Evelyn Daniel,
Page revised June 20, 2001.

LIS 450RRL: GRANTWRITING AND FUNDRAISING

NEEDS STATEMENT, GOAL AND OBJECTIVES

 (for 1 unit students)

Summer 2001

Assignment Due: July 5

This is a team assignment. You may use one of the ideas you or your team mate developed in the first concept paper or you can examine a new problem. You will find it helpful to read Chapters 7 ("Statement of the Problem") and 8 ("Objectives") of Miner et al. Additional detail is provided below.

Needs Statement. Your first task is to write a short paper (2-3 pages long) in which you identify a problem area and discuss the following questions about it:

For the problem that you select, please write two to three arguments telling why this problem should be solved and why it is urgent to solve it now. To develop your arguments, you may find it useful to document your case using one or more of the following ways of demonstrating your knowledgeability about the problem.

Goal and Objectives. At the end of your needs statement, summarize how you plan to solve the problem (your goal). In other words, state your solution (i.e., your proposed plan). For example,

To combat the problems caused by an overabundance of information and the difficulty of finding the exact information needed, the Illinois Agricultural Extension Service in partnership with the University of Illinois Library proposes the NEEDLE IN THE HAYSTACK project, an online interactive virtual reference service.

Follow the goal (proposed solution) with a short set (2-3) of specific objectives (promises) that you hope to accomplish. Your objectives should be achievable, observable, and measureable. They should answer the need you have outlined above in specific, well-defined ways.

In the need statement you can talk about broad, long-standing needs; in the objectives section, describe the short-term, readily achievable results you hope to accomplish. Don't confuse objectives with steps of your work plan. For example

"To place three ads in the local paper for the NEEDLE IN THE HAYSTACK project" is a method -- part of your work plan and not an objective (It has nothing to do with the result to be accomplished).

If your goal was as follows: "The REACH OUT LINDYTOWN project will connect 20 children of new immigrant families with 20 same-aged children of local families in a read and explore summer program," one of your objectives might be:

   "At least 90% of the children targeted by this project will use the library independently at least four times during the period between September and December 19-- [current year]. Use is defined as attendance at a story hour, listening to a tape or looking at a book in the library independently, or borrowing an item from the library."

Some of the elements you will want to include in your objectives section are:

In practice, it may not be possible to include all these elements but you should certainly include the result target area -- that is, where you expect to see change as a result of your project (in the example above -- in the children of new immigrant families). Measurement indicators are very useful as is your specification of the level on that measurement indicator that you hope to achieve (the performance standard). In the example, the performance standard is "90% of the targeted immigrant children using the library independently" and the measurement indicator is the number who actually did use the library as a percentage of the target population during the period specified.

If the time frame is congruent with the beginning and end dates of your project it may not need to specifically stated. Only include cost if you can isolate specific costs for individual cases or if you are claiming cost savings in time or money as a result of your proposed solution.

One technique for writing objectives much used in public education circles is the ABCD method:

If you develop objectives well, with attention to the end result to be achieved and how you will determine whether it has been achieved, the evaluation section, which occurs after your work plan but will be the next assignment, will be simple.

This assignment calls for a lot of creativity and hard thinking. It is a useful exercise for a lot of other work areas in addition to grantwriting and thus I think it's worth investing a substantial amount of time and effort.

It will be helpful for me if you include a note stating the organizational context from which you are viewing the problem and attempting to solve it, e.g., small public library, academic research library, elementary school library, corporate information center).

This assignment is for all students, with a bit of modification for the 1/2 unit folks that Iis detailed in a slightly modified version. Remember, this is a team project. Please work cooperatively.

Create your paper as a webpage in SiteEdit. Use the WebBoard to discuss any problems you are having. Post the URL to the WebBoard when you have completed the assignment. (Early completions are always welcome)

Note: Your work for this assignment is considered a draft although I will give you a tentative grade and some comments on it. I hope you will also receive some constructive suggestions from your colleagues as well. You will have an opportunity to amend your work as part of your final submission.