[foundation-board] Sloan Grant for Economics Working Group Approved (was: Congratulations!)

Thu Dec 15 20:07:42 UTC 2011

Dear Board,

After 1.5 years of on and off work with the Sloan Foundation we have
finally had our grant approved to support the development and work of
the Open Economics Working Group (please see email below from the
Program Officer).

I plan to query one condition vis-a-vis number of visitors (which
seems rather high) but otherwise the goals seem reasonable.

The full text of the approved proposal can be found here:

<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gkl0WuNfJ7SHPc7yTZZLUJeAV67nQYDyCSm6Hw3XhwY/edit?authkey=COP0vdsC&hl=en_GB&authkey=COP0vdsC>

The legal Grant Agreement document (which includes some details of how
we can use funds) can be found here:

<https://docs.google.com/open?id=1s4GM_KwoTF4ggBayrrLVA5CghHQv7YDq9b7Aj7hyxnGTADwGN2h88RU9dxrM>

@Jordan: would you be able to cast your eye over the grant agreement
document. I cannot see anything obviously problematic with it myself
though we do need to keep the money in a separate account.

Rufus

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Daniel Goroff <goroff at sloan.org>
Date: 14 December 2011 01:57
Subject: Congratulations!
To: "Rufus Pollock (rufus.pollock at okfn.org)" <rufus.pollock at okfn.org>
Cc: David Michel <michel at sloan.org>

Dear Rufus,

Congratulations on the success of your grant proposal!   It is my
great pleasure to confirm that your recent grant request has been
approved by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.  I very much look forward
to hearing more about your work as it progresses.

Please expect to hear more about administrative details shortly.  For
now, let me call your attention to a few matters for you to keep in
mind.

1.  The staff here have agreed on the goals and metrics we plan to use
in evaluating the outcomes of this grant.  A summary follows below.  I
hope that you will review this list right away, make sure the items
look appropriate to you, too, and then begin collecting baseline data
or other evidence that can help document your success in meeting these
targets.

2.  Once having agreed to these goals and metrics, it is up to you to
achieve them.  You do not need to clear routine budget adjustments or
similar decisions with the Sloan Foundation.  If you do plan to
reallocate a significant portion of your budget, say 20 percent or
more, please send notice of this amendment together with a
justification for our records.  We also expect to be able to consider
in advance any changes in key personnel, in affiliations, or in the
basic goals you are pursuing.

3.  We will need a current financial report and a brief narrative
update (usually a page or so) in advance of issuing any further
payments if you have more than one scheduled.  Such documentation will
also be required when it comes time either to request a no-cost
extension or to close out your grant.  Progress or final reports
should, among other things,  explicitly address the goals and metrics
listed below.

4.  We also welcome news about your project of any kind, especially
good news that we can share with our colleagues and Trustees.  So
please do not hesitate to send along media mentions, event
information, preprints or publications, etc.  If you need help with
including the official Sloan Foundation insignia on materials, or with
other ways of acknowledging our support, please do not hesitate to be
in touch.

5.  Please also feel free to call on me as your Program Officer at any
time if there might be advice, connections, or anything else that the
Sloan Foundation can provide that would help your project be even more
successful.  If, in particular, you wish to invite your Program
Officer to attend appropriate meetings, conferences, or other events,
the expenses associated with that can come out of a separate account
at the Foundation rather than from your grant budget.

Keep up the good work,

Danny
Dr. Daniel L. Goroff
Program Director
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

*********************

GOALS and METRICS
The goal is to promote open content and open data practices in economics.

Specific metrics include:
1.  Two international workshops with 30 to 40 participants each that
achieve consensus about the definition of “Open Economic Data” and
that provide a survey of examples.
2.  A website that disseminates workshop findings and other
information about Open Economic Data to an average of 10,000 visitors
per month.
3.  Community building as evidenced by growing numbers of volunteers
who together complete at least