Grants & Awards: DHP: Grant Application & Reference Material:

Grant Application Review Process and Criteria 

In evaluating applications, reviewers base their recommendations on the four sections of the grant narrative (Project Description, Outcomes and Evaluation, Project Implementation, and Organizational Capacity) and on the budget.

The highest score an application can receive is 100 points. A grant must score a minimum of 60 points to be considered for funding. After the reviewers have scored and ranked each application, they will meet as a group to review their rankings, and using their initial rankings as a guide, come to a consensus on a final score. Reviewers will then make a decision on each project proposal to:

1. fund the project fully;
2. fund it partially with modifications made by reviewers; or
3. not fund it at all.

Awards will be made in the order of ranking until the available funds are depleted. NYSED anticipates that higher-scoring applications will be more likely to be fully-funded (less any unallowable costs), while lower-scoring applications will be more likely to receive partial funding. In the event of a tie score, the least costly proposal is funded over the more costly one. 

DHP Grant Application Review Criteria

Reviewers will use the Criteria below to evaluate the information in each section of the application’s narrative and in its budget.

Criteria

I.    Project Description [maximum 30 points]

1. Records Description: Provided requisite information about the records and effectively described their significance according to the Project Type of the proposal. [10 points] 
   
2. Topical Priorities: Made a convincing case that the project fit within one (and only one) of the topical priorities. [Priority One: 11-15 points, Priority Two: 6-10 points, Priority Three: 1-5 points]
   
3. Project Need: Persuasively explained the need for the project and why funding from DHP at this time is essential to its accomplishment [5 points]

II.  Outcomes and Evaluations [maximum 15 points]

Project Outcome Statements and Evaluations: Clearly articulated all four outcomes required for their Project Type and satisfactorily discussed the methods that would be used to evaluate each of their predicted outcomes.
Each of the four Outcome Statements and their corresponding Evaluations can achieve a maximum score of 3.75 points.

III.   Project Implementation [maximum 25 points]

1. Plan of Work: Clearly described the work that would be undertaken to complete the project on time, and with the personnel and other resources available. [15 points]
2. Project Personnel: Provided requisite information for all key project personnel, including qualifications and the roles each would play. [10 points]

 
IV.  Organizational Capacity [maximum 5 points]

Briefly described the organization’s past experience and current capacity to carry out and sustain the project, and how the work of the project relates to the organization’s mission.

V.  Budget and Cost Share  [maximum 25 points]

1. Clearly described how the proposed expenditures would be used to support project activities and outcomes, and convincingly demonstrated that the expenditures are appropriate, reasonable and necessary. [15 points]
2. Clearly described how the expenditures and activities of the proposal are supplemental to and do not supplant or duplicate services currently provided. [10 points]
3. Clearly described how cost share contributions directly support project activities and meet minimum requirements.
   
   

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Complete DHP Grant Application Guidelines PDF format (Requires Adobe Reader)

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