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GRASSROOTS
Organization Application
Living out the way of Jesus in missional communities, announcing the arrival of his kingdom, working for measurable
change among the oppressed. This is our mission as the Mars Hill community, and we seek to demonstrate this
mission in both church-wide and grassroots expressions. In the case of grassroots expressions, our community
members generate ideas that carry the Mars Hill mission out into the world.
In launching our grassroots focus and its presence on marshill.org, we selected a few serving expressions
[representing both organizations and individuals] that have grown out of the Mars Hill community and/or have
had a number of Mars Hill people involved with their work over the years. Together these were the first phase
of our grassroots organization expressions. Since then we have added some more and are looking to highlight
additional organizations that were/are inspired into being through participation in the life of Mars Hill. If this is
you please apply.
Organizations we connect with receive increased visibility and web traffic via a direct link from the main
grassroots page of marshill.org, but are not guaranteed any additional promotion from Mars Hill.
To be considered, applicants must:
§
Represent an established organization that in its genesis was inspired by an individual’s
or group’s participation in the life of the Mars Hill community.
§
Have an online presence that includes the following:
§
ongoing updates
§
stories
§
volunteer/involvement opportunities
§
a means for people to give
Note: neither political activity nor anything that would be deemed in conflict with the Mars Hill shared
values [The Directions] and Narrative Theology will qualify.
Application Deadline
Applications must be submitted by June 01, 2015
Questions?
Email Andy Soper, Director of Mobilization at [email protected]
GRASSROOTS
Organization Application
Applicant Info
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Name of Applicant
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Home Address
___________________________________________________________________________________________
City
State
Zip
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Phone [Household]
[Cell]
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Email
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Organization Name
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Organization Address
___________________________________________________________________________________________
City
State
Zip
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Organization website URL
Is this organization incorporated?
q Yes [check the applicable status]:
q No
q not-for-profit
Does this organization have a board of directors?
q Yes
q for-profit
q No
What is this organization’s overall yearly budget?______________________________________________
GRASSROOTS
Organization Application
Vision
The Grassroots grant’s primary purpose is to support those at Mars Hill Bible Church who are seeking to
launch and lead new strategic, missional ministries that mobilize the body of Christ at Mars Hill into loving,
serving and prophetically engaging our city and world for the glory of God.
Criteria
The following criteria can help you determine whether the Grassroots grant is a good fit for you and your
proposal. Please note that some of these criteria have been added or clarified and may be different than early
Grassroots grants, as we have sought to continually refine and hone the Grassroots grant.
§ New: Grassroots grants are designated specifically towards the launching of new ministries or initiatives.
Existing ministries are welcome to apply, but the Grassroots grants’ board will be seeking to determine to
what extent the applicant’s proposal is towards the launching of a new initiative. Past recipients of
Grassroots grants are welcome to apply again as well, but the Outreach Sub-Team will be seeking to
determine to what extent the applicant’s proposal is towards the launching of a new initiative.
§
Locally-based: Grassroots grants are designated specifically towards locally-based ministries or initiatives
to our city of Grand Rapids and the surrounding region. International ministries fall outside the scope and
parameters of the Grassroots grant if the leaders of the initiative are not based in Grand Rapids.
§
Church-centered: Grassroots grants are intended towards the launching of Mars Hill Grassroots
ministries that mobilize our church body for ministry to the city. We believe non-profits play an important
and strategic role in our city, but the Grassroots grant addresses a different niche and is not generally
intended to go towards the ongoing funding related to staffing and maintenance of a non-profit. Nonprofits are welcome to apply if it is an initiative that helps equip and serve the church body at Mars Hill in
mission to the city or a member of Mars Hill is identified who is a mature follower of Jesus, connected to
the non-profit, and committed to playing a leadership role in mobilizing a team from the church for the
initiative, but the Mars Hill Outreach Sub-Team will be seeking to determine to what extent the applicant’s
proposed initiative serves or supplements our mission as a local church body.
