PTP's Program: VOTER Project

Update April 9, 2008

With the Voter Tech Training coming up very soon, we're expediting awards for scholarships and travel funds. You can apply following the procedures on this page OR - if you aren't ready to complete the whole proposal now, - you can apply on the course registration page available from here. Just remember to request a scholarship and say that you will be submitting a VOTER Project proposal.

Cash Grant awards decisions will start in mid-May and will continue until funds are depleted.

March 17, 2008

The Progressive Technology Project is announcing a new initiative that builds on its new Voter TechKit (http://votertechkit.progressivetech.org.)  In the Voter Organizing Technology Education and Resources Project (VOTER Project) PTP will work with community-led organizations to greatly increase their long-term capacity to conduct effective integrated voter engagement activities.

PTP will work with a select group of 501 C3 community organizing groups that are engaged in voter education and get-out-the-vote projects in 2008. This program is designed to develop, support and document efforts to integrate the organization’s voter engagement work with its on-going programmatic work.

PTP is requesting proposals from community-led organizations for technology related training, funds and/or technical support for integrated voter engagement work.  Proposals should describe how the organization will use its voter engagement work to build its organization through this election cycle as well as future election cycles.  
Organizations may apply for any of the following in their proposals:

• Cash grants of up to $35,000 to support staff and technology services for integrating voter canvass data into membership databases (organizations should already have a plan for getting access to voter files);;
• Scholarships and travel expenses for staff training on supportive technology for voter projects (Voter Tech Training April 28-May 1, 2008. We also recommend the Database and Planning session from April 2-4 for organizations without a database or plan.)
• Voter project targeting and field planning coaching services from experienced PTP staff
• Database planning, analysis and selection consulting services from  PTP systems analysts
• Ongoing “second-level” help desk support through November 2008

PTP welcomes and will seriously consider innovative suggestions and requests for assistance that fall outside of this list.  PTP will evaluate proposal in on-going basis and will make grant decisions as the funds become available.    This program includes an opportunity for 4-8 organizations to receive grants, technology training and technical support.. Another 10-15 organizations will be eligible for technology training and technical support only.

PTP has raised a substantial portion of the funds for this project and we are continuing to obtain more funds.  We expect the funds to be depleted by June 30, 2008.
Successful proposals will come from multi-issue community-led organizations that are working with disenfranchised communities that have demonstrated their capacity to incorporate new technology in support of their base-building work. 

Through this program, PTP is looking to document the best practices of the newly emerging strategy of integrated voter engagement, so successful applicants will work with PTP staff to document and evaluate their integrated voter engagement practices. PTP will have primary responsibility for the documentation, but we will need to have reasonable access to staff from the winning organizations to complete the work.

To be eligible for cash grants for support of integrating voter projects, organizations must demonstrate that they already have a voter project in the works that is either funded or has a high likelihood of being funded at the time of the application. The cash grants are not intended to the support of an organization’s voter project. Rather, they are to support the typically unfunded efforts to merge voter projects with ongoing organizational development.

Applications must be made on Progressive Technology Project’s web site. There are two pages to be filled out. They don't have to be done on the same day, but the application will not be acted on until it both are completed.

1. Complete an organizational information form, available here
2. Complete the voter project application, available here.

Questions? Write to info <at> progressivetech.org