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Application for Fund for Community Service

 

SUMMARY

If you volunteer with a charitable group, you may be eligible for a grant from the Fund for Community Service. If you have been volunteering for at least six months and volunteer an average of 8 hours per month, your organization may be eligible to receive a computer or reimbursement for an expense up to $1,000 from IBM. IBMers and retirees are eligible to submit proposals for a grants each year. 

You may request a grant if you are a regular full-time or part-time IBM employee assigned in the U.S. or an IBM retiree. Your involvement as an active volunteer must be for a sustained and continuing period of time. You must be working with an eligible community service organization for:

1. A minimum of six months
2. A minimum of eight hours a month on average

Note: You may only receive one Fund for Community Service grant per calendar year.

To qualify for a grant, an organization must be a local nonprofit community service agency that focuses on education, the environment, health and human services or culture. Schools that have early learning development programs (preschools), plus elementary and secondary schools, are eligible. Colleges are also eligible, as long as projects benefit the community or improve the quality of education.

Organizations that are engaged in political activity, lobbying or other controversial matters are not eligible for grants; neither are profit-making agencies, religious programs or groups whose purpose is athletics or recreation.

The Fund for Community Service has assisted many different types of organizations, including:

Note: Organizations are eligible to receive a Fund for Community Service grant only once every 24 months.

If you are unsure whether your organization would qualify, contact your fund administrator.

Grant applications must be for a specific local project or activity. Volunteer projects outside of the volunteer's local community are not considered. National activities and those for political, religious or controversial purposes do not qualify. The Fund for Community Service has helped thousands of projects, including: 

The following types of expenses are not funded:

Please submit your Fund For Community Service application to Linda Ware, the Atlanta fund administrator. You can also contact Linda if you are unsure whether your project would qualify.

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The IBM Fund for Community Service recognizes and encourages IBM employees and retirees who generously volunteer their time and talents in their local communities.

Through the Fund, IBM makes financial and IBM product grants to specific projects of eligible community organizations and schools, provided that an employee/retiree is actively involved on a continuing basis.

To be eligible, a request must meet the following criteria:

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You qualify as a requester if you are:

In addition to falling within a specific IBM category, your involvement as an active volunteer must be for a sustained and continuing period of time. You must be working with an eligible community service organization for:

NOTE: A requester may only receive one Fund for Community Service grant per calendar year.

Organization

To qualify for a grant, organizations must be local nonprofit community service agencies that offer assistance in areas such as education, the environment, health and human services. Schools that have early learning development programs (preschools), plus elementary and secondary schools, are eligible as are colleges, as long as projects benefit the community or improve the quality of education.

Because IBM counts education as its top priority, the Fund places emphasis on participation that benefits some of our key strategic efforts, including the Reinventing Education grant program that support significant educational improvement, Teaming for Technology which provides free technology planning for nonprofit organizations, and the IBM KidSmart Early Learning Program which donate computer learning centers to help children ages 3-7 get a high quality literacy program. Volunteer efforts that specifically support these initiatives may qualify for a Team Award (See New Grant Opportunities). For additional information on these initiatives, please visit the IBMGIVES web site (www.ibm.com/ibm/ibmgives).

Organizations that are engaged in political activity, lobbying or other controversial matters are not eligible for grants; neither are profit-making agencies, religious programs nor employee service organizations such as IBM Clubs. Agencies supported by tax revenues and those whose purpose is athletics or recreation are not eligible for grants.

Among the range of services and organizations the Fund for Community Service supports are:

NOTE: Organizations are eligible to receive a Fund for Community Service grant only once every 24 months.

Grant applications must be for a specific local project or activity. Volunteer projects outside of the requester’s local community are not considered. National activities and those for political, religious or controversial purposes do not qualify.

Educational projects must involve reading or language skills, computer literacy, mathematics or science.

The following are just a few examples of the thousands of projects the Fund has supported:

The following type of expenses are not funded:

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Depending on the needs of the organization, you may apply for either a cash grant or a grant of IBM equipment. Personnel training is not covered by either cash or product grants.

Maximum cash grants are $1,000. Expense justification such as an estimate or receipt is required. Only the amount of the project up to $1,000 will be granted.

You may select from the list of hardware and software currently available through the program (equipment lists are subject to change without notice). You may apply for a system or a printer, but not both. Systems do not come with printers, or vice versa.

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IBM has created several strategic initiatives aimed at bridging the "digital divide" including the Reinventing Education grant program, Teaming for Technology in partnership with Vista and United Way, and the IBM KidSmart Early Learning Program, which is now operating in nearly every state. In order to qualify for a Team Award, a group of 3-5 IBM volunteers must volunteer for projects in support of one or more of these strategic initiatives. The team award provides IBM technology, including systems, printers, and cash up to a maximum of $5,000. More detailed information about these Corporate Community Relations initiatives can be found on the IBMGIVES web site (www.ibm.com/ibm/ibmgives).

IBM is incorporating a new corporate initiative focused on e-mentoring into the Fund for Community Service program. Through the initiative, IBM employees engage in structured online activities that include: e-tutoring, e-mentoring, and e-classroom projects with teachers and/or students. Because of its unique nature, e-mentoring has its own set of grant rules, which depart slightly from those that govern other volunteer activities. For additional information on IBM’s e-mentoring efforts, please visit the HR web site (w3.ibm.com/hr).

A group of IBMers who provide e-mentoring assistance over the Internet, working in partnership with a particular teacher, can donate a desktop PC to that teacher’s classroom or school for use in the program. To be eligible, the IBMers serving as part of an e-mentoring group must be working with the teacher’s entire classroom. The e-mentor group and each participating teacher must commit to the program for a full school year. Donations will be made after six months of successful program participation (as determined by local IBM managers, based upon quality and compliance with time and correspondence commitments, etc.).

Each teacher is eligible to receive only one PC for every two consecutive years of participation in e-mentoring efforts. In cases where there are more than one teacher from the same school participating in the program in a given year, each school can receive only up to a maximum of five PCs per year.

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To apply for a grant from the Fund for Community Service program, first identify a need within an organization where you are an active volunteer. Make a preliminary assessment of eligibility. If you feel the organization qualifies, prepare a proposal and fill out the Fund for Community Service Request Form. Your proposal should include the following information:

A completed request form should be submitted to the Fund for Community Service Administrator.

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ATLANTA AREA CONTACT

Fund for Community Service Grant Program contact for the Atlanta, Georgia area:

Andre Johnson
IBM Corporation
Mail Drop L09F13
4111 Northside Parkway
Atlanta, GA 30327
Phone: (404) 238-1044, Fax: (404) 238-6138
email: dreson@us.ibm.com

 

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Last updated July 27, 2007