. 
–  Deadline for grant submissions is March 7th (Midnight)
–  Workshop Participants will review the grant proposals at the 2020 workshop in Boise, Idaho (March 14th)
–  Grant recipients will be announced the following weekend

Apply here:  https://forms.gle/DKGTMHeoUF8yZ6vT6

What’s special about the RBLS Civic Ignition Grant?
Submissions to the 2020 RBLS Civic Ignition grant cycle will be workshopped and judged by a group of participants and community leaders that attend this year’s Regional Burner Leadership Summit in Boise, Idaho. This group will be using the submissions as material to review and workshop while learning how to administer their own civic grant programs.

Who is eligible to apply?
Individuals, Groups, and Not-for-Profits are all eligible to apply.  We encourage projects be endorsed by a local Burning Man Regional Contact.  The RC does not need to be a project lead, or heavily involved with the process, rather they are simply endorsing the project and the leaders who are submitting.  We recognize not all regions have local RC’s and we encourage you to apply even if no RC is able to endorse.

How much can you ask for?
The maximum grant that maybe awarded is $1,500 (USD).  We encourage your project’s viability to not be solely dependent on this grant.  Think about other sources of funding that might be available.  Grants awarded could be less than the full amount.

What types of proposals will likely not get funded by this program?
Programs that are solely based on artistic endeavors and do not have a community or civic aspect will most likely not be considered for funding.  Funds should not be used for direct fundraising, chapter promotion efforts, or for paying people for their work.

What follow-up will be expected by grant recipients?
All recipients will be expected to submit written reports on what they have accomplished and learned in the course of their projects, along with accompanying visual media.  This media will be hosted on the Burners Without Borders website.

Suggestions for a quality grant proposal:
– Look at the BWB Grant Impact & Criteria Document to see how we think about grants.
– Reach out to your local Burning Man Regional Contact and ask if they might be an advisor.
– Watch our video “How to write Quality Grants: Burning Man 101”
(Starts rough but gets going at (9:00 in)
– Listen to our podcast  “Targeted Grant Writing: with Meta-Regional Jacqui Latendresse”

Who won the Civic Ignition Grant in the past?

See all our past Civic Ignition rounds and read updates from grant recipients here.

> How to create a Project.

> How to create a Project.

> How to create a Project.