For a qualifying organization’s IGA to be considered, the nonprofit organization must adequately describe in its IGA a project to be funded which demonstrates innovations enabling access to reading written materials for persons with visual disabilities, and as a result, be designed to enhance and enrich the lives of those persons with visual disabilities who become participants in the project. The Peninsula Endowment is open to a wide spectrum definition of what types of projects will demonstrate innovations enabling access to written materials for persons with visual disabilities, but key factors to be considered include, but are not limited to, the following: the extent to which the project applies new processes, introduces new techniques, adapts new or existing technology, or establishes successful ideas to create new value for persons with disabilities in terms of enabling access to written materials.
The Peninsula Endowment specifically does not want to provide prescriptive language which might have the effect of limiting the imagination and ingenuity of prospective applicants in designing innovative projects. Thus, projects may be large or small, elaborate, or simple, involve the development of software / hardware or not, involve the production of a product or not, involve the organization of clinics/ seminars/ presentations or not, etc. Much more important than any specific category of project is the innovative nature of the project, the benefits to be achieved by participants in the project, the likelihood of success of the project, the due diligence performed by the applicant that persons with visual disabilities will actually benefit from the project, the financial needs of the applicant organization, and how the grant funds will be used.