2015 SIF NOFA FINAL 1.20.15.pdf

NOTICE OF FEDERAL FUNDING AVAILABILITY

Federal Agency Name: Corporation for National and Community Service

Funding Opportunity Title: FY 2015 Social Innovation Fund Cooperative Agreements

Announcement Type: Initial Announcement

CFDA Number: 94.019

Important Dates

Notices of Intent to Apply are due by February 20, 2015 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Applications are due March 17, 2015 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Successful applicants will be notified by July 15, 2015.

Disclosure: Publication of this Notice of Federal Funding Availability (Notice) does not obligate the

Corporation for National and Community Service to award any specific number of grants or to obligate any particular amount of funding.

FULL TEXT OF NOTICE

A. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

1. Purpose of Social Innovation Fund Funding The mission of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering. Through

AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and the Volunteer Generation Fund, CNCS has helped to engage millions of citizens in meeting community and national challenges through service and volunteer action.

Through the Social Innovation Fund (SIF), CNCS has augmented its traditional activities with an enhanced focus on identifying and growing innovative, evidence-based approaches to our nation’s challenges.

The purpose of the Social Innovation Fund is to grow the impact of innovative community-based solutions that have compelling evidence of improving the lives of people in low-income communities throughout the United States. The Social Innovation Fund directs resources toward increasing the evidence-base, capacity, and scale of the organizations it funds in order to improve the lives of people served by those organizations. The Social Innovation Fund also generates broader impact by leveraging the grant program in various ways to improve how philanthropies, federal government departments and agencies, state and local government, and community-based organizations deploy funds to address social challenges. Additionally, it enhances the ability of the nonprofit sector to support the growth of innovative, high-impact organizations.

As one of the Obama Administration’s “tiered-evidence initiatives,” the Social Innovation Fund embodies a commitment to use rigorous evidence to both select recipients of federal funding and to validate the impact of its funded program models. The Social Innovation Fund is driven by three core principles: (1) many of the most compelling solutions to persistent social problems in low-income communities are being developed in those communities and not in federal offices in Washington, D.C.; (2) significant impact can be generated for society by proactively identifying the best community-based solutions, strengthening their evidence base, and supporting the growth of their impact; and (3) the federal government can help drive social innovation by stimulating, focusing and enhancing public-private partnerships and cross-sector collaborations to grow the impact of the best community solutions.

The SIF Fundamentals

Taken together, the following fundamental characteristics of the Social Innovation Fund form a unique grant program:

The Social Innovation Fund competitively selects experienced grantmaking institutions (also called “recipients”) to do the critical work of identifying promising solutions (“interventions”) to community problems, and selecting high-performing nonprofit community organizations

(“subrecipients”) on a competitive basis.

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Recipients receive between $1 million and $10 million per year for five years.

Recipients award at least $100,000 annually to each subrecipient that it funds for three to five years.

At least 80 percent of federal funds awarded to recipients must be invested in subrecipient programs.

The interventions that are supported by the recipients must be innovative and evidence-based.

Specifically, the Social Innovation Fund seeks interventions that have advanced beyond the beginning stages, are showing signs of effectiveness, and have the potential for greater scale.

Larger programmatic and scaling dollars are awarded to programs that show higher levels of evidence, as defined in the Evidence and Evaluation below, and have stronger capacity.

Funded interventions must have at least preliminary evidence of effectiveness and then undergo rigorous, formal evaluations which substantively advance the sector’s knowledge base.

The Social Innovation Fund generates significant non-federal resources through a substantial match requirement at two levels. Each federal dollar granted by the Social Innovation Fund to the recipients must be matched one to one with cash from private and other non-federal sources.

Similarly, grants from recipients to the subrecipients must separately be matched on the same basis.

With the support of the recipient, subrecipients grow their programs to make a deeper or broader impact in communities.

And finally, in partnership with the recipients, the Social Innovation Fund engages in knowledge sharing through the documentation and dissemination of best practices and lessons learned.

Operational Models

There are two basic operational models of Social Innovation Fund projects:

A “Geographically-Based Social Innovation Fund” serves low-income communities within a specific local geographic area and focuses on achieving measurable outcomes in one or more of the Social Innovation Fund’s issue areas.

An “Issue-Based Social Innovation Fund” serves low-income communities in multiple geographic locations and focuses on achieving measurable outcomes in one of the Social

Innovation Fund’s issue areas.

Issue Areas

The Social Innovation Fund only supports programming that targets one or more of the issue areas listed below:

Youth Development – Preparing America’s youth for success in school, active citizenship, productive work, and healthy and safe lives, including crime reduction initiatives focused on juvenile delinquency and victimization prevention and response.

Economic Opportunity – Increasing economic opportunities for economically disadvantaged individuals.

