Case Study

The Experience of FOCAS

The Foundation of Compassionate American Samaritans (FOCAS; www.focas-us.org) first applied to the CSHGP in 1994. Staff attended the RFA workshop in September, and began working on a proposal for Haiti after that. Dick Taylor, Executive Director, believes that they were already behind by beginning at that point. They received assistance from Andean Rural Health Care (ARHC, which is now Curamericas), a grantee, and got positive feedback on their proposal, but it was not awarded funding. They met with CSHGP staff in person, because that was the only way to get feedback at that time. The next year FOCAS tried again, with assistance from ARHC, but were again unsuccessful, although they received similarly positive feedback on their second proposal and were encouraged to apply again. One piece of advice the reviewers gave FOCAS was to reduce the number of interventions proposed, in order to focus on a few in depth, rather than on several at a less extensive level.

The next year brought new leadership to the CSHGP and a new funding category: the Mentoring Category. Again FOCAS applied, building upon their previous two applications and this time formalizing a mentoring partnership with ARHC. They were successful!

Judy Gillens, Program Director for Haiti, believes that participation in the CSHGP has transformed FOCAS programming. The philosophy and intent of FOCAS is the same, but the structure of the CSHGP, with its quality assurance measures and technical assistance, has helped FOCAS to be more accountable in terms of measuring results and focusing resources on achieving them. The schedule and mechanics of program requirements has also motivated field staff, who may have had the vision, but lacked operational skills to diligently document and measure process and results, as is required by the CSHGP.

This brief case study is presented to give new partners an idea of the process that many organizations go through to get funding. Many organizations begin to collect data and talk to potential project partners a year or more before submitting an application. And many organizations apply a few times before they are successful. In the case of FOCAS, identifying their organizational and programmatic weaknesses and then partnering with a mentor who could help them proved to be a successful strategy.

The CSHGP now sends all applicants a score sheet with detailed comments and suggestions for improving the project. In addition, applicants are welcome to meet with the CSGHP team in person or by phone to have a conversation about the application. New partners may contact the New Partner Advisor (csts@macrointernational.com) for additional discussion.