The Foreign Service Journal, December 2014

J. KIRBY SIMON FOREIGN SERVICE TRUST AN INVITATION TO PROPOSE PROJECTS FOR FUNDING BY THE J. KIRBY SIMON FOREIGN SERVICE TRUST IN 2015 T he J. Kirby Simon Foreign Service Trust is a charitable fund established in the memory of J. Kirby Simon, a Foreign Service o cer who died in 1995 while serving in Taiwan. e Trust is committed to expanding the opportunities for professional ful llment and community service of active Foreign Service o cers and specialists and their families. e principal activity of the Trust is to support projects that are initiated and carried out, on an entirely uno cial, voluntary basis, by Foreign Service personnel or members of their families, wherever located. e Trust will also consider projects of the same nature proposed by other U.S. government employees or members of their families, regardless of nationality, who are located at American diplomatic posts abroad. Only the foregoing persons are eligible applicants. In 2014, the Trust made its 18th round of grant awards, approving a total of 34 grants that ranged from $950 to $3,750 (averaging $2,240) each, for a total of $76,168. ese grants support the involvement of Foreign Service personnel in the projects described in the Trust announcement, “Grants Awarded in 2014,” which is available at www.kirbysimontrust.org. To indicate the range of Trust grants, the following paragraphs set forth a sampling of projects supported by the Trust in recent years. Education Projects: School supplies for refugee and other con ict-a icted children and for orphanages; English-language learning material for high school students; day-care facilities for underprivileged women learning marketable skills; specialized education equipment for the disabled; kitchen and other equipment for occupational training programs. Additional Projects for Young People: Playground and sports training equipment, educational toys, furnishings, household appliances, and toilet and shower facilities for special needs schools and orphanages; clean-ups to improve sanitation and care of play spaces; school fees and food for abandoned children; materials for a re-entry program for returning Foreign Service teens. Health- and Safety-Related Projects: Dental care for impoverished children; sta training for crisis shelters, health care equip- ment and improved sanitation for maternity clinics and orphanages; a visual impairment survey among HIV-positive children; rebuilding homes of earthquake victims; photo documentation of murdered women set on re by husbands or in-laws. Revenue-Producing Projects: Machines and materials for income-generating programs for sick and disadvantaged children and adults, including abused women, migrant workers, refugees, Roma and victims of sex-tra cking; a cooperative for deaf car- penters. e Trust now invites proposals for support in 2015. It is anticipated that few of the new grants will exceed the average size of the 2014 awards, and that projects assisted by the Trust will re ect a variety of interests and approaches, illustrated by the foregoing list of past grants and by the website description of 2014 grants. Certain restrictions apply: (a) Funds from the Trust cannot be used to pay salaries or other compensation to U.S. government employees or their family members. (b) e Trust does not support projects that have reasonable prospects of obtaining full fund- ing from other sources. (c) e Trust will provide support for a project operated by a charitable or educational organization only where the individual applicant(s) play an active part in initiating and carrying out the project apart from fundraising. (d) e Trust will support only projects in which each applicant’s role is clearly separate from the applicant’s o cial responsibilities. A proposal should include a description of the project, its aims and the role to be played by the applicant(s); a budget; other available funding, if any; and a brief biography of the applicant(s). Proposals should be no longer that ve double-spaced pages (exclusive of budget and biographical material). Please follow the grant application format available at kirbysimontrust.org or contact the Trust (see below). Proposals for projects to be funded during calendar year 2015 must be received by the Trust no later than March 1, 2015. Proposals can be submitted by mail, by fax or (preferable) by email to: J. Kirby Simon Foreign Service Trust 3830 26th Street North Arlington VA 22207 Phone/Fax: (703) 243-6125 Email: kirbysimontrust@gmail.com Further information about the Trust can be found at www.kirbysimontrust.org. PAID ADVERTISEMENT