Project Application for a Donor Organization

Table of Contents

• Idea Search
• Project Title
• Project Location
• Short Description
• Detailed Description
• How to attract more people's attention to your project
• Appendix 1. Project Categories and their Descriptions

Idea Search

Look around. Walk around the city. Talk to your friends and family. What do they complain about, what do they dream about? Take a closer look at mothers with children and the elderly — the urban environment usually creates the most difficulties specifically for them.

Think about what is close to you, what you are competent in, what you know well. After all, you will need to not only submit an idea, but also justify it and draw up its budget.

Keep in mind that there will definitely be people who will submit projects for asphalting roads or creating playgrounds, but you can also think about restoring a monument, a convenient ramp for strollers in a crosswalk, or even a festival dedicated to Trypillian culture, etc.

Project Title

Formulate it briefly and clearly. The title should contain no more than 6-8 words. You do not need to describe the essence of the project, provide some tag, an idea. This is exactly what people will see first, what should interest them to read more about the project.

Focus on the object to be created. The title should indicate exactly what object will be created or modified, what exactly will be implemented.

Be specific. Specify exactly which public square, holiday, building, or service for citizens you want to create / change / modernize.

Examples of good titles: “Alley of Crooked Mirrors in Zhovtnevyi Park”, “Festival of Sky Lanterns”, “Solar Panels for Kindergartens”.

A bad title can be:

• too long,
• too bureaucratic,
• lacking an indication of a specific subject / object.

Examples of bad titles: “Reconstruction project of municipal object number 133 at 3 Holovna St.”, “Asphalt repaving”, “Help for orphans”.

Project Location

Specify exactly and clearly where the project should be implemented. First, select the district from the list or, if the project concerns the whole city, select the value “entire city”. Next, specify the neighborhood and/or residential area, if possible, as well as the exact address if the result of the project will be tied to a specific building (for example, repairing a school or a square in front of a building) and its name if it is an institution (school, kindergarten, hospital, library, etc.).

Short Description

Try to reveal the essence of your project and its key difference in 2-4 sentences. What is it? What does its name imply?

Add a description that will be slightly larger in volume. Reread it, delete all unnecessary words that do not add meaning.

Show the title and short description to a few of your friends and ask if it is clear to them from this text exactly what you propose to do. Edit the grammar: this will also affect the perception of your project.

Example of a good description for the project “Prominchyk Square on the site of a wasteland in Graviton”:

There has been a wasteland behind School No. 28 for many years. Moreover, there are very few green zones in Graviton. We propose to create a themed square with green spaces, benches, and a playground on the site of this wasteland, playing up the sun theme in the design. The design project is attached to the project.

From such a description it is definitely clear: where the object is planned, why it is needed there, what it will look like (what it will include) and why this project is more competitive than similar ones (the author made the design himself, the square is themed).

Detailed Project Description

The Problem

Briefly state what the problem or need is, why it is necessary to implement it, what will happen if your project is not implemented (the roof of the school will collapse, the starlings will fly away, the children will have nowhere to play). What are the trends and prerequisites that form this need.

Add what this problem means to you, your loved ones, and acquaintances, what will change if this problem is solved.

The Solution and its Justification

Tell us here in more detail than in the short description how exactly you propose to solve the problem, why you think that this particular solution is optimal in terms of the “cost — time — result” ratio. What elements will the solution consist of, what will they be, what is the difference from analogs.

Justification of Project Beneficiaries

Describe who will be able to use the results of the project. Will it be the residents of the city, residents of the district and their guests, visitors to one institution, or one age or social group: only motorists, only cyclists, mothers with strollers, everyone who has laptops, or everyone who loves sports, etc.

For example, lanterns in Zhovtnevyi Park will be used by all residents and guests of the city, and a repaired roof in a kindergarten will be used only by children who attend it, and the teaching staff of the institution.

The size of the user group does not in any way diminish the need for the implementation of your project, but voters must objectively understand the situation in order to evaluate both benefits and costs.

Terms of Use of Project Results by All City Residents

Describe under what conditions residents will be able to use the results, visit the object. Will access be open to everyone or only to certain groups? Is access free or for a fee? What are the proposed hours of operation / access to the object?

Information on Expected Results in Case of Project Implementation

Indicate, if possible, how the result of the project implementation can be measured and evaluated. Give the values of these indicators at the moment and your forecast for them after implementation.

For example, you propose to organize an above-ground pedestrian crossing on a neighboring street (zebra crossing). An indicator for evaluation could be the number of road accidents at this intersection involving pedestrians before and after implementation. You may know that when organizing a crossing, on average, this figure decreases by 40%. Indicate this and provide a link to the source of your data.

This section is not required, but it demonstrates how deeply you understand the subject and the principles of distributing limited budget funds. This will allow understanding the effectiveness of your proposed measures.

