LCAN Planning Grants

LCAN Planning Grants are available for up to $20,000 to conduct a strategic planning process to organize and initiate a community-based Local College Access Network (LCAN). Please read these instructions thoroughly prior to applying for grant funding.


Timeline

Planning Grants will be accepted at any time by MCAN. Grants are reviewed throughout the year. Please work with your primary staff contact to get a better understanding of when your grant application may be reviewed. If you do not yet have a primary staff contact, please contact Jamie Jacobs, deputy director. MCAN is committed to reviewing grants and providing a response to applicants in 90 days or less. Grants will not be awarded from Sept. 1-Sept. 30 as it is the end of our fiscal year. Grant submitted during that time will be reviewed and notified of award status beginning Oct. 1.


Application Process

MCAN uses Survey Monkey Apply, an online grant submission and review system. All grant applications must be submitted through this system. When you click the link below, you will be taken to a login page. You will create a username and password for this system which can be used for this and future grant applications if you so choose. If you currently have a username, you can log into the system from the link below.

If you would like to review the online application components, you are welcome to review this document. You cannot submit the application using this PDF. This is for review purposes only.


Eligibility & Assistance

MCAN staff is available to provide application assistance. Contact Jamie Jacobs, deputy director, to request support.


Apply Here


Planning Grant Process

MCAN has adopted the collective impact framework to help communities organize and initiate their local network. MCAN recommends that communities follow the steps listed below during the planning process in order to be successful and to help position the LCAN to be competitive for future MCAN grant opportunities:

  1. Make the Case with Influential Champions
  2. Establish an Initial Backbone Support Infrastructure and Continuous Improvement Process
  3. Conduct a Landscape Scan and create an Asset Map
  4. Gather Baseline Data
  5. Establish Common Agenda and Dashboard
  6. Formalize Backbone Support Infrastructure
  7. Align Existing Organizations to the Network
  8. Analyze Data to Select Priority Areas

Planning Grant Deliverables

Successful applicants will be expected to work toward, complete and submit the following Planning Grant deliverables during the tenure of their grant award.

  • Endorsed Common Agenda
  • Up-to-Date Asset Map
  • Plan for Backbone Support (organization chart, staffing plan, position description(s))
  • National Student Clearinghouse Student Tracker Report(s) or MiSchool Data Report
  • Data Dashboard
  • Identified Priority Areas for Action Planning
  • Identified Leadership Team members and fiscal agent (Anchor) for the network
  • Grantees are required to submit a final report at the end of the grant period. Final reports are submitted through SurveyMonkey Apply.

Application Assistance

In addition to the financial grant, MCAN will provide extensive tools, templates and technical assistance. MCAN has recently updated its guidebook for LCAN development using the collective impact framework. You can access Charting the Course Second Edition: A Community's Guide for Increasing Educational Attainment through the Lens of Collective Impact. A great place for you and your entire planning team to start is by reading the suite of Collective Impact articles by Kania & Kramer:

“Collective Impact” — Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2011 →
“Channeling Change – Making Collective Impact Work” — Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2012 →
"Embracing Emergence: How Collective Impact Addresses Complexity" — Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2013 →
Rereading "Collective Impact": Lessons Learned — Stanford Social Innovation Review, Feb 2014 blog →