GOS Opportunity Fund

The Georgia Ornithological Society has provided for Graduate Student Research Grants through both the H. BRANCH HOWE, JR. and the BILL TERRELL grants. There is also the RICHARD PARKS Birding Conference Scholarship for young birders to attend an ABA Conference. We realize that there may be other financial needs for research, special birding programs, conservation projects, etc. that do not fall within the criteria of the above grants. GOS has therefore created an OPPORTUNITY FUND to handle special requests.

This Fund is available to individuals as well as organizations. Applications must be submitted by March 1 of each year. The Request Form must be completed in full and submitted to the Committee Chairman, preferably electronically.

Questions may be directed to the Committee Chairman:

Dan Vickers
Committee Chairman
5249 Beech Forest Drive
Lilburn, GA 30047
770/923-4927(h)
770/939-0393(w)
770/235-7301(c)
dvickers@mindspring.com

Committee Members
Mark Beebe
Jeannie Wright

Guidelines for Grant Applicants

1) Grant money shall only be used for projects or programs designed to benefit bird species that reside in Georgia on a seasonal or annual basis, or that visit stopover habitats in Georgia during migration. This grant source is not available for use on graduate student research projects.

2) Application content should pertain to one of the following types of projects or programs: 1) Research with a clear conservation purpose; 2) Conservation projects such as habitat enhancement; and 3) Public education efforts with a bird or bird habitat conservation theme.

3) The grant will normally be used to only fund projects, or aspects thereof, spanning a one-year timeframe. Application for grant renewal is permitted. The grant will not fund the grantee's salary, tuition, or indirect costs.

4) The application deadline each year will be March 1. Grant awards shall be made within 45 days following the deadline. GOS may grant no more than $10,000 total to all applicants within a calendar year.

5) The grant committee is authorized to determine the amount to be granted per deserving applicant. For example, in some cases there may be only one quality application, and the committee may decide to reward that application with the entire $10,000. In other cases, there may be multiple quality applications, and the committee shall determine how to distribute the grant total among them.

6) At the end of the grant period, the grantee is required to submit to the Opportunity Grant Committee a brief written summary of research results and grant expenditures.

7) Grant applications will be reviewed and evaluated by a three-person committee (i.e., Opportunity Grants Committee). The chairperson of this committee shall be appointed by the GOS president. The chairperson shall then appoint two committee members with the concurrence of the president. In the event that there is a conflict of interest involving an applicant and a committee member, the committee member shall recuse himself or herself from the review process for that application. If a committee member must be recused, the chairperson or acting chairperson shall recommend a temporary replacement for the president’s concurrence.

8) The grant application form is available at the following address:

Microsoft Word Version:
GrantRequestFormForGOSOpportunityFund.doc

Adobe PDF Version:
GrantRequestFormForGOSOpportunityFund.pdf

The committee may ask for receipts for a funded project, and may specify a time period over which the grant money will be released to a recipient. If receipts are less than the grant award, the grant will be limited to the amount actually spent.

9) The grant recipient is encouraged to present the results of their project at a GOS meeting. Researchers and teachers will be required to publish the results of their studies in The Oriole or GOShawk whichever is more appropriate.