Estimated Cost (Budget) of the Project

Specify the size of the total project budget, calculated by you in hryvnias.

Budget File

Prepare a project budget in an Excel spreadsheet format. To do this, first make a list of all expense items needed for the project. Expense items can be not only materials, but also works related to delivery, assembly, preliminary preparation, measurements. Indicate whether the development of technical documentation, survey work is necessary. Do not forget about the costs associated with promotion (especially for projects in the field of city holidays, etc.).

In the list of materials, do not miss consumables, various small items and things that at first glance do not require costs (flower seedlings for a flowerbed, for example).

Next, estimate what volume of each resource is required (pieces, kg, m, hours). Collect information about the cost per unit of required resources. Use online directories. Record retail prices, do not try to calculate a volume discount or tender prices.

Multiply the estimated required volume of the resource by the cost per unit and sum up the resulting values. This figure will equal your final budget.

If you doubt whether all expenses are included, add a “contingency” line below the table and write down 20% of the total budget there. Recalculate the final amount taking into account unforeseen expenses. Add the resulting file to the project application.

Project Category

Choose from the list which category the project belongs to (See Appendix 1). This list can also help you when looking for an idea for a project.

Number and List of Residents Who Signed for the Project

In the «Forms for download» section, download the form for collecting signatures for the project. Print it. Explain your idea (in any form) to your friends, relatives, neighbors. If they agree to support your idea, ask them to sign the form.

The person signing must indicate their passport number, full name, address, and sign. The form is filled out by hand. The number of signatures required to submit a project must be at least 20. When the required number of signatures is obtained, scan/photograph the completed form and attach it to the project application.

Photos, Diagrams, Drawings

You can attach up to 10 files to the project application explaining your idea. This can be an image of a map with the area where placement is planned applied to it, a diagram, a drawing of the object being created, the corporate identity of the project, a presentation, a description of similar solutions, photos of analogs. Acceptable file formats: doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx, jpg, gif, png, pdf, txt. The maximum size of each file is up to 10 MB.

How to Attract More People's Attention to Your Project

• Provide a full description. Pay enough attention to the «Problem» block. Reveal it through the stories of people for whom its solution is important. People vote more actively for a project if they understand who it will affect and how.
• Tell what will happen if your project is implemented and if it is not. Explain why your proposed solution is the best possible.
• Make the text personal. People are more willing to support you if they understand why it is important to you.
• Talk about the project. Run a promo campaign for the project among your friends, neighbors, followers, and friends on social networks. Use layouts in the «Help» section.
• Respect others. Do not insult, do not use hate speech and do not threaten others, do not humiliate alternative projects and their solution options.

Appendix 1. Project Categories and their Descriptions

Security and Public Order Measures aimed at strengthening public order, citizen safety, and protecting their property (e.g., introducing a video surveillance system, fire protection, etc.).

Road and Transport Infrastructure Creation and repair of roads. Development of pedestrian infrastructure, in particular underground crossings, etc. Solving the problem of traffic jams. Arrangement of parking spaces for cars. Arrangement of bicycle paths, parking spaces, and bicycle rental points. Access to public transport. Improvement of the public transport network. Development of eco-friendly public transport.

Energy Saving Measures aimed at energy conservation.

Public Utilities Arrangement and landscaping of territories. Arrangement of playgrounds. Street lighting. Waste disposal. Improving the quality of drinking water (pump rooms, etc.).

Culture and Tourism Creation and development of cultural institutions. Organization of cultural leisure (festivals, performances, concerts, competitions, fairs, exhibitions, etc.). Restoration of architectural monuments. Projects for the development of urban tourism and tourist infrastructure.

Environment Prevention and elimination of environmental pollution. Protection of natural resources. Organization of stray animals, including microchipping, creation and development of shelters, regulation of their numbers. Walking of domestic animals.

Education Development of out-of-school, school, and higher education institutions. Organization of educational events, trainings, courses, seminars.

Healthcare Development of medical infrastructure, improving access to medical institutions, and accessibility of receiving medical services. Organization of events aimed at early diagnosis and prevention of diseases. Promotion of a healthy lifestyle.

Social Protection Development of institutions and social measures, including measures for the rehabilitation of disabled people. Protection of disabled people, orphans, disabled persons, pensioners, large families. Ensuring free access for disabled people to objects, institutions, and city events.

Sports Development of sports and recreation institutions. Organization of sports events (competitions, marathons, etc.). Popularization of sports and a healthy lifestyle.

Telecommunications, Communications, and Information Technology Automation of systems for providing services to residents (for example, online registration of a place of residence). Interactive maps. Mobile applications regarding urban infrastructure. Arrangement of wi-fi zones.