Healthy Futures – Promoting healthy lifestyles and reducing the risk factors that can lead to illness.

Key SIF Terminology

High-performing nonprofit organizations are those: 1) that are well-run and financially healthy with capable leadership, clear goals and objectives; 2) that diligently collect quality data and use this data to understand which of their efforts work and which do not; and 3) that use this knowledge to make adjustments to their approach to continuously improve.

Innovation is defined as new ways to solve old problems that are faster, cost-effective, data-driven and lead to better results for the public good.

Low-income community

As specified in section 198K of the National and Community Service Act (NCSA), Pub. L. No. 101-

610, as amended, each Social Innovation Fund recipient must make subawards and otherwise support programs that serve “low-income” communities. For purposes of this Notice, “low-income community” means either:

A population of individuals or households being served by a subrecipient on the basis of having a household income that is 200 percent or less of the applicable federal poverty guideline, or

Either a population of individuals or households, or a specific local geographic area, with specific measurable indicators that correlate to low-income status, such as, but not exclusive to, K-12 students qualifying for free or reduced lunch, long-term unemployment, risk of homelessness, low school achievement, persistent hunger, or serious mental illness. An application that proposes to rely on measurable indicators should fully describe the basis for relying upon those indicators

(including citations to appropriate studies). The application also must describe and cite the source of data supporting the conclusion that the targeted community meets the indicators.

Significantly philanthropically underserved

For purposes of this Notice, CNCS considers applicants to be serving significantly philanthropically underserved communities if they support subrecipients that carry out activities in low-income communities that have considerably less than the average number of active philanthropic investments as similarly populated communities. If applicable, applicants must describe, using data and statistics, why and how this definition applies to their community.

2. Performance Measurement Recipients will be required to use performance measures to assess progress. Recipients should expect to work with CNCS to finalize the expected performance measures they will use which may include some standardized performance measures related to their identified issue areas. For the purposes of this Notice, please disregard the Performance Measures section of the Application Instructions.

3. Key Program Requirements Understanding these key funding requirements is critical to determining whether this funding opportunity is a fit for your organization and to developing a competitive application. Please review the resources on the SIF NOFA webpage for more information on these requirements.

a) Match The Social Innovation Fund recipients are required to raise match funds equal to the grant they receive. The match must be in cash from non-federal sources; in-kind match is not allowable.

Matching funds must be unrestricted new or existing dollars. They cannot be previously, obligated funding that is redirected for purposes of meeting the Social Innovation Fund match requirement.

At the time of their application, the Social Innovation Fund applicants must demonstrate the ability to http://www.nationalservice.gov/SIF meet 50 percent of their first year cash match requirement, as explained in the Other Submission

Requirements section of this Notice. Subrecipients also will be required to match 100 percent of the grant they receive from the recipient in cash from non-federal sources. CNCS is interested in applicants that present both a strong capacity to raise additional dollars to be provided to subrecipients, and a serious commitment to share the fundraising burden of their subrecipients.

b) Subawarding Recipients are required to select subrecipients on a competitive basis. This means that recipients must run an open competition that is available to eligible nonprofit community organizations beyond their own existing grant portfolio or network. Subawards must be made in annual amounts of at least

$100,000, and of sufficient size and scope to enable the subrecipient to build its capacity to manage initiatives and sustain replication or expansion for the initiatives. Subawards should be for a period of between three and five years. The Social Innovation Fund recipients should award larger programmatic and scaling dollars to programs that show higher levels of evidence, as defined below, and have greater capacity.

Experience has shown that subrecipients that receive the minimum level of funding find it challenging to meet requirements, especially those related to evaluation. If you are proposing subawards at the minimum level, you will need to explain how you will ensure sufficient subrecipient capacity to meet program and evaluation requirements.

Applicants may propose subaward funding strategies that are of two distinct types. In both cases, the recipient will have defined a specific social problem it intends to address through its own Social

Innovation Fund.

Strategy A: The recipient has not yet identified an evidence-based solution to be implemented, and seeks and invests in subrecipient organizations that have developed or implemented their own evidence-based, innovative solutions to the specified problem.

Strategy B: The recipient has identified an evidence-based, innovative solution and will be seeking subrecipients that are able to effectively implement that solution.

All subgrantees must implement interventions that have at least preliminary evidence of effectiveness, and the intermediaries’ competitive process must include provisions to accurately identify the level of evidence in support of the subgrantees’ proposed intervention.

In order to maximize the impact of the Social Innovation Fund and ensure a diverse array of innovative subrecipients across the federal government, recipient applicants should direct grant funds toward programs that will not receive grants for the same activities from other federal innovation funds (e.g., “Investing in Innovation” at the federal Department of Education). Final award decisions from the Social Innovation Fund may take into consideration the outcomes of other federal competitions.

