J. KIRBY SIMON FOREIGN SERVICE TRUST
AN INVITATION TO PROPOSE PROJECTS FOR FUNDING
BY THE J. KIRBY SIMON FOREIGN SERVICE TRUST IN 2008
The J. Kirby Simon Foreign Service Trust is a charitable fund established in the memory of J. Kirby Simon, a Foreign Service Officer who died in 1995 while serving in Taiwan. The Trust is committed to expanding the opportunities for professional fulfillment and community service of active Foreign Service Officers and Specialists and their families.
The principal activity of the Trust is to support projects that are initiated and carried out, on an entirely unofficial, voluntary basis, by Foreign Service personnel or members of their families, wherever located. The Trust will also consider projects of the same nature proposed by other U.S. Government employees or members of their families, regardless of nationality, who are located at American diplomatic posts abroad. Only the foregoing persons are eligible applicants.
In 2007 the Trust made its eleventh round of grant awards, 50 in all, ranging from $250 to $4500 (averaging $2280), for a total of $113,940. These grants support the involvement of Foreign Service personnel in the projects briefly listed below (further described in a Trust announcement entitled Grants Awarded in 2007 and available at www.kirbysimontrust.org). The grants defray a wide range of project expenses, including books, food, medicines, furniture, computers, wheelchairs, kitchen and medical equipment, excursion costs and instructional costs.
Educational Projects: Belize – reading program for poor children; Bolivia – repair of flooded rural schools; Cambodia – school for street children; Egypt – vocational training for Sudanese refugees; Georgia – vocational training for street children; India – school for girls; Israel – conflict resolution handbook used in Arab villages and Jewish community centers; Malawi – life-skills activities for children and vocational training for adults; Namibia – after-school program for poor youngsters; Russia – computer instruction for street children; Swaziland – rural pre-schools for orphans and other children; Togo – gardening and business training for at-risk children; Turkey – local library for squatter neighborhood; Turkey – vocational training for low-income women.
Other Projects for Children: Afghanistan – playground and mural for orphanage; Belarus – rehabilitation center for learning-disabled children; Ecuador – lead paint eradication in orphanage; Cyprus – athletic equipment for Turkish Cypriot orphans; Guatemala – sports equipment and training for vulnerable young women; Guyana – residence for children and adults with developmental disabilities; Lithuania – excursion for children’s home; Macedonia – equipment for community-building sports program; Malaysia – school and medical supplies for Burmese refugee children; Morocco – orphanage bathroom renovation; Russia – sports facility for children’s shelter; South Africa – coordination of care for children in crisis; South Africa – refuge for children orphaned by AIDS; Sri Lanka – home for orphaned street girls; Taiwan – empowerment activities for teenaged orphans; Zambia – cultural exchange between local and American schools.
Health-Related Projects: Belarus – cooking training for orphans; Colombia – vaccinations and medical records at girls’ orphanage; Columbia – medical supplies and evaluations for children at risk; Congo – residential care for polio patients; Djibouti – information campaign to combat breast cancer; India – public-education video focusing on the deaf community; Indonesia – vocational training for female leprosy survivors; Ivory Coast – equipment for disabled orphans; Romania – mattresses for disabled children; Sierra Leone – therapeutic food for malnourished children; Tajikistan – winter clothing for nursing home residents; Uganda – preschool for deaf children and sign-language training for adults.
Other Facilities for Poverty Areas: Armenia – partial renovation of kindergarten building; Cameroon – education and recreation room for orphanage; China – rebuilding of home destroyed by landslides and flooding; Kenya – reforestation project in Maasai village; Liberia – library at rehabilitation center; Mexico – rainwater harvest and retention systems in rural communities; Nicaragua – construction of crafts cooperative; Nicaragua – sanitary facilities at poverty area schools.
The Trust now invites the submission of proposals for support in 2008. It is anticipated that few of the new grants will exceed the average size of the 2007 awards, and that projects assisted by the Trust will reflect a variety of interests and approaches, some of which are illustrated by the 2007 grants.
Grants provided by the Trust can be used to support several categories of project expense; the third paragraph of this announcement provides examples. However, certain restrictions apply: (a) Funds from the Trust cannot be used to pay salaries or other compensation to U.S. Government employees or their family members. (b) The Trust does not support projects that have reasonable prospects of obtaining full funding from other sources. (c) The Trust will provide support for a project operated by a charitable or educational organization only where the individual applicant(s) plan an active part in initiating and carrying out the project, apart from fundraising. (d) The Trust will support only projects in which each applicant's role is clearly separate from the applicant's official responsibilities..
A proposal should include a description of the project, what it is intended to achieve, and the role to be played by the applicant(s); a preliminary plan for disseminating the results of the project; a budget; other available funding, if any; and a brief biography of the applicant(s). Proposals should be no longer than five double-spaced pages (exclusive of budget and biographical material). Please follow the application format available at www.kirbysimontrust.org/format_for_proposals.html or by communicating with the Trust (see below).
Proposals for projects to be funded during calendar year 2008 must be received by the Trust no later than March 1, 2008.
Proposals can be submitted by mail, by fax or (preferably) by e-mail to:
J. Kirby Simon Foreign Service Trust
93 Edgehill Road
New Haven, CT 06511
FAX: 203-432-0063
info@kirbysimontrust.org
Further information about the Trust can be found on the Web at www.kirbysimontrust.org.