Requesting and Dispersing Money
What do I do if I don’t know the exact amount of my expenses?
Do your best to give us an accurate budget and do not give us a range for your grant request (such as “$140-$160 dollars”); we will award you the lower value if you do. Round up your approximation -- it is better to overestimate your budget than underestimate.
Can I request more money than the grant’s maximum value?
No. We will only grant up to the required amount of funds (for instance, a Member who has not completed a LEARN Experience will not be awarded more than $500).
What goods or services can I not request funding from a BLI Grant for?
We are unable to fund: Gifts/Gift Cards or Cash Payments, Political Campaign Activities, Staff Salaries, llegal Activity, For-Profit Activities, Charitable donations to organizations outside the University, Alcohol and Tobacco Products, Religious Exercise.
More detailed information can be found in our Funding Guidelines.
If you have any further questions about what constitutes a gift, email BLIGrants@umich.edu.
How can I collect my grant reward?
Rewards can be received in two ways: 1) award through the Office of Financial Aid to your student account or 2) by shortcode for a relevant University of Michigan student organization (SOAS).
Can I collect my grant as a check or in cash?
No. Grants can only be disbursed by a refund to your student account or shortcode for a registered Student Organization.
Grants Process
What is the rolling submission process for BLI Grants?
Leadership Grants are evaluated as they receive. Applicants will be notified regarding the status of their grant within 5-10 business days of their submission. Typically, a grant application decision will be sent back to applicants on Wednesday, and grants must be submitted the previous Wednesday by 11:59 PM in order to be evaluated for the following Wednesday.
When can I collect my grant reward?
You will receive your grant award 5-10 business days after notification of your award. Please contact us if you have not received your funding within 10 business days of the notification of your grant award.
I am in a time crunch - I applied for a Grant and because of deadlines I need to have the funds sooner than the grants will be processed. What do I do?
Email Shea Ankers (ankerss@umich.edu) and (BLIGrants@umich.edu) if you are looking for special accommodations for the processing of your grant.
What if some or all of my funding will be used for travel overseas?
Any student funded project that includes travel overseas requires that you, the student, register with CGIS and have travel insurance. Please email bligrants@umich.edu and we will discuss the next steps according to your planned destination.
Deliverables
I was awarded funding by the BLI! What is this final blog that is part of the grant process?
You must submit a final blog and pictures to the BLI staff within 10 days of your project’s completion.
The Blog Post should be an engaging recount of your experience executing your project. There are no length parameters to this writing. You are encouraged to include pictures and media to augment your writing. These blog posts will be uploaded to the BLI website’s Student Voices blog, so be sure to construct something that you would feel comfortable presenting to your peers! You can include the following: a summary of your project, including how well it followed your original goals which were established in the grant proposal, any challenges you encountered and how you dealt with them, how your team developed leadership skills (using the BLI Habits as context), any next-steps should there be any next steps of this project.
A: The Blog Post should be an engaging recount of your experience executing your project. There are no length parameters to this writing. You are free to include pictures and media to augment your writing. These blog posts will be uploaded to the BLI website’s Student Voices blog, so be sure to construct something that you would feel comfortable presenting to your peers! Please submit this as a PDF attachment to: https://forms.gle/JgrATKr5L32R6p3V6
What happens if I am awarded a Grant, but I do not write the required blog post on time?
Failure to write the required reflection/blog post will be noted and will affect your eligibility to apply for future BLI experiences and opportunities.
Example Grant
New to Grant writing? Here is an example of a grant to review!
Who can I speak with if I have questions about how to write a grant application?
Please contact bligrants@umich.edu with all of your questions!