For purposes of the Social Innovation Fund, nonprofit community organizations which may receive subawards will include:

Organizations described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; and

Any entity or organization described in sections 170(c) (2) of the Internal Revenue Code.

The Social Innovation Fund recipients will be required to submit for approval detailed plans for selecting subrecipients. Successful applicants will receive notification of the requirement shortly after being approved for funding and then will have 15 days to submit the plan. Please see the appendix of this document for more details.

c) Growing the Impact of Program Models The Social Innovation Fund recipients are expected to support the growth of the programs they fund.

The impact of programs may be grown in several ways, including through expansion of existing program sites or replication of the program to new sites in different communities. However, all strategies should involve expanding the selected solutions so that more people in low-income communities derive substantial, measurable benefit. Not all organizations with preliminary evidence have reached a stage of development or produced the kind of substantial results that would make them ready for large-scale growth or expansion. Instead, they should focus on the kind of limited scaling that aims to further validate the model.

While all programs will be expected to demonstrate growth during their time in the Social Innovation

Fund, CNCS expects that there will be a direct, positive relationship between the levels of growth that recipients propose for given programs and the level of evidence of the program at the time of selection for funding. For example, a program that has strong evidence of impact would be expected to have a more ambitious growth plan than a program with preliminary evidence; we would not expect to see a plan for broad replication from a subrecipient with preliminary evidence. Likewise, programs with higher levels of evidence that have higher growth targets would receive larger funding awards.

d) Evidence and Evaluation The Social Innovation Fund has three tiers of evidence: preliminary, moderate, and strong. Social

Innovation Fund recipients must fund program models with at least preliminary evidence of effectiveness and support further evaluation of those models in order to increase the level of evidence, thereby adding to the existing evidence base, and developing greater understanding of what makes the program successful. These evaluations must be conducted by third party, independent evaluation partners. Please review the resources on the SIF NOFA webpage for more information on these requirements.

It is the expectation of CNCS that each program model will achieve moderate or strong evidence of impact (as defined in this section) by the end of its three to five year subaward period. Because of the rigor of such evaluation designs, program models with only early stages of preliminary evidence may not be appropriate candidates for subawards through the Social Innovation Fund.

Once selected, the Social Innovation Fund recipients should expect to participate in and manage several activities to ensure the successful evaluation of models within their portfolios. These activities include, but are not limited to:

Recipients and subrecipients are required to commit significant time and resources to ensure formal evaluations of each program model that receives funding from the Social Innovation Fund.

Develop an overall portfolio evaluation strategy that reflects the key outcomes and levels of evidence their subrecipients are expected to achieve, and describe their contracted research partners, timetable, budget, and methodology for coordinating all stakeholders and required evaluation activities. The strategy will be reviewed by CNCS.

Develop individual evaluation plans for each funded intervention (which could be an overarching model or unique to each subrecipient) that documents the evaluation’s technical design and demonstrates how each plan will measure and increase the evaluated program model’s evidence base; these plans must be approved by CNCS before implementation.

Provide any necessary capacity building and technical assistance to their subrecipients to ensure they are able to build their capacity to accomplish all Social Innovation Fund-related evaluation requirements and continue to measure their program model’s impact into the future.

Ensure the implementation of individual subrecipient evaluation plans and report progress and results to CNCS.

Collaborate with CNCS to review and strengthen their strategies and plans and ensure appropriate implementation and reporting of each plan.

Use of Contracted Research Partners

Recipients will choose to either contract with a research partner or require their subrecipients to contract with a research partner to help with some or all of the following activities:

Determining the technical design of their evaluation plans for assessing program fidelity and impacts.

Implementing their CNCS-approved evaluation plans and reporting on the evidence collected.

Conducting technical assistance for subrecipients to build their capacity to accomplish all

Social Innovation Fund-related evaluation requirements and continue to measure their program model’s impact into the future.

Please note that contracted research partners and all other contracts must be procured in accordance with the procurement requirements in 2 CFR Chapters I II, and XXII. See in particular, 2 CFR

§§200.317-200.326. Alternatively, nonprofit community organizations may continue to comply with the Procurement Standards in OMB Circular A-110 for one additional fiscal year, beginning after

December 26, 2014. Such election must be specified in the nonprofit organization’s documented policies and procedures.

Funding for Evaluation Activities

CNCS recognizes that rigorous evaluations are expensive and that nonprofits often are unfamiliar with these processes and costs because many funders do not make evaluations a priority. Given the central role that evaluation plays in the success of the Social Innovation Fund, recipients and their subrecipients must allocate appropriate resources to cover the many activities related to the evaluation of each program model’s effectiveness. Your application should specifically indicate your estimated costs related to evaluation. Technical assistance resources for this competition include evaluation tips, such as considerations when budgeting for evaluation.