Grants Amounts
Mars Hill will be awarding grants in the following amounts:
[1x] $10,000 – subject to semi-annual review
[2x] $5,000 – subject to annual review
[5x] $1,000 – seed funds for new initiatives
Organizations who are accepted for review for the top 2 awards will be asked to present to the Outreach SubTeam at Mars Hill Bible Church.
Metrics
These are things we are looking for that will make a strong application. Not having all of these does not
disqualify the application, but thinking through how your initiative addresses these components will make for a
stronger application.
§ Embody the Gospel: How does this ministry initiative help Mars Hill embody Jesus to our city? What is it
about who God is, what God does and what God cares about that makes this initiative significant from a
gospel-perspective?
§
Word + Deed: How does this initiative provide opportunity to care for people both physically and spiritually?
How do you envision people experiencing the love of God as a result of this initiative in both word and deed,
action and articulation, presence and proclamation?
§
Mobilizing the Body of Christ: What opportunities does this ministry initiative provide for followers of Jesus
at Mars Hill [and beyond] to put their faith into action?
§
Strategic: In what ways does this initiative meet a strategic need at this time and place? Are we reinventing
the wheel or is someone else already meeting this need sufficiently and well?
GRASSROOTS
Organization Application
§
Specific: Hone the goals this initiative will be seeking to address so you have a specific focus you can do
well with quality rather than being too broad and ambiguous.
§
Sustainable: How many volunteers and what kind of leadership team does this initiative need to work well
and be sustainable for the long haul [avoiding burnout]?
§
Capital Costs: Our ministries are volunteer-led and Grassroots grants are intended to go to capital costs to
launch the ministry, not to salary. Generally speaking, applications seeking salary will not be considered
unless a strong case can be made for the initiative’s unique ability to meet the above criteria and metrics
strongly and the initiative’s unique necessity of a salaried position to launch it that can find other ways to
achieve sustainability in future years beyond the Grassroots grant.
Introduction
§ In 200 words or less, please tell us a little bit about yourself.
§ Please describe your journey/involvement at Mars Hill Bible Church.
Vision + Scope Of Initiative
§ What is the general idea and title of the initiative? [250 words max]
§ What specific need and/or problem is being addressed in the initiative? [150 word max]
§ How will this initiative meet the identified need and declare the gospel in both word and deed?
§ Is a group, individual[s], or government currently meeting this need or problem in any way? If no, skip
question. If yes, what will your initiative add to the solution? Do you anticipate any partnerships? Have you
been in contact with those people currently meeting the need?
§ What geographic location would be served by the initiative?
§ Describe the demographic that would be served by the initiative.
§ Describe your journey of discovering the need for such an initiative.
§ Provide clear data for the need for your initiative [local reports, focus groups, etc.].
Business Plan Of Initiative
§ What financial amount are you requesting for this initiative?
§ Please list in moderate detail how these funds would be used.
§ What is the minimum financial amount that would allow the project to begin [keep in mind that the
§ maximum Grassroots grant is $10,000]?
§ Please list in moderate detail what this amount would fund.
§ Describe your first year of operation. What are your goals for the initiative at 3, 6, and 9 months of
operation?
§ Once the initiative is operating at its potential, what will it look like?
§ How will the initiative be managed and operated once up and running? Are you following any particular
business model? How are similar projects operated?
§ Who will be on your management team, and what is their experience in this area?
Sustainability Of Initiative
§ If you plan on being the only worker in this initiative, do you see this as a permanent solution?
§ If not, how soon do you hope to bring others into your team? How will you identify and recruit such
team members?
§ What are the job descriptions/roles that you hope to have in place [including your own]?
§ How do you plan to make this initiative sustainable? What other resources do you plan to use to make
this venture sustainable?
§ What barriers exist to the success of the initiative? How will you address those barriers?
§ How will the intended effects of the initiative be monitored?
§ Is there any additional information you would like to share with us?