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Reporting and Funding
Overview | Guides | Campus Examples | Documents to Download
Annual Reports
Bonner Program Annual Reports
- Christopher Newport University (CNU)
- CNU Bonner Program Annual Report - This report covers detailed updates on stated goals for the Bonner Program as well as for Campus-Wide Engagement. It includes photos and descriptions of Bonner cornerstone activities, Bonner student highlights, as well as campus-wide events.
- University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
- College of Charleston
- 10 Year Anniversary Book — This 48-page report covers the entire history of the Bonner Leader Program at CofC, and provides a thorough description of the program's features and profiles of students and community partners.
Other Funding Sources
The grants below represent different categories of external funding that can help to support your Bonner Program or community engagement initiatives. Within each category, there are examples of how these funding sources have been utilized by Bonner campuses, as well as information on their process of receiving this funding.
Federal Grants
The Corporation of National and Community Service (CNCS) provides grants to national and local nonprofits, schools, government agencies, faith-based and community organizations, and other groups committed to strengthening their communities through volunteering. The grant making priorities are informed by the CNCS strategic plan, which are outlined in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) each year. The CNCS focus areas are: economic opportunity, education, veterans and military families, disaster services, healthy futures, environmental stewardship and capacity building.
Foundation Grants
All private, four-year residential colleges and universities are eligible to be invited to apply for planning grants that range from $25,000 - $100,000, or comprehensive grants for $250,000. The Foundations' seek grant proposals that specifically target the undergraduate experience, and reflect a high institutional priority that "includes curricular or co-curricular programs related to teaching, learning, scholarship, undergraduate research, faculty development, academic quality, intellectual vigor, or innovative ideas with lasting impact at either the requesting institution or across the sector."
- The University of Richmond
The Office of Foundation, Corporate, and Government Relations is a UR office dedicated bringing grant opportunities to our center and to support grant applications. That office identified grant opportunities for the university and helps our center apply for them. One such grant is the AVDF grant called Essential Engagement: Creating Pathways for Curricular Community Engagement. We used the funding to pursue, evaluate, and disseminate a faculty and student engagement model based on a purposeful expansions of our Community Based Learning (CBL) model. In order for other campuses to build up their funding, institutions should contact their grants office. There is software that searches grants by keywords determined by the searcher. Institutions should also tap demonstrated excellence and connections of their advancement office.
Consortium Grants
Bringing Theory to Practice (BTtoP) has offered seven different types of funding to support projects on college and university campuses that explore higher education's greater purposes (engaged learning, civic engagement and civic development, student well-being, and preparation for a meaningful life).
Corporate Sponsorship / Individual Donors
- Christopher Newport University
The Civic Engagement Center at Christopher Newport University is predominantly funded through partnerships with corporate and individual donors. The Director of Community Engagement & the Bonner Service Scholars Program, Brad Brewer, works closely with CNU’s Director of Advancement to identify and meet with potential donors in the community. Together, they ask several key questions to identify key potential stakeholders: What organizations or individuals have a mission that aligns with CNU Engage? What are ways that CNU Engage can connect our work to their mission? What sources of funding have already been taken by other CNU departments?
After identifying these potential donors, they set up meetings with them. These meetings usually include narratives of the impact driven by CNU Engage in the community and on campus, how the work at CNU Engage connects with the organization's mission, and a direct ask of the organization or individual. In this way, CNU has received many donations - small, large, recurring, and one-time - that serve as the predominant funding for the Bonner Service Scholars’ stipend, CNU Engage’s merchandise (e.g. T-shirts, jackets), and other budgetary needs.
This funding strategy has not only been successful for CNU, but it is actually preferable for them compared to other methods such as federal or foundation grants. From Brad’s perspective, applying for grants is often a time-consuming and rigorous process. Additionally, grants often have specific requirements that restrict the applicant’s original idea or provide funding for the applicant to implement someone else’s idea. Appealing to corporate organizations or individuals allows the applicant to approach with their own idea, and the donor can choose to support or deny the idea. This gives the applicant more flexibility, though it requires work in order to package the idea in a way that is appealing to the corporate audience.