CNCS Role

CNCS is committed to supporting recipients in their efforts to increase the evidence of program effectiveness within their Social Innovation Fund portfolios. The agency will work closely with recipients to meet this goal by providing them with technical assistance on the design, implementation, monitoring and reporting of their subrecipient evaluation plans. All subrecipient evaluation plans proposed by recipients will require the approval of CNCS before implementation.

CNCS sees this process of ongoing evaluation and knowledge building as a key aspect of the Social

Innovation Fund that can improve recipient and subrecipient programs and also benefit other organizations throughout the nonprofit sector.

Evidence Tiers

The Social Innovation Fund uses the following definitions of evidence recognizing that there are multiple levels of development within each tier. These definitions are consistent with those used by the Office of Management and Budget.

Preliminary evidence means evidence that is based on a reasonable hypothesis supported by credible research findings. Thus, research that has yielded promising results for either the program model or a similar program model will meet CNCS’s criteria. Examples of research that meet the standards include:

1) outcome studies that track participants through a program and measure participants’ responses at the end of the program; and

2) third-party pre- and post-test research that determines whether participants have improved on an intended outcome.

Moderate evidence means evidence from previous studies on the program, the designs of which can support causal conclusions (i.e., studies with high internal validity) but have limited generalizability (i.e., moderate external validity). This also can include studies for which the reverse is true—studies that only support moderate causal conclusions but have broad general applicability.

The following would constitute moderate evidence:

1) At least one well-designed and well-implemented experimental or quasi-experimental study supporting the effectiveness of the practice strategy, or program, with small sample sizes or other conditions of implementation or analysis that limit generalizability;

2) at least one well-designed and well-implemented experimental or quasi-experimental study that does not demonstrate equivalence between the intervention and comparison groups at program entry but that has no other major flaws related to internal validity; or

3) correlational research with strong statistical controls for selection bias and for discerning the influence of internal factors.

Strong evidence means evidence from previous studies on the program, the designs of which can support causal conclusions (i.e., studies with high internal validity), and that, in total, include enough of the range of participants and settings to support scaling up to the state, regional, or national level (i.e., studies with high external validity).

The following are examples of strong evidence:

1) More than one well-designed and well-implemented experimental study or well-designed and well-implemented quasi-experimental study that supports the effectiveness of the practice, strategy, or program; or

2) one large, well-designed and well-implemented randomized controlled, multi-site trial that supports the effectiveness of the practice, strategy, or program.

Of Note: CNCS sees the relationship between evidence and program growth as an iterative process.

While subrecipients must have at least preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of their proposed program model in order to receive funding, CNCS recognizes that all programs move through stages in developing a greater body of evidence. Depending on the circumstances and the existing data about an intervention, different types of evaluation design or data collection could be appropriate. As a result, in order for each program model to achieve moderate or strong evidence of impact by the end of the three to five year subaward period, CNCS expects that some models may require a two-step process to build their evidence-base during the grant.

4. Relationship to Other Federal Evidence-Based Programs Innovation funds currently exist in the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and

Labor to invest specifically in evidence-based programs in education, teen pregnancy prevention, home visiting, health care delivery, and employment and training system delivery. Therefore, CNCS does not intend to make Social Innovation Fund awards to programs in these areas unless they clearly propose a solution to an unmet need which cannot be funded through these other funding streams, as identified in consultation with these Departments. CNCS also intends to ensure that the Social

Innovation Fund is not simply adding dollars to existing initiatives. As such, we will prioritize efforts where SIF dollars can serve a unique and integral purpose to advance and accelerate the intervention.

To learn more about key innovation and evidence initiatives at the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Labor, please visit their websites:

Department of Education

Investing in Innovation Fund: http://www2.ed.gov/programs/innovation/index.html

Department of Health and Human Services

Teen Pregnancy Prevention Tiered Evidence Initiative:

http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/oah-initiatives/teen_pregnancy/ http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/oah-initiatives/teen_pregnancy/db/

Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Tiered Evidence Initiative:

http://homvee.acf.hhs.gov/ http://mchb.hrsa.gov/programs/homevisiting/

Employment Opportunity and Youth Development Research and Evaluation http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre

Health Care Innovation http://innovation.cms.gov/

Department of Labor

Workforce Innovation Fund: http://www.doleta.gov/workforce_innovation/

Office of Evaluation: http://www.dol.gov/asp/evaluation/AllStudies.htm

5. Program Authority CNCS’s legal authority to enter into a cooperative agreement is found at Section 198(a) of the

National and Community Service Act of 1990 (NCSA), Pub.L.No. 101-610, as amended (42 U.S.C. §

12653(a), and in the Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act (31 USC §§6301-6308).

B. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

1. Estimated Available Funds According to the FY 2015 Appropriations, approximately $51 million is available for the Social

Innovation Fund’s grant awards, including approximately $11 for continuation of existing grants.

CNCS reserves the right to prioritize continuation of existing grants.

2. Estimated Award Amount Annual award amounts for the FY 2015 Social Innovation Fund grant competition will vary. Per statute, the SIF grant awards can range from $1 million to $10 million per year, but CNCS expects that most grant awards will be between $3 and $4 million per year. CNCS intends to make larger grants to recipient organizations seeking subrecipients with moderate or strong evidence of effectiveness.

3. Project Period The grant award covers a five year project period. Your proposal should represent the full five year period. CNCS expects to provide the first three years of funding at the time of the initial award to all recipients, so long as they have demonstrated the capacity to meet the Social Innovation Fund’s rigorous compliance and match raising standards for all three years. Funding for subsequent years is dependent upon availability of appropriations and satisfactory performance. CNCS reserves the right http://www2.ed.gov/programs/innovation/index.html http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/oah-initiatives/teen_pregnancy/ http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/oah-initiatives/teen_pregnancy/db/ http://homvee.acf.hhs.gov/ http://mchb.hrsa.gov/programs/homevisiting/ http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre http://innovation.cms.gov/ http://www.dol.gov/asp/evaluation/AllStudies.htm http://www.doleta.gov/workforce_innovation/ to adjust the amount of an award or elect not to continue funding.

4. Type of Award The funding mechanism for the Social Innovation Fund is a cooperative agreement, which provides for substantial programmatic involvement by CNCS with the recipient organizations as the approved grant activities are implemented. The assigned CNCS program officer will confer with the recipient on a regular and frequent basis to develop or review service delivery and project status, including work plans, budgets, periodic reports, evaluations, etc. In particular, CNCS anticipates having substantial involvement in:

Setting parameters for subrecipient selection.

Developing and approving subrecipient selection plans.

Reviewing prospective subrecipients and incoming levels of evidence associated with subrecipient interventions.

Developing, approving, and monitoring the implementation of subrecipient evaluation plans.

Developing and approving subrecipient growth plans

Documenting and sharing lessons learned through a CNCS-sponsored learning community.

5. Indirect Cost CNCS allows applicants to include administrative costs (indirect costs) in CNCS grant budgets.

Applicants have the option of using an indirect cost rate that is approved by their cognizant federal agency. Applicants may alternatively charge certain administrative costs directly as outlined in 2 CFR

§ 200.413 Direct costs. (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-12-26/pdf/2013-30465.pdf)

C. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

1. Eligible Applicants This competition is open to existing grantmaking institutions or eligible partnerships. A grantmaking institution is an organization in existence at the time of the application that invests in nonprofit community organizations or programs through grants as an essential rather than a collateral means of fulfilling its mission and vision. The emphasis on grantmaking activities as a part of an organization’s mission should be evident in the applicants’ mission statement and promotional materials, and should be clearly reflected as a significant percentage of their annual operating budget.

In keeping with this view, grantmaking institutions will generally:

Conduct open or otherwise competitive programs to award grants to or make investments in a diverse portfolio of nonprofit community organizations, which may have included in-network organizations.

Negotiate specific grant requirements with nonprofit community organizations.

Oversee and monitor the performance of recipients.

Applications from grantmaking institutions that have primarily funded within their own networks will be considered if they clearly and specifically propose to conduct open subaward competitions that will involve investing in a diverse portfolio of out-of-network nonprofit community organizations, but which may propose to include a limited number of in-network investments that do not exceed approximately one-third of the grant dollars to be distributed. In all other respects, an in-network grantmaking institution is required to meet the same eligibility requirements as other existing grantmaking institutions as set out below.

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-12-26/pdf/2013-30465.pdf

An eligible partnership is a formal relationship between an existing grantmaking institution (as defined above) and either an additional grantmaking institution, a State Commission on National and

Community Service, or a chief executive officer of a unit of general local government, where the partner organizations will share responsibilities under the award. In a cooperative agreement with a partnership, CNCS would expect to be dealing with each partner organization with some degree of independence concerning its collective responsibilities. For example, a partnership could include one organization that handles all aspects of a Social Innovation Fund program related to evaluation, while another organization handles all aspects related to finances and grant administration.

Other collaborations, which may be similar to consultant or contractor arrangements, in which an organization obtains access to needed competencies but remains fully responsible for the performance of the cooperative agreement, will not be treated as partnerships for purposes of determining eligibility.

