Summary
Total budget for the preferred scenario (Scenario 1) is $3920.
To arrive at these numbers, I consulted website design consultants to a) get the details involved in creating a website, and b) get the typical cost breakdown for each of the steps. Using this template, I searched for service providers who offered the products and/or services I needed. Wherever I needed to purchase a product/service, I used a cost comparison of the products/services offered by competing providers to arrive at the median cost. I used the median hourly rates charged by freelance web developers for website creation and testing. For content creation, I used the median hourly rates charged by freelance web content writers.
The budget calculation shows the cost breakdown for funding STEMLinks for 3 years. Timeline for securing funding is January, 2015.
Funding Resources
Categorized list of funding sources in Delicious
Here is a summary of the potential funding sources – Sources for funding
Financial Data
Here is the side-by-side comparison of the three budget scenarios considered : Scenarios – Side by side
Here is the budget calculation for funding STEMLinks for 3 years : STEMLinks – Expenses Years 1 through 3
Budget Scenario 1
In this scenario,
- I request for funding as an individual
- STEMLinks membership is free
- STEMLinks hosts monthly radio shows featuring STEM experts
The advantage with this scenario is that students have a high incentive for participating in the program, since it provides them with mentoring resources for free. The disadvantage is that federal/state/private funding will have to be secured every year for the continued operation of the program. Also most of the small grants and private funding are not open to individuals.
Budget Scenario 2
In this scenario,
- STEMLinks is registered as a non-profit organization
- individual membership in STEMLinks costs $10 per year
- STEMLinks hosts monthly radio shows featuring STEM experts
I based the pricing of the STEMLinks membership to be competitive and comparable to the pricing of comparable memberships in SWE and WITI. The cheapest membership plan in SWE costs $12.50 a year. Membership plans in WITI range from $250 a year to $1000 for a lifetime membership. Also considered was the fact that the STEMLinks members will be college students who are likely to have limited funds available to them. With these factors in mind, I fixed the membership price for STEMLinks at $10 per year for individual memberships.
The immediate advantage with this scenario is that, there are much more options available for funding, since most funding agencies prefer to fund programs by non-profit organizations. As more students join the program, the funds generated from the membership fees can be used towards the maintenance and growth of the program. The disadvantage is that, by adding an entry cost, I might be discouraging some students from joining the program.
Budget Scenario 3
In this scenario
- I request for funding as an individual
- STEMLinks membership is free
The biggest advantage with this scenario is the cost factor – it is the cheapest option. Also, once the website is created and a critical mass of mentors and mentees signed up, the program can become self-sustaining with student volunteers from the community colleges taking on the role of program coordinator for their college.
How the report was generated
I used excel to create the budget, then created PDF files to present the data. To find possible funding sources, I did a web search using the keywords ‘STEM’, ‘grants’. I also used grants search websites like GrantWatch and GrantSpace which offer email notification when grant applications are called for. I also used the University of Washington library database and the Federal grants database. In looking for possible funding sources, I scoped my search to federal grants and grants from Washington state based organizations. In it’s first year, STEMLinks will focus on community colleges in the Greater Seattle Area. I further narrowed my search to mini-grants and grants that had $1000-$5000 as the grant amount. I used Delicious to store and categorize the funding sources I found.
