Amplify Madison
Amplify Madison funds collaborative professional development projects to build skill, voice, and visibility for all people that identify as women, including trans women and in particular women of color working in the Madison region’s thriving local community organizations.
This 2020, Amplify Madison will continue to fund opportunities for teams of three women to travel for professional development around the United States and abroad, to then integrate their learning and wisdom from highly diverse frameworks and contexts to their work and the broader Madison community.
Amplify Madison is made possible through generous support from the Madison Community Foundation and the Schlecht Family Foundation.
Professional Development
Each team can select a conference, training or workshop of their choice across the United States or abroad. Previously awarded Amplify Madison teams had transformative learning experiences in Guadalajara, Los Angeles, Rwanda, Chicago, and VIetnam.
Collaboration
Amplify Madison teams of three people from different Madison area organizations. Collaboration is a central value for social justice work and grant proposals that include individuals from different organizations will receive priority.
Community Impact
Following their completed professional development experiences, each team is expected to co-organize community engagement activities to share and put into practice their knowledge and skills as developed with the greater community of Madison.
Guidelines
Each team of three can request up to $7500 to fund all three aspects of their Amplify Madison proposal:
- Participating of the professional development experience of their choice.
- Coordination activities between organizations applying together such as planning meetings, reflection meetings and other similar throughout their collaboration.
- Community engagement activities to integrate their learning once they are back in Madison.
Examples of expenses that can be covered are: conference fees, travel, lodging, childcare, meals, online platform fees, materials and other similar.
Each Expenses Report must be accompanied with itemized receipts for all expenses submitted for reimbursement. Each team will be asked to submit three reports:
- One that covers all expenses incurred in advance of the professional development opportunity, such as registration fees and airfare. This could also include costs of materials or other similar for planning meetings.
- A second report with all expenses incurred during the professional development opportunity such as per diem costs for transportation and meals.
- A third one for all expenses from their community engagement activities, this could include costs for planing meeting as well as direct cost of your community engagement activities e.g. catering, materials, etc.
Each team must plan to implement all three aspects of their Amplify Madison proposal as detailed above between May 2020 and May 2021.
Please note that funding is meant to benefit individual awardees from community organizations in their professional development and community impact, not regular operations from their organizations.
All people that identify as women, including trans women and in particular women of color working in nonprofits, community organizations, neighborhood groups, faith communities, etc.
Applications must be submitted by teams of three women, preferably racially diverse as well as collaborating across organizations and/or sectors for their proposal.
Teams can include members from different roles at organizations, e.g. board members, direct service, volunteers, etc. Application from racially diverse, inter-organizational and/or cross sector teams are highly encouraged.
All teams awarded are expected to participate in:
- Biannual Amplify Madison Breakfasts which will be an opportunity to connect with each other, share best practices, lessons learned, and further develop their leadership skills
- End of the year Amplify Madison Celebration which will be an opportunity to celebrate awardees, their professional development journeys and community impact in Madison.
Additionally, all Amplify Madison awardees must:
- Provide information about themselves and their teams for their profiles at the Amplify Madison Academy webpage as requested.
- Designate one of their collaborating organization to take responsibility for submitting Expenses Reports to YWCA Madison.
Amplify Madison awardees will be invited to present at the YWCA Madison’s 2020 Racial Justice Summit.
A full list of commitments and meeting dates will be shared as a part of your awardee package.
Application Process
Notice dated Tuesday September 1st: Please note the initial application deadline was Monday August 31st. While we will accept applications, your team’s application may be processed during a second selection window only if additional funds remain.
Applying to Amplify Madison just takes submitting a short application form. Additionally, your team can also submit an optional 5 minute phone quality video. Multilingual submissions are welcomed.
If your team can’t complete the application in one sitting you can download an editable Word document in English or Spanish to prepare your answers before submitting them online.
Vanessa McDowell, YWCA Madison CEO
Frequent Asked Questions
Amplify Madison grants are available for all applicants that identify as women, including trans women and in particular women of color working in the nonprofit sector in Madison, this also includes faith communities, neighborhood groups, community volunteers and other similar local organizations.
Amplify Madison Academy envisions to support collaboration across organizations and sectors as well as across race and ethnic identities, in particular across communities of color. Diverse, multiracial, inter-organizational as well as cross-sector teams are encouraged to apply.
All eligible applicants will be reviewed by a selection committee.
Women interested in applying must form a team of three members to submit a proposal created in collaboration with each other. This year, written applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and can include a complementary submission of a phone quality video.
Due to a high number of applications, early application is highly encouraged. Grants will be awarded until funds are exhausted.
If you would like to preview and or work on your application first using a word processor (i.e Microsoft Word) you can download a Word version of the application. Full application instructions and guidelines are available here in English and also downloadable in Spanish.
Each team can submit a proposal for up to $7,500 to fund all three aspects of their proposal: professional development experience, collaboration activities between applying organizations, as well as community engagement activities once the team has returned to Madison.