A unit of government is not considered to be an existing grantmaking institution. A unit of general local government may participate in an eligible partnership, but cannot itself apply without an existing grantmaking institutional partner. Other units of government may collaborate with an existing grantmaking institution or eligible partnership.

A university is also not considered an existing grantmaking institution for purposes of this Notice, but may collaborate with an existing grantmaking institution or an eligible partnership.

Organizations that have been convicted of a federal crime may not receive assistance described in this

Notice. Pursuant to the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, an organization described in Section

501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 26 U.S.C. 501 (c)(4) that engages in lobbying activities is not eligible to apply.

Receiving funding previously from CNCS or another federal agency is not a requisite to apply under this Notice.

Consistent with 198K(e) of the National and Community Service Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-610, as amended, current high performing Social Innovation Fund recipients are eligible to apply for renewal funding in order to substantially increase knowledge about its funded intervention, i.e. to further develop the evidence base to reach the next evidence tier. This might include testing the effectiveness of its funded intervention with new populations or locations, or increasing the evidence base by implementing a more rigorous evaluation. In order to qualify for renewal funding, the recipient should have an on-track or completed evaluation which shows significant results of positive impact.

Current Social Innovation Fund recipients are also eligible to apply for funding for a different program.

2. Cost Share or Matching Successful applicants are required to match their grant on a one to one basis. The match must be in cash from non-federal sources. Subrecipients have the same match requirement as recipients, and must demonstrate on an annual basis that they are in compliance with the requirement. Please note that federal rules apply to the federal funds awarded as well as to the match funds contributed by the recipient. In general, the cost of raising funds in order to meet the matching funds requirement is not an allowable cost under the Uniform Cost Principles (2 CFR Subpart E). However, recipients may charge to their grant the cost of assisting subrecipients with raising match, with prior written approval.

At the time of application, Social Innovation Fund applicants must demonstrate the ability to meet

50 percent of their first year cash match requirement.

3. Other Requirements

Requirements to be Compliant for Review

In order for an application to be reviewed, the applicant must:

a) Submit a budget that reflects a federal share of between $1 million and $10 million.

b) Submit a budget that reflects a plan to distribute at least 80 percent of awarded federal funds to subrecipients. Note: for further information on this requirement, please see the Budget Instruction in the application instructions.

c) Demonstrate either cash-on-hand or cash commitments (or a combination thereof) toward meeting 50 percent of the required first year matching funds, based on the amount of grant funds requested at the time of submission. For example, a request of $1 million needs to be accompanied by documentation of $500,000 in cash on-hand or cash commitments at the time of application. Instructions for how to provide documentation of matching funds are provided in section D.6.b.Submission of Additional Documents.

D. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

1. Address to Request Application Package Refer to CNCS’s Funding Opportunity webpage (http://www.nationalservice.gov/build-your-capacity/grants/funding-opportunities/) to obtain the necessary information to apply. You can also send an email to SIFapplication@cns.gov or call (202) 606-3223 for a printed copy of the application package. The TTY number is (800) 833-3722.

2. Content and Form of Application Submission

a) Application Content

Your application must provide a well-designed plan with a clear and compelling justification for receiving the requested funds. Reviewers will assess your application on the basis of your program design, organizational capability, and cost-effectiveness and budget adequacy.

Your completed application must have the following components:

Standard Form 424 (SF-424) Facesheet: This is automatically generated when you complete the data elements in the eGrants system. When you complete the application in eGrants, many of the fields will automatically be filled with information you entered during the registration process.

Narratives o o o o

Executive Summary: This is a brief description of your proposed program. The Executive

Summaries of all compliant applications are published on the CNCS website following grant awards.

Program Design

Organizational Capability

Cost-Effectiveness and Budget Adequacy

Standard Form 424A Budget

Authorization, Assurances, and Certifications

b) Page Limits

Applications may not exceed 45 double-spaced pages for the Narrative, including the SF-424

Facesheet and Executive Summary as the pages print out from eGrants. The page limit does not include the Budget section and Performance Measures.

Reviewers will not consider material past the page limit in the printed report, even if eGrants allows you to enter and submit text over the limit. We strongly encourage you to print out the application from the “Review and Submit” page prior to submitting it to check that the application does not exceed the page limit.

3. Dun and Bradstreet Universal Numbering System (DUNS) and System for Award Management (SAM) Applications must include a DUNS number and an Employer Identification Number. The DUNS number does not replace an Employer Identification Number. You can obtain a DUNS number at no cost by calling the DUNS number request line at (866) 705-5711 or by applying online at http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform. The website indicates a 48-hour email turnaround time on requests for DUNS numbers; however, CNCS recommends registering at least 30 days before the application due date.

