Setting up the Foundation

SUGGESTED TIMELINE

While the day-to-day operation of the foundation is fairly straightforward, significant preparatory work is necessary to insure its efficient operation. Ideally, the groundwork should be complete by the end of the school year preceding the first year of implementation. This timeline is fairly general, with many of the details dependent on your community's particular situation (e.g. Will the project need the approval of the organization's Board of Directors? etc.). Details about each of the steps can be found in later chapters.

School Year Preceding Implementation

January—Find allies, organize a planning team.

February—March Meet with professional financial staff to create a segregated account and procedures; prepare formal proposal and presentation for relevant decision-makers.

April-May—Present proposal to decision-makers and obtain formal institutional support.

School Year of Implementation

September-October—Present the project to the class and vote to implement.

October-December—Begin fundraising; classroom educational activities.

December—Select issue; develop Grant Guidelines; prepare Request For Proposals (RFPs) and Grant Application; collaborate on list of potential grant recipients.

January-February—Distribute RFPs and collect proposals.

March-April—Complete fundraising; evaluate proposals and invite presentations; deliberate and make grant decisions.

May-June—Incorporate the grant decision announcements/presentations into school graduation or end-of-year ceremonies.

Also please note: Tzedakah in Action is designed as an adjunct to an existing curriculum. To expand it into a comprehensive full year program would require significant additional programming. The following is a rough estimate of the amount of classroom time you can expect to spend on each phase of the project (though this is highly dependent on how extensive you make the study phase and how many organizations submit proposals):

• Presentation and voting: 2 hours.
• Study: 8-10 hours.
• Board Mtgs./Fundraising: 3-4 hours.
• Proposal Eval./Decision-Making: 10-12 hours.

Pages: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

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