Looking for community feedback on grant application

[undiagnosed]

Hey everyone,

I am working on an application for a fellowship grant through the Shuttleworth Foundation for my project p2pdx. The Shuttleworth Foundation is a philanthropic investment organization that supports people working to enact social change with projects following an open philosophy. Part of the application process is to answer six questions in short essay form responses no longer than 1500 characters each. I am looking for feedback from the community on my responses to the questions which can be seen here. Any input is appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Jesse2233]

I'm not familiar with the grant process, but it seems like a very worthy project

 

[undiagnosed]

I'm not familiar with the grant process, but it seems like a very worthy project

For this grant, it is answering the questions, making a 5 minute video explaining your proposal and submitting a resume. The project goals should be aligned with those of the Shuttleworth Foundation which I make the case for in my answer to question 6. If you're interested you can see the application page here. Answering the questions allowed me to give a more comprehensive explanation of the philosophy behind the project which is something I've had on my list to do for a while. I'd be happy to answer any questions or discuss anything related to that. The biggest thing I want to check is if people see the value in it based on my responses, which it appears you do. Thanks.

 

[trishrhymes]

I've had a quick read through and it sounds like a worthwhile project. I'm not clued up on the technological issues, so can't comment on that, but I like the idea of an open, cooperative model rather than commercial.

I've had a quick read through of your Q&A responses. They seem coherent and sensible, though it doesn't seem to allow for spelling out just what you would use the funding for.

I would imagine granting bodies would want some sort of budgeting plan, for example I knew someone who had a grant from a charity and found only after accepting it that it could only be used for purchasing hardware and things like office and travel costs, and couldn't be used for salaries. I expect you've looked at this.

I'm also a bit confused by the use of github. I thought that was a precarious, dubiously legal (and to my mind admirable) organisation that enables access to scientific papers that are paywalled.

Good luck.

 

[undiagnosed]

Thanks for the input @trishrhymes.

I've had a quick read through of your Q&A responses. They seem coherent and sensible, though it doesn't seem to allow for spelling out just what you would use the funding for.

The response to question 4 talks about it at a high level, but a detailed plan is out of scope as you mentioned.

I would imagine granting bodies would want some sort of budgeting plan, for example I knew someone who had a grant from a charity and found only after accepting it that it could only be used for purchasing hardware and things like office and travel costs, and couldn't be used for salaries. I expect you've looked at this.

You're correct, a detailed budgeting plan is out of scope of the question answers and is something that is worked out with the Foundation after a proposal has been accepted. The grant provides funding for a year which includes the applicant's salary and costs related to project development which are negotiated after the application process.

I'm also a bit confused by the use of github. I thought that was a precarious, dubiously legal (and to my mind admirable) organisation that enables access to scientific papers that are paywalled.

Understandable confusion due to the naming similarity, you're thinking of Sci-Hub which is the scientific paper sharing site. GitHub is a site for hosting code and other files in version control repositories.

 

[trishrhymes]

Understandable confusion due to the naming similarity, you're thinking of Sci-Hub which is the scientific paper sharing site. GitHub is a site for hosting code and other files in version control repositories.

Oops, done it again!

Good luck.

 

[undiagnosed]

Thanks again for the feedback everyone. I just wanted to let you all know that I didn't end up getting the fellowship.

 

[trishrhymes]

Ah, bad luck. I guess there was a lot of competition.