Grant Awardee Progress

We’ve already received 30 grant requests this year, the most applications in our five years of awarding grants. ?

During our Cycle 2 Grant Committee meeting in mid-July, we will evaluate 12 of those requests, also the largest number we’ve ever had to decide amongst. ?It’s exciting and challenging.

We want to share our evaluation process with you to give you a better understanding of how we use your gifts.

Awarding grants is the most important task for MGGF - it’s what we do. ?It fulfills our mission and furthers our vision. ?It’s also the most challenging work of the organization.

The amount and number of grants we can fund each year depends on the donations we receive.

Each donation received is a statement of trust. ?Donors believe we will use their money wisely. This means we must closely examine every grant request to ensure our grants merit that trust. ?

Our grant guidelines are the foundational underpinning of our mission and vision. ?Every grant application is measured against these guidelines. That measurement takes diligence, analysis, focus, and time.

A small team of volunteers, called Grant Liaisons, conduct these evaluations. ?They have significant knowledge and/or training in Montessori pedagogy. ?It is their job to dig deeply into every application to understand the backstory behind the application story. ?They examine all aspects of the applications, measuring them against our guidelines and their Montessori experience.

They talk with the application’s point person. They ask the “who, what, when, where, and how” questions vital to fully understanding the environment, people, goals, etc. When possible, they conduct face-to-face calls. ?They also reach out to our worldwide Montessori network of teachers, trainers, schools, and organizations to verify the information and learn more. The information they glean is added to the application information.

Being a board member on MGGF’s Grant Committee is not just a role, but a commitment. They join with the Grant Liaisons, the Executive Director along with our ?Grant Administrator to identify those applications meriting awards.

Every application reviewed is a potential seed for educational growth in an under-resourced community somewhere in the world. Our task is to nourish the most promising ones.

Three times a year, we grapple with the difficult decisions of selecting which applicants we’ll award and which we’ll have to say “no” to. ?We always aim to allocate funds where they can truly make a difference, not merely sustain an initiative. There's also an urgency to our work, a shared sense of hope for a brighter, more peaceful world.

Once the Grant Committee decides which applicants to fund, our Grant Administrator and Treasurer handle all the “paperwork.”?

But we do not just walk away. ?We keep in touch with award recipients. ?

We ask for a 90-day report from them, telling us how their initiative is progressing. ?Sometimes, everything is going smoothly, other times, it isn’t. ?The liaison may reach out to an awardee to learn more about a situation. In addition, we may contact our network to seek additional support or suggestions for resolving a difficulty. ?Our goal is to fulfill our mission and when a challenge arises with an awardee, we seek to support the awardee in some non-financial way.

The dedication of our grant liaisons is truly inspiring. ?They are as dedicated to our mission and vision as our board members are. ?We cannot thank them enough for the effort they put into learning about grant applicants.

Here’s where you come in. ?We are seeking others committed to fostering the world peace so fervently sought by Maria Montessori. ?Jump to our “How You Can Help” webpage to learn ways in which you can join us. ?If you share our commitment, we’d love to have you join with us.