Proje Destek Ofisi

he 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 below. For each project, we encourage applicants to consider developing programs for Turkish participants from any or all age groups, to include educational audiences, such as teachers and students, from elementary school through university and vocational programs.

• • Support Shared Security:  Projects for consideration in this category 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, Fostering Entrepreneurship, and Strengthening the Digital Economy – Depending on the level of entrepreneurial opportunity and ability in the targeted region(s) for the activity, proposals here could include: training to introduce the concept and principles of entrepreneurship; providing small-and-medium enterprise (SME) planning, such as crafting a business plan or attracting financing; teaching marketing and outreach techniques; fostering research and development/innovation; and advancing awareness of and adherence to labor rights and laws, etc. Proposals to strengthen an open and dynamic digital economy are also welcome, which could include the utilization of cloud-based technology to meet local needs, training on the importance of the free flow of data, and improving the data literacy of citizens to take advantage of publicly-available information.
• • Reinforce Democratic Values:  Media – should support journalists, citizen journalism, and critical media literacy. Trainings or activities can address, investigative journalism, principles of journalistic integrity, social media/internet publishing, media literacy, outlet sustainability, research and fact-checking, documentary filmmaking, visual or other storytelling, etc.
• • Reinforce Democratic Values:  Freedom of Expression and Public Discourse – Proposals should focus on activities promoting public discourse and freedom of opinion, including but not limited to arts, culture or other innovative forms of creative expression, reaching and teaching underserved audiences (e.g., ethnic or religious minorities, LGBTI, youth, or women – or promoting awareness of their issues), and 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 English language teaching/learning, cross-cultural awareness and understanding, 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 June 1, 2020

Call for Proposals will CLOSE on July 13, 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 GrantsTurkey@state.gov before 17:00 on July 2, 2020.

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 U.S. 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. 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. This does not apply to individuals; individuals do not need to obtain a DUNS number, NCAGE code and register with www.SAM.gov.

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

1. SF424 Forms: Please make sure to submit all three SF424 forms. These forms can be found under the “Docs & Forms Applications” section of this page.
   1.1   Form SF424 (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.
   1.2   Form SF424A (Budget Information for Non-Construction programs)
   1.3   Form SF424B (Assurances for Non-Construction programs)
2. 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. The budget justification narrative can also be included in the end of the Grant Application Form.
3. 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. Make sure that your application package consists of at least 5 attachments (mentioned above). If any of the documents mentioned above are missing, the submitted application will be considered ineligible, regardless of the amount of funding requested.
4. Attachments: (Optional)
   4.1  Legal registration documents of civil society organizations and non-profit organizations
   4.2   One page CV or resume of each key personnel who are proposed for the program
   4.3   Letters of support from project partners describing the roles and responsibilities of each partner or a Memorandum of Understanding among all partners (if applicable)
   4.4   Official permission letters, if required for project activities (if applicable)
   4.5   If your organization has a NICRA and includes NICRA charges in the budget, your latest NICRA should be included as a PDF file (Applicable to only U.S. organization).

All applications must be submitted electronically to GrantsTurkey@state.gov by the deadline of July 13, 2020 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 July 13, 2020 at 17:00 Turkey time will be considered ineligible.

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-October 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, office rental, 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)

• Aligns strongly with more than one goal (20-25 points)
• Aligns reasonably well with at least one goal (10-19 points)
• Poorly aligns with goals (0-9 points)

Project Quality/Project Planning/Ability to Achieve Objectives (25p)

• The project ideas are well-developed, with detail about how the project will be carried out (up to 15 points)
• The proposal includes a reasonable implementation timeline and effectively allocates resources (up to 10 points)

Budget (20p)

• Realistic – The budget is realistic, accounting for all necessary expenses to achieve proposed activities (up to 5 points)
• Reasonable – Costs are reasonable in relation to the proposed activities and anticipated results (up to 5 points)
• Scalable – The project’s scale and budget can be reduced, if necessary (up to 5 points)
• Cost sharing – The applicant is seeking funds from other sources or willing to contribute (in-kind support is acceptable (up to 5 points)

Impact and Sustainability (10p)

• Impact – Goals and objectives are clearly stated, and project approach is likely to provide maximum impact in achieving the proposed results. Project shows strong potential to reach a new or large target audience (up to 5 points)
• Sustainability – Project activities will continue to have positive impact after the conclusion of the program (up to 5 points)

Monitoring and Evaluation (10p)

• Applicant demonstrates it can measure program success against key indicators and provides milestones to indicate progress toward goals outlined in the proposal (up to 5 points)
• The project includes output and outcome indicators and the proposed evaluation provides tangible/measurable products (up to 5 points).

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 mid-September 2020.