The importance of transparency and credibility in award applications

Dear friends,

We hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving. This post addresses several concerns and questions raised by the followers about the awards. Let me start this by informing you that I am no expert in this field. However, I would like to share my opinion as we have applied and won a couple of international and national team and individual awards last year. Our team is relatively small compared to a team of 8-10 members. I will try and address all of your concerns by saying one vital point. The accuracy of the information in the application is very, very important. If one stretches the truth, the whole credibility of the project will be at stake.I can't stress this enough.

1. We do have a big panel/advisory committee consisting of very educated adults which include teachers, scientists, and NPO directors, both from India and USA. We welcome their constructive criticism. In my opinion, having adult mentors like your school teachers is very vital for getting objective advice.
2.In our case, the adult mentors have pointed us in the direction of award. They have nominated us for individual awards as well.
3. An application for a team award should be very simple. Many of the team awards allow 8-10 kids to be a part of the team. I strongly feel that the whole team should pool in their individual efforts to make a strong application. Having said that, there is a catch. Some of the team applications have individual pages, where every team member must write about his/her personal contribution/individual role in the project. Every team member has to be very honest and write accurately . If the team is bigger, maybe the team can consult an adult mentor to check the credibility of the individual pages. The awards committee will not care who has done what, they look at the overall accomplishment as a team. On the individual page, one needs to write a first person story rather than saying WE. You have to stick to what you have done.
4. If 2-3 people have done a task together, then it it best to write their names along with yours instead of being ambiguous and writing we.
5. Applying to individual awards is rather simple. Most of the top awards need a nomination. One of the teachers or adult mentors usually nominate the students. In my opinion,it is also okay to approach a teacher asking for a nomination if you think you have a strong case.
6. More than one person from the same team can apply for the individual award. Anyone can apply for the individual award. You don't need permission from the team but in my opinion, it is a good idea to inform the other teammates that you are planning to apply for the award. Here the accuracy is vital. I can't stress this enough. Individual awards will be based on what that particular person has done. You can't write what the team has done. That would be wrong. If an individual stretches the truth, the whole credibility of the project will be at stake. To give you an example, I was nominated for Brower Youth Awards 2009. Though I am the leader, I can't claim that we raised $15,000 in two year. The word we is very ambiguous. what I have to write is the team raised $15,000. Supposing I have raised $5000 under my leadership, I have to be very specific, and write something like under my leadership the team raised $5000 of the total 15,000.
7. Trust me, if your application is considered for the award, the committee will check the credibility of the application from several sources. There will be interviews, required references, etc. to back up your claim.
8. The number of years worked is very important. There will be eligibility rules. You will have to have spent a minimum amount of time before you apply. In most cases you need at least one year of service, unless you have done an extraordinary accomplishment, then I am sure you can make an exception. However, for team awards, you can be a new member, and if the other team mates agree, then you can be a part of the team.
9. The important thing is, you need to be able to defend your position on the project. One of you have asked me that you have raised $4000 or so, with no title. I don't think that you need to worry. In your individual application/page you specify that you have raised $4000 out of total $5000. I think you may need a mentor intervention if the treasurer or the financial director in charge who has spent 14 months on the project also claims that he/she has raised $5000 under his/her leadership.
10. About co-nominations for individual awards, My sister Apoorva and I are cofounders and we did not apply for any individual awards. We were nominated. I think this was possible because we were siblings living under the same roof. But I may be wrong. It might be a good idea to approach the Awards Committee before making the application ready.
11. On a final note, in my opinion, having adult advisers is the key step to the problem solving. They will be more objective and impartial. One thing to remember is, the committee checks the credibility of the application. As long as you stick to the truth, whether it is a team or individual award, you have nothing to worry about.

I hope this helps. Good luck to all of you for the upcoming awards/contests.

Sincerely,
Adarsha

Fund Facts

Dr. Anuradha Rajput with Adarsha and Apoorva at the 2009 International Eco Hero Awards Reception on October 24, 2009.



