2010 Affiliate of the Year - Complete Application Materials

2010 NCLR Affiliate of the Year Award Honoring NCLR Affiliates for their exemplary work In serving Hispanic communities APPLICATION OVERVIEW Please review all of the following information before filling out the nomination forms.

The Affiliate of the Year Award is an honor bestowed on one of the National Council of La Raza s (NCLR) affiliated, Hispanic-serving, community-based organizations for exemplary work in serving its community and supporting NCLR s policy and programmatic initiatives. The award provides NCLR with an opportunity to showcase the achievements of an Affiliate and how its accomplishments have made a positive and measurable impact on the lives of Latinos.

The Affiliate of the Year Award is presented to an NCLR Affiliate that has demonstrated substantial improvement in the effectiveness of delivering its mission over time and has engaged in an internally and/or externally driven self-evaluation process. The award will be given to one NCLR Affiliate during the Awards Gala at the 2010 NCLR Annual Conference, along with a cash award of $25,000. In addition, regional honorees will be selected to receive a cash award of $5,000. Each of the regional honorees will represent one of NCLR s six Affiliate geographic regions, defined as California, Far West, Midwest, Northeast (including Puerto Rico), Southeast, and Texas. Please note that the region represented by the Affiliate receiving the overall NCLR Affiliate of the Year Award will not receive a regional award.

CRITERIA AND NOMINATION PROCESS 1. Eligibility Eligible Affiliate applicants must have been affiliated with NCLR for a minimum of three years and be current in their dues payments and recertification documents (including the General Member Memorandum of Understanding, Board of Directors list, and financial statements). Please contact Mauricio Hernandez (mhernandez@nclr.org) at NCLR to ensure that the Affiliate organization is in good standing before submitting these materials. Affiliates are also strongly encouraged to have completed at least one cycle of self-evaluation and present the results from this process for review by the Awards Selection Committee.

2. Application Process NCLR Affiliates may either nominate themselves or be nominated by another organization or individual. NCLR Affiliates may nominate only one Affiliate organization per awards cycle and may not nominate Affiliate organizations that were award winners in the two previous years.

Applicants are required to submit a formal application form and include detailed supporting information describing their impact in the Hispanic community. In addition, applicants should submit at least one formal recommendation letter from a community-based organization with which they have worked closely during the past year and testimonies from at least two families they have served. Please review the application materials for more details.

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In an effort to reduce environmental impact, all applications must be submitted via email only. Please email all your application materials to Mauricio Hernandez, Grants and Special Programs Coordinator, at mhernandez@nclr.org by March 26, 2010. Incomplete application packets or application packets received after this date will not be considered.

3. Evaluation Criteria The following criteria will be considered by the Awards Selection Committee and should act as a guide in nominating NCLR Affiliates for the Affiliate of the Year Award: Commitment to mission, as measured by the success of programs that have effectively served the needs and interests of the Affiliate s community Significant improvement in the effectiveness of the Affiliate s mission over time, as shown through qualitative and quantitative results and recognized achievements. Affiliate organizations do not need have a large capacity or budget to effectively carry out their missions in serving the Hispanic community, but they must demonstrate proven sustainability and impact.

Results from a self-evaluation process that clearly demonstrate an improvement in the effectiveness of the Affiliate in delivering its mission Relationship with NCLR, as measured by support of NCLR programs and policy efforts, strengthened participation in NCLR s regional meetings and the NCLR Annual Conference, and compliance with the Affiliate Member Services Business Plan Relationship with NCLR Affiliates in the organization s community and region, as measured by collaborative efforts and demonstrated mutual support Recognized achievements, as measured by letters of recommendation from local community leaders, awards/honors received, and positive media coverage Strong leadership, as measured by the active involvement of the Affiliate s board of directors and executive management in the Affiliate s services and advocacy efforts Organizational sustainability and financial stability, as measured by the number of years in operation, proper management of the Affiliate s finances, and a long-term fundraising strategy 4. Internal Screening Upon receipt of the nomination packets, NCLR will convene an internal committee to review Affiliate applicants on a regional basis. The committee will include representatives from NCLR s Education, Housing and Community Development, Workforce Development, Institute for Hispanic Health, Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation, and Affiliate Member Services components.