There are a number of commitments for your team once you are awarded a grant and become a member of the Amplify Madison Academy. A full list of commitments and meeting dates will be shared as a part of your awardee package.
However, some of the commitments include:
- Timely providing information as requested to keep both personal and team profiles up to date.
- Following financial procedures as requested for reimbursements.
- Every team must designate one of their collaborating organization to take responsibility for submitting Expenses Reports to YWCA Madison.
- Attend Bi-Annual breakfasts and End of the Year Amplify Madison Academy Celebration.
- Amplify Madison awardees will be invited to present at the YWCA Madison’s 2020 Racial Justice Summit.
No, applicants who were previously awarded an Amplify grant are not eligible to apply again.
However, applicants who previously applied and were not awarded are welcome to re-apply for the grant in a new application period.
New Applicants from organizations that have been awarded in the past can apply. For example, Jan and San from Peach organization were awarded in 2019; Amy and Mary from Peach organization are eligible to apply in 2020.
Applicants are welcome to submit both in-person and remote opportunities for professional development as part of their Amplify Madison proposal. In both cases they need to elaborate on how they plan for their chosen professional development experience to contribute to all three aspects of your proposal: individual/team capacity building, collaboration between applying organizations as well as strengthening your service to the broader Madison community.
In the past, teams have used funds to attend conferences as well as to participate in intercultural and professional exchanges both inside the United States as well as internationally. We understand that if you plan to have your professional development in the first semester of 2020 you will be limited to online engagements given the current context of the Coronavirus pandemia. Please read further below for more information on considerations your team must have given the global crisis we are facing this year.
The progressive nature of Coronavirus has resulted in major shifts in our families, organizations and relations as human beings and with nature. Given the context and new restrictions on social engagement and travel we are asking all applicants to upfront plan taking into consideration the current Coronavirus pandemic context for all three aspects of their proposal.
Professional development: We have seen an emergent switch from in-person conferences to online experiences in order to provide a wider range of professional experiences and learning opportunities to participants. We encourage your team to evaluate what it will mean for you and your learning to select an online experience. If you all have made the decision to pursue an online experience or a series of online professional development experience then the Amplify Madison grant can cover it. You may choose to explore in person engagements later in the year.
Collaboration: Identify how you will strengthen current relationships between members in your team using creative ways that maintain authentic and nurturing trust and care with each other. We call for social solidarity to remain relevant and critical throughout the current pandemic. We invite you to read the following message from john a. powell from the Othering and Belonging Institute: As we spatially separate we must also stay connected
This year all proposals were required to submit a phone quality video as a component of their proposal, given the current COVID-19 global crisis impeding in-person gatherings, we are making this an optional submission. If your team chooses to submit a video component, you are welcome to use Google Meeting, Zoom, Skype or other video conference platforms that allow recording to complete this portion of your application.
Community Engagement: To help you prepare and plan your community impact activities, the first consideration you should know is that we are monitoring the impact of the health crisis very closely and changing our internal planning accordingly. First, we have extended the application window and use of funds to one year between May 2020 and May 2021. That means you have greater flexibility in planning your community engagement activities to share your learning, experiences, and new wisdom to contribute to the transformation of our Madison community.
The possibilities, although more limited due to current circumstances, should call for greater innovation and a sense of new possibilities beyond traditional forms of community engagement. This means we are not restricting community engagement to be in-person sessions, you can host online webinars, develop an online resource library, downloadable tools and other innovative ways to share your professional development learning back to the Madison community.
We recommend every applicant team to regularly review updates from the Public Health Department of Madison and Dane County (PHMDC) regarding Coronavirus (http://bit.ly/2UJPq4r), national updates by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention as well as to take into consideration Governor Evers’ order “Safer at Home” when creating their proposal for the timeline between May 2020 and May 2021.
The Governor’s full order is available here, for a simpler read of the order, please click here for English and Spanish.
In addition to the resources above, we also recommend every applicant team to closely monitor the spread of Coronavirus nationally and internationally. Below, a few resources we have find useful in doing so:
- John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center – global monitoring of confirmed cases by country.
- Coronavirus Act Now – national monitoring of preventive measures by state in the United States.
We understand that the rapidly changing nature of Coronavirus means that large event organizers have to make difficult decisions to cancel their offerings. You will be provided the opportunity to select another professional development offering in the event that your first choice experience is cancelled. Please notify YWCAMadison contacts immediately if this occurs. We will ask for you to submit a short statement (500 words max) describing the new opportunity and how it will meet your individual and team goals.
We are regularly monitoring local and national recommendations. We are aware that many events are being cancelled and that national and international travel has been reduced to its minimum affecting potential professional development opportunities. For that reason, we are extending the application period to the end of August to provide teams with more time to find new opportunities for professional development.
Additionally, the new period for all teams to plan for the three aspects of their proposal: professional development, collaboration between organizations applying together and community engagement activities is between May 2020 and May 2021.