Hello Blog Followers,

This is Apoorva Rangan. I thought of addressing the fund raising issues in this post in response to several comments and questions. First of all, I am very happy to inform you all that we have been successful in fulfilling the financial obligation of $15,000 towards the phase I and II of our project. I would like to take this opportunity to thank two very important people from our advisory committee for our success. First of all, Mrs. Michelle Lacourciere, executive director of Sirona Cares foundation, sponsored our project to attain a nonprofit status. This was a big deal for us. We could not have done this by ourselves, because we learned that the annual operating cost of a nonprofit organization itself is very expensive. As Sirona Cares foundation handles that for us, any funds we collect directly goes into our project. Though this is remarkable, Sirona Cares is not financially sponsoring our project. We need to come up with the funds on our own. With the current global recession, fund raising has been one of our main challenges.

As I am the cofounder of the project, and took the financial Director’s role from day one, I know how we have come up with every single penny! Ours is a unique project with a unique approach to fund collections. This is where Dr. Anuradha Rajput’s role comes in. She has been our financial anchor in India, in addition to being a member in our advisory committee. We started the project with a total sum of $650, which was the cash prize Adarsha won in the CA State spelling championship in 2006. By October 2009, we have roughly $15,000. Pretty impressive right? Firstly, Dr. Rajput guided us in the right direction. She researched the available awards in the environmental service area and nominated us. The first award that we won as a team was the 2009 T4PE Gold service award. The team (Adarsha, Callie and I) won $1000 together and we all contributed the entire cash prize towards the project. Next, she nominated Adarsha and me for The International Eco Hero award 2009, and the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes 2009 for which we both won a total of $500 and $2500 respectively. Adarsha and I donated that entirely towards project Jatropha. Very recently Adarsha won the Brower Youth Award 2009. He received a cash prize of $3000 which he contributed towards the project. So far, we have collected $7000 from the awards alone. We want to thank Dr. Adrianna Smyth for nominating Adarsha for Brower Youth Award. In addition, Adarsha also donated his annual earnings of $1200, and adding the $650 of his earlier contribution so far makes our total to $8850. I collected the rest of the $6150 from the generous donors in India introduced by Dr. Rajput. We’d also like to thank to our family and friends for their contributions toward our project. This is a short summary of our fund raising tactics.

Lately Callie and I have been exploring other fund raising opportunities. Callie suggested that we do a bracelet sale in the local schools! Not any bracelet, but ones that are popular in our project site. These are the colorful glass bangles that the rural women wear. I took Callie’s suggestion and contacted Dr. Rajput for help again. Luckily, she was visiting CA in October. She lives in Bangalore which is 120 miles away from the project site. As we needed the bulk supply, she took the help of 10 of the workers to find 200 bangles from 12 different shops. She packed them carefully and delivered them to us three weeks ago. Next step is to make the sale. We will let you know how this plan works out soon. Wish us good luck!

Here's a glimpse of the bangles!

~Apoorva

The Global Significance of Project Jatropha

I have met several environmentalists in the past eight months during workshops, presentations, and conferences. Most of them are very impressed with what Project Jatropha is doing, but some of them have asked me how the project helps America when the project site is all the way across the other side of the planet. In order to answer this question, we have made some changes in the web site home page and I thought of making a blog post too.
Carbon dioxide emissions are local, but their effects are global. There are one hundred and ninety four countries on this globe, big and small; their boundaries are fixed but the air that they breathe is shared. No matter who contributes how much to the CO2 burden, all nations suffer together. The USA is one of the largest producers of carbon dioxide in the world, and if we don't start decreasing emissions and transitioning away from fossil fuels, the repercussions will be felt throughout the world. We are looked upon as a world leader but if we do not lead by example, we are destined to be followers. It is of the utmost importance that this transition starts now, because if emissions are not curbed significantly by 2050, then the tipping point of climate change will be reached. In addition, a transition away from fossil fuels is key to not only creating countless new jobs in green industries, but also in mitigating the impact of peak oil and decrease the amount of pollutants in our atmosphere. This is where Project Jatropha comes in. Jatropha curcas is a carbon sink, taking carbon dioxide out of the air and putting it into the ground. The bio fuel produced by the seeds provides a clean, alternative source of energy that not only helps reduce emissions, but also is able to be used in all kinds of vehicles. In addition, by providing an alternative crop to tobacco for rural farmers, the burning of large quantities of firewood, which releases large amounts of carbon dioxide, can be reduced. By demonstrating that biofuels can be produced in a sustainable and economical way, Project Jatropha hopes to start a mass movement to mitigate climate change across the entire world.
Sincerely,
Adarsha