The internal review committee will then choose two finalists from each of the six geographic regions. Please note that NCLR staff will make their judgments based on the quality of the applications submitted and not on their personal knowledge of Affiliates and the services they provide. A scoring rubric corresponding to the points assigned to each question in the application narrative will be used by NCLR staff in identifying the finalists.

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5. Selection Committee The 12 finalists application materials will then be sent to a five-member final Selection Committee to be composed of two non-Affiliate members of the NCLR Board of Directors, two external experts, and a representative from the NCLR Corporate Board of Advisors. Upon reviewing the finalists materials, the Selection Committee will meet via conference call in May 2010 to select the NCLR Affiliate of the Year and five Regional Honorees. Please note that the region represented by the Affiliate receiving the overall NCLR Affiliate of the Year Award will not receive a regional award.

The Affiliate of the Year will be honored at the NCLR Awards Gala, the culminating event of the 2010 NCLR Annual Conference. The award-winning Affiliate s president or board chair must be present at the Awards Gala to accept the award on the organization s behalf. The Affiliate of the Year will be notified approximately two months in advance of the NCLR Annual Conference so that NCLR can prepare a brief video about the organization to be presented at the event. A representative from NCLR s Board of Directors and President and CEO will present the award to the Affiliate of the Year. The five Regional Honorees for Affiliate of the Year will be recognized at the annual gathering of Affiliate executive directors taking place at the 2010 NCLR Annual Conference.

In addition, the Affiliate of the Year will receive several notable opportunities for publicity in its community and on a national level. The award winner will be highlighted in 2010 NCLR publications, including its website. In addition, NCLR will create opportunities to feature the Affiliate of the Year and the five regional honorees in their respective local media through photo shoots or local press releases.

APPLICATIONS A completed application packet has three parts (please see nomination application for formatting guidelines): 1. Basic information a. A signed application cover sheet b. A narrative describing the nominated organization and its demonstrated impact in the community it serves (such as evaluation results, outcome measurements, and other indicators requested in the narrative questions) 2. At least one recommendation letter from other NCLR Affiliates and/or community-based organizations with which the NCLR Affiliate has worked closely during the past year 3. Two signed testimonies from families whom the applicant organization has served within the past year (testimonies may be written in Spanish or English) In an effort to reduce environmental impact, all applications must be submitted via email only. Please email all your application materials to Mauricio Hernandez, Grants and Special Programs Coordinator, at mhernandez@nclr.org no later than March 26, 2010.

If you have specific questions about the application, please contact Mauricio Hernandez at (202) 776-1716 or mhernandez@nclr.org.

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2010 NCLR Affiliate of the Year Award Honoring NCLR Affiliates for their exemplary work In serving Hispanic communities APPLICATION MATERIALS

NCLR Affiliate: _____________________________________________________ Executive Director: __________________________________________________ Email Address: _____________________________________________________ Phone Number: _____________________________________________________ Address: ___________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Unduplicated Number of Individuals Served: ______________________________ Unduplicated Number of Families Served: ________________________________ Name of organization(s) providing recommendation letter (At least one letter): __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY (Please do not fill out.)

Number of years affiliated with NCLR: _____________________________________________ Is the nominee current in its dues payments?

Y

N

Is the nominee current in its recertification documents?

Y

N

Budget size: ___________________________________________________________________________

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Names of individuals providing signed testimonies: __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ I affirm that the information contained here is true, that the nominated NCLR Affiliate organization is currently operational, and that the organization is in good standing as an Affiliate of NCLR. The applicant is willing to share information about its mission and services with the NCLR Affiliate Network and to cooperate with NCLR in creating written materials and videos highlighting the organization s achievements should the organization become the Affiliate of the Year Award winner or a Regional Honoree.

