The Foundation for Advancement in Conservation (FAIC) seeks to increase the number and variety of continuing education offerings to its membership, to expand those offerings in various locations around the country, and to encourage more of its members to attend courses by keeping workshop costs as affordable as possible.
FAIC offers grants of up to $1,000, as available, for the purpose of developing continuing education workshops for conservation professionals and other interested individuals. Funds may be used to help defray costs for instructor fees, instructor travel, materials, and supplies needed for the workshop.
A reduced cost for the workshop of at least 15% must be made available to AIC members. All printed materials and news releases must recognize FAIC’s financial support.
Workshops may focus on specific materials, specialties or processes useful to the conservation profession at large; may adapt knowledge from allied professions that is pertinent to a general conservation audience; may advance the field of conservation; and/or may focus on skills useful to conservators as a refresher course.
Each workshop must have a primary coordinator. The Workshop Coordinator is responsible for coordinating all aspects of the workshop including identifying and working with the workshop instructor, selecting a site, managing local logistics, distributing evaluation forms provided by the FAIC office, and returning evaluation forms to the FAIC office with the final report.
Workshop Instructors are responsible for developing workshop curriculum in conjunction with the Workshop Coordinator and providing informational handouts. In some cases the Workshop Instructor and Coordinator may be the same person.
The deadlines for receipt of all materials are February 15 and September 15 of each year. Applications will be reviewed and a recommendation will be made to the FAIC board for final approval. Reviewers will follow the
Reviewer Guidelines and an established evaluation rubric based on the criteria for review to evaluate all applications. Notification of awards will be made six to eight weeks after the deadline. Projects should take place six weeks to twelve months after the application deadline.
Criteria for Review
- Applicant must be planning to coordinate the proposed workshop.
- Qualifications of person(s) coordinating the workshop (track record of organizational skills and completing tasks on schedule).
- Qualifications of person(s) conducting the workshop (teaching ability and experience with topic).
- Appropriateness of workshop topic to the continuing education of conservation professionals.
- Benefit to the AIC membership and usefulness to the conservation profession.
- Location compatible with goals for disseminating offerings around the U.S.
- Appropriateness of budget; financial need may be considered.
- Preference may be given to applicants who have considered how their project could benefit an underserved community or little known/worked on factor of cultural heritage.
Application Process
Applications are submitted through our online application portal. When you enter the portal, you will be prompted to login to the system using a login ID and password
. If you already have an account (this should be the case if you are an AIC member or have participated in an AIC or FAIC program), use the same login information you use to access that account. If you do not have an account in the system, you can quickly set one up before you begin your application.
You can save and return to your application later to complete it. When you are satisfied with your responses, “save and finalize” to submit your application. Once the application has been submitted, you cannot return to edit the form.
Apply
Final Report
A final report is to be submitted by the Workshop Coordinator to the FAIC office within 60 days after the event. The final report should include:
- Final summary of the event and recommendations for someone thinking of presenting a similar event
- List of participants including e-mail addresses and zip codes
- Completed participant evaluation forms
- Evaluation from the instructor(s)
- Final budget