After obtaining a DUNS number, you must register with the System for Award Management (SAM http://www.sam.gov/) and maintain an active SAM registration until the application process is complete and, if a grant is awarded, throughout the life of the award. SAM registration must be renewed annually. CNCS suggests finalizing a new registration or renewing an existing one at least two weeks before the application deadline to allow time to resolve any issues that may arise.

Applicants that do not comply with these requirements may become ineligible to receive an award.

See the SAM Quick Guide for Grantees

(https://www.sam.gov/sam/transcript/SAM_Quick_Guide_Grants_Registrations-v1.6.pdf).

4. Submission Date and Time

a) Notice of Intent to Apply

CNCS strongly encourages applicants to submit a Notice of Intent to Apply by February 20, 2015.

Please indicate your intent by completing the short survey at this link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CNCSIntentToApply2015SIFApplications.

b) Application Submission Deadline

Applications are due March 17, 2015 by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. CNCS will not consider applications received after the deadline, except as noted below. CNCS reserves the right to extend the submission deadline and any notice of such extended deadline will be posted on the CNCS website.

c) Late Applications

CNCS may consider an application after the deadline, but only if the applicant submits a letter to

LateApplications@cns.gov explaining the extenuating technical circumstances that caused the delay.

CNCS must receive the letter within one business day after the deadline. If technical issues prevent an applicant from submitting an application on time, the letter should include the eGrants ticket number provided by the National Service Hotline. Communication with CNCS staff, including an applicant’s program officer, is not a substitute for sending the letter. CNCS will determine whether or not to accept a late application on a case-by-case basis. Please be advised that CNCS will not consider an advance request to submit a late application.

http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform https://www.sam.gov/sam/transcript/SAM_Quick_Guide_Grants_Registrations-v1.6.pdf https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CNCSIntentToApply2015SIFApplications mailto:LateApplications@cns.gov http://www.sam.gov

5. Funding Restrictions Regulations outlining funding restrictions are contained in the Administrative and National Policy

Requirements section of this Notice. In addition, Social Innovation Fund grant awards cannot be used for construction costs.

6. Other Submission Requirements

a) Electronic Application Submission in eGrants

Applicants must submit applications electronically via eGrants, CNCS’s web-based system

(https://egrants.cns.gov/espan/main/login.jsp). CNCS recommends that applicants create an eGrants account and begin the application at least three weeks before the deadline. Applicants should draft the application as a word document, then copy and paste the document into the appropriate eGrants field no later than 10 days before the deadline.

The person who submits the application must be the applicant’s authorized representative. The authorized representative must be using eGrants under his or her own account in order to sign and submit the application. A copy of the governing body’s authorization for this official representative to sign must be on file in the applicant’s office.

Contact the National Service Hotline at (800) 942-2677 or via

(https://questions.nationalservice.gov/app/ask_eg) if a problem arises when creating an account or preparing or submitting the application. National Service Hotline hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Be prepared to provide the application ID, your organization’s name, and let them know you are calling in regard to the Social Innovation Fund Notice. If the issue cannot be resolved by the deadline, applicants must continue working with the National Service

Hotline to submit via eGrants.

If extenuating circumstances make it impossible for an applicant to submit in eGrants, applicants may send a paper copy of the application via overnight carrier to the following address:

Corporation for National and Community Service

ATT: Office of Grants Policy and Operations/Social Innovation Fund Application

1201 New York Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20525

Please use a non-U.S. Postal Service to avoid security-related delays. All deadlines and requirements in this Notice also apply to paper applications. Paper applications must include a cover letter detailing the circumstances that make it impossible to submit via eGrants. CNCS does not accept applications submitted via fax or email.

b) Submission of Additional Documents

By the application submission deadline, applicants are required to demonstrate through a letter or other form of documentation that they have either cash-on-hand or commitments (or a combination thereof) toward meeting 50 percent of their first year matching requirement, based on the amount of federal grant funds applied for. For example, a request of $1 million needs to be accompanied by documentation of $500,000 in cash on-hand or commitments at the time of application.

Applicants may demonstrate cash-on-hand by a statement from the Chief Financial Officer or other officer that the organization has established a reserve of otherwise uncommitted funds for the purposes of performing a Social Innovation Fund grant. Applicants may demonstrate commitments by a dated and signed letter from each donor/foundation, indicating the amount of funds committed for the specific use of supporting the Social Innovation Fund grant. Such a letter must contain a firm commitment to provide the applicant the stated funding upon award of a Social Innovation Fund grant https://egrants.cns.gov/espan/main/login.jsp https://questions.nationalservice.gov/app/ask_eg by CNCS.

This documentation must be emailed to SIFapplication@cns.gov with the following subject line:

Social Innovation Fund Additional Documents – [Application ID number]. Within the email, please include the following information:

the legal applicant name and its point of contact information the application ID number a list of documents that should be attached to the email individually saved files that are clearly labeled files that include the legal applicant name and application ID number within the body of each document.

Do not submit supplementary material such as videos, brochures, or any items not requested in this

Notice. CNCS will not review or return them.

E. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION

Your application must provide a well-designed plan with clear and compelling justification for receiving the requested funds. Reviewers will assess applications against the selection criteria below and rate them accordingly so it is important that you provide sufficiently detailed responses to each criterion.

Understanding the key program requirements, as described earlier in this Notice will help you to develop a competitive grant application.

1. Criteria

Categories/Subcategories Percentage

Executive Summary 0

Program Design 70

Rationale and Approach 10

Proposal for Subrecipient Selection 15

Proposal for Evaluation 30

Proposal for Growing Subrecipient Impact 15

Organizational Capability 15

Cost-Effectiveness and Budget Adequacy 15

Before responding to the selection criteria below, carefully review the Key Program

Requirements section of this Notice, as well as resources found on the SIF NOFA webpage.

a) Application Executive Summary

You will be required to provide an Executive Summary of your application, as described in the application instructions. Executive Summaries will be used to determine compliance with requirements and eligibility for the competition, but will not be used by reviewers to assess the quality of applications. Executive summaries of compliant applications will also be posted on

CNCS’s website.

b) Program Design (70%)

As described previously in this Notice, a recipient will utilize one of the following programming strategies. When indicated, please respond to the criteria appropriate to your proposed strategy.

Strategy A: The recipient seeks and invests in subrecipient organizations that have developed or implemented innovative, evidence-based solutions to a specified problem. Recipients mailto:SIFApplication@cns.gov utilizing this strategy will be expected to complete their subaward selection and award process within eight months.

Strategy B: The recipient has identified an innovative, evidence-based solution and seeks subrecipients that are able to effectively implement that solution. Recipients utilizing this strategy will be expected to complete their subaward selection and award process within six months.

Rationale and Approach (10%)

In determining the quality of your application, reviewers will assess the following criteria:

Your approach as either a geographically- or issue-based Social Innovation Fund (as described in Section A.1: Purpose of Social Innovation Fund Funding), including the target community or geographies that you will serve and the Social Innovation Fund issue area(s) on which your programming will focus.

i.

Whether you make a persuasive case, using statistical information, that you have identified a critical social problem in the target geographical area(s).

Whether you demonstrate that solutions currently being implemented to address the selected social problem in the target geographical area(s) have not been proven to be effective, are not achieving outcomes at scale, or are too slow to respond.

Whether you present a clear, logical theory of change that outlines your investment approach and the specific measurable outcomes that will be achieved through your proposed program.

You should convey an intentional approach to solving community problems through your subrecipient investments and clearly explain:

1) the types of organizations you will invest in and why; and

2) the value-added activities, including technical assistance or other services, you will provide to your subrecipients in order to align them with the theory of change and achieve the desired outcomes.

Your description of the programming strategy (A or B above) you plan to utilize and why it’s the most appropriate for you to achieve your goals

Strategy A: The case you make that appropriate, evidence-based solutions exist to address the identified social problem in the target geography (ies).

Strategy B: The case you make that the solution(s) you propose to implement is:

innovative (as defined in Section A.1: Purpose of Social Innovation Fund Funding), appropriate for the social problem identified, aligned with your theory of change, and is likely to produce the desired outcomes.

If you are applying for renewed funding of a currently funded SIF project: whether the proposed activities will further increase knowledge about intervention.

If you are a current recipient of, or are under consideration for, other federal funding: how the proposed SIF project is distinct from, or will supplement rather than duplicate, other federally funded projects. Please specify the other federal funding sources.

ii. Proposal for Subrecipient Selection (15%)

In determining the quality of your application, reviewers will assess the following criteria:

Your profile of the type of subrecipient organization you hope to fund and how it aligns with the rationale and approach described above.

Whether you provide a clear and comprehensive plan for carrying out a competitive subrecipient selection process, that includes:

o o o o the estimated number of subawards that will be made;

the estimated range of subaward amounts;

the criteria that will be used to determine prospective subrecipients’ fit with your theory of change or successfully contribute to its outcome measures;

a general timeline or timeframe outlining when stages of the selection process would be completed. Note: Depending on the strategy being utilized, the subrecipient selection and award process must be completed within six to eight months of the grant award.

Whether you present a selection process that has a high likelihood of identifying high-performing subrecipients (as defined in Section A.1: Purpose of Social Innovation Fund

Funding), with the capacity and ability to implement all aspects of a Social Innovation Fund grant.

Your capacity to successfully implement your proposed subaward selection process, including demonstrated experience selecting and awarding competitive grants to nonprofits.

Strategy A: How you will attract and select solutions that…