_____________________________________________________________ Signature of President/CEO Date

_____________________________________________________________ Name of President/CEO

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2010 NCLR Affiliate of the Year Award Honoring NCLR Affiliates for their exemplary work In serving Hispanic communities APPLICATION MATERIALS Application Narrative Please write a narrative that answers all of the following questions. To improve readability for the judges, write each question before the corresponding answer in the narrative. Limit the total response to ten enumerated pages, double-spaced, 12-point type, with one-inch margins on all sides. Recommendation letters and testimonies should follow this narrative, not exceed six pages, and follow the same format guidelines. Please note that judges will use a scoring rubric and programmatic indicators to assign points to the answers provided by the nominee. As indicated below, each question will be allocated with a maximum number of eligible points. The total number of possible points is 100.

1. What is the mission of the Affiliate? Please list and provide a short description of the major programs the applicant administers to effectively carry out the mission. Please include staff size and unduplicated number of clients served.

(10 points) 2. How does the Affiliate currently measure organizational success and outcomes? Please provide specific examples and relevant quantitative/qualitative data (e.g., institutional strategic plan goals, how success/achievement is measured against these, and specific outcomes). How many evaluation cycles has the Affiliate conducted? (10 points) 3. How has the Affiliate organization improved the effectiveness of its mission over time? Please provide the most significant quantitative and qualitative results of the organization s self-evaluation process and note improvements over time in the quantity and quality of services delivered. How has the Affiliate used outcome data to make improvements and changes? How do the services provided effectively meet the needs of the Hispanic community served? (15 points) 4. How does the organization publicly promote/communicate its affiliation with NCLR? How has the nominee supported NCLR programs and policy efforts?

Please be as specific as possible (i.e., What NCLR projects or initiatives have you been engaged in or what have you collaborated with NCLR on?). How often have representatives attended the NCLR Annual Conference, regional meetings, and trainings in the past three years? Please provide the names of 6

the organization s representatives, the NCLR event, and the approximate dates of the event attended. (15 points) 5. How often has the organization collaborated with other NCLR Affiliates and/or community-based organizations in their region to achieve common goals or overcome a defined challenge? Please cite specific examples.

(15 points) 6. What is the reputation of the Affiliate organization within its community? List and briefly describe any awards or positive media coverage the Affiliate organization has received within the past three years, including the dates of the award or press release. Please do not attach press releases or provide videos.

(10 points) 7. How many years has the organization been in operation? Describe how the Affiliate has achieved sustainability over time and its long-term fundraising strategy. Please include the applicant s total operating budget using the Annual Budget Form (Attachment 1) and identify the percentage of funding streams below. (10 points) Foundations Local Government (please list offices/departments) State Government (please list offices/departments) Federal Government (please list offices/departments) Corporations/Banks Events Other

____% ____% ____% ____% ____% ____% ____%

8. How do the organization s Executive Director and Board of Directors foster an environment that encourages commitment to the mission and the improvement of services provided to the Hispanic community? Please provide two examples of instances in which the Executive Director or Board of Directors leadership has helped the organization overcome significant challenges. (15 points)

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2010 NCLR Affiliate of the Year Award Honoring NCLR Affiliates for their exemplary work In serving Hispanic communities ATTACHMENT 1 Annual Organizational Budget Reporting Period: FY 2009 Name of Organization City, State EXPENSES Personnel Costs Staff Salaries Other Salaries Total Personnel Costs Consultants

EXPENSE DESCRIPTION

Fringe Benefits and Taxes Travel Supplies and Materials Professional Development/Training Travel and Accommodations Other Total Professional Development Costs Equipment Purchase Maintenance Total Equipment Costs Operating Expenses Rent Utilities Postage and Shipping Total Operating Expenses Other Expenses Total Direct Costs Total Indirect Costs TOTAL COSTS Cost per client

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TOTAL