GSIF Blog Post April 24 2020

  1. Develop a detailed income statement for your venture for two years (at sixth month intervals). Explicit state the assumptions that underlie your financial model (at steady state)
  • COGS: None
  • Revenues: 
    • Grants
    • Foundations
    • Non-Profits
  • Overhead: 
    • Transportation (to and from trainings (Car/Van/Bus))- Local
    • Fuel
    • Transportation (to and from trainings/base (plane))- Distance
    • Lodge
    • Food
    • Money for Trainees
    • Training Locations (Rent)
    • Workshops
    • Internet
    • Materials (handouts)
    • Materials (computers)
    • Certificates
    • Advertisements (Radio/Media)
    • Advertisements (Posters)
    • School Ambassador (specific # TBD)
    • CHW- Screening (specific # TBD)
    • CHW- Educator (specific # TBD)
    • Training devices (Kindle/Tablet (specific # TBD))
    • Cell Phone Credit
    • Consultants for evaluation and measurement
    • Money for SLAS (devices, materials, etc.)
  • Profit: None

 

  1. Identify two specific sources for the design phase of your project and two specific funding sources for the dissemination phase of your project. For each funding source, explain why this is a good fit  for your project, and what specific aspect of your project might the funding source support.

 

DESIGN PHASE:

  • Funding Source: Autism Speaks
    • On their website, you can see which countries across the globe have received funding from them previously (see picture below). They change their topics that they call for proposals on each year, however the grants are all focused on the following mission that their organization pushes on their website (see below). Although our team cannot link to a specific name of a grant that the organization has that would fit our project, we did examine the previously funded projects and they have funded the diagnosis tool development in Tanzania (“The Development and Pilot Testing of Open Access Screening and Diagnostic Tools for Autism Spectrum”) and prevalence data studies in Bangladesh (“Scales, procedures, and intervention programs for estimating the prevalence of childhood disability and autism in Bangladesh”). Each are hyperlinked when you hover over their name and you can read more about each project. 
      • “Autism Speaks Science is committed to being a catalyst for research breakthroughs that improve lives today and deliver a spectrum of solutions in the years ahead. This work involves unraveling the biology of autism, including its varied subtypes and dimensions and translating research findings into life-enhancing solutions”

 

  • Funding Source: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Grant
    • This foundation has many different areas of focus in their grants with the Grand Challenges grants focused on “innovation to solve key health and development problems“. They have posted previously funded grants which are mainly focused on physical health, however our grant proposal could surround how the development of the screener will lead to improved mental and emotional health. 

DISSEMINATION PHASE:

  • Funding Source: Autism Speaks
    • Similar to how the development phase would be able to benefit from a grant from Autism Speaks, the dissemination would also qualify. As the grants change each year, our team examined what was previously funded. They have not specifically funded education of autism in Sub-Saharan Africa, however they have funded education grants in five countries outside of the United States. For example, ARTI: The Autism Research & Training Initiative in India is one funded grant that is somewhat similar to what we would be completing in Sierra Leone. You can view this grant by hovering over the name, and it will link you to their information. 
  • Funding Source: Abilis Foundation
    • This foundation funds an array of topics including “Training, material production and dissemination on Human Rights of persons with disabilities“. They currently only focus on the following countries in Africa: Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda. This obviously does not include Sierra Leone, however it does not say that it is limited to those. We believe that this foundation may be a good avenue for us to create a relationship with where they can spread their reach in Africa. 

 

  1. Identify five specific partnerships that you need to forge to advance your project forward with the ultimate goal of positively impacting at least one million people. Describe exactly how that partnership might help you achieve scale and why that entity might be willing to work with you.

 

  • World Hope International 
    • This partnership allows our team access to the resources available to World Hope as well as the workers that they already employ and are willing to help. This partnership provides invaluable workers that we cannot afford to pay ourselves at this time as well with people who are passionate to help their community like our project aims to do. The workers are already established and respected in the community which helps to bring community members in because of the pre-existing trust.
  • Ministry of Education
    • This partnership will allow us access to the schools across Sierra Leone which will make the distribution of our screener faster and more wide spread. If the Ministry of Education agrees to allow the screener into every school, allow training of individuals, and require minimum standards for children with autism, this will speed up our goal’s timeline and streamline screening. This partnership is vital to screening one million children as most children attend at least one year of school. 
  • University of Makeni 
    • This partnership will be vital for two reasons. First, our training for pre-service teachers in autism will impact millions of children as these teachers will go on to teach countless classes in their lifetime. The lessons they learn from our training will be long lasting. Second, we can utilize pre-service teachers to go out into the community and screen after they are sufficiently trained. This could be worked into their career preparation, provide those who are in the program additional training and expertise, and allow for more children to be screened which is our ultimate goal. This mutually beneficial partnership is a method of how our screener will reach one million children.
  • Hospitals/Clinics
    • It is important that community health workers, doctors, and clinic workers are training to identify autism similarly to how they would identify someone who is deaf or blind. Bringing in disability screening in a more wide spanning nature will allow more children who need to be identified to be identified. This partnership will be built on the health of the community which is the goal of hospitals as well as our team. 
  • Sierra Leone Autistic Society 
    • This partnership is vital as it is currently the leading group helping children with autism. This organization has a jump start on our team because of their connections, therefore we can leverage our relationship with them to access their network. In addition to this, we will work with them to help develop more programming, expansion, and diagnosis. This partner is already devoted to autism in Sierra Leone, therefore this partnership is a match made in heaven. 

 

One thought on “GSIF Blog Post April 24 2020

  1. Overall good specificity in your answers. For your income statement, it might be helpful to think in more detail about a timeline of revenues/costs.

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