Amplify Madison
Amplify Madison funds collaborative professional development projects to build skill, voice, and visibility for all people that identify as women, including youth, trans women, and in particular women of color working in the Madison region’s thriving local community organizations.
In 2021, Amplify Madison will continue to fund opportunities for teams of three women to access professional development opportunities online or in-person (When allowed) 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
Teams are comprised of three people from different Madison area community organizations. Collaboration is a central value for this opportunity and grant proposals that include individuals from different organizations will receive priority.
Community Engagement
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 in the professional development experience of their choice.
- Design and Coordination of activities such as planning meetings, reflection meetings, and other similar during the team’s collaboration.
- Community engagement activities to integrate their learning once they are back in Madison.
- Childcare during in-person professional development opportunities
Examples of expenses that can be covered are conference fees, travel, lodging, childcare, meals, online platform fees, materials, and others.
Each Expenses Report must be accompanied by 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 incurred during their community engagement activities. This report should include costs for planning meetings as well as expenses from your community engagement activities e.g. catering, materials, zoom account, etc.
Each team must plan to implement all three aspects of their Amplify Madison proposal as detailed above between February and December 2021.
Please note that funding is meant to benefit individual awardees in their professional development and community engagement, not regular operations from their organizations.
All people that identify as women, including youth (17+), 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, who are collaborating across organizations and/or sectors.
Teams can include members from different roles at organizations, e.g. board members, direct service, volunteers, etc. Applications from racially diverse, inter-organizational and/or cross-sector teams are highly encouraged.
All teams awarded are expected to participate in:
- Biannual Amplify Madison (online) get-togethers that will provide 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 team’s journey and learnings throughout the year.
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 2021 Racial Justice Summit.
A full list of commitments and meeting dates will be shared as a part of your awardee package.
Application Process
Notice new application time: Please note the application deadline is Monday, December 14, 2020.
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 youth (17+), trans women and in particular women of color working in the Community/non-profit 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. For 2021, applications will be accepted starting October 12 until December 14, 2020. Applications 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 organizations, as well as community engagement activities during the time of the grant.
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 2021 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 2020; Amy and Mary from Peach organization are eligible to apply in 2021.
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 upcoming months, most of those experiences will be limited to online engagements given the current context of the Coronavirus pandemia. Please read further below for more information on considerations on COVID-19.
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 experiences then the Amplify Madison grant can cover it. You may choose to explore in-person engagements only one the conditions provide safety for those involved.
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 engagement 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 opened a new application opportunity for teams to start their grant between February and December 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’ current orders when creating your proposal for the timeline between February and December 2021.
In addition, we also recommend every applicant team to closely monitor the spread of Coronavirus nationally and internationally. Below, a few resources we have found 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 YWCA Madison 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.
For 2021, teams can submit applications from October 12 to December 14, 2020. The new period for all teams to execute the three aspects of their proposal: (professional development, collaboration, and community engagement) is between February and December 2021.
If you have any questions, please contact Gloria Castillo, Race and Gender Equity Coordinator.
