By: Neeraj Konathan Renganathan / Staff Writer
FIU is giving out $1000 to any organization in the form of grants to students who want to make a change in the community.
The entire program is funded by Wells Fargo and they give out up to $10,000 every year to Center for Leadership and Service (CLS), which is based in Modesto Maidique Campus and Biscayne Bay campus.
FIU recently got recognized as a Carnegie Engaged University which classifies it as a community and globally connected university and with Global Civic Engagement Mini-grants FIU wants to help bring about social awareness and help local problems.
“We encourage students to have a local impact on a global perspective. So, understanding that is a social issue they can tackle it here in Miami,” said Amanda McDole, assistant director for changemaker initiatives for CLS.
There are specific formats that need to be met in order to be considered for funding and your project must meet all of it, examples include, grant writing, service projects, and sustainable development goals, for better chances all the above should be interconnected.
“Some students have submitted grants to purchase t-shirts because they’re volunteers for a fundraiser, that would not be considered direct service because it’s not directly impacting a population or social issue.” Said McDole to PantherNow.
The entire decision is made by the advisory board which consists of diverse students from various branches of FIU from international students to graduate students, the students are trained by CLS to understand qualifying benchmarks.
According to McDole, a successful pitch looks like this:
“A group of students that wanted to purchase items because they were receiving elementary and middle school students to fit use campus to work in the community gardens to understand more about sustainability and community gardening and what role that plays in sometimes our health and food insecurity, they were requesting different tools and materials.” Says McDole.
Every year the Center for Leadership reports its successful grants approvals to Wells Fargo to explore an increase in funding for future grants and social issues presented by students in FIU.
McDole says the grants are issued on a rolling basis, but applying early in the semester is encouraged, the basic questions you need to answer are: What is the impact that your project would have? What is the budget you have in mind? What is the timeline? And finally, your contact information.
You can apply online for the Global Civic Engagement Mini-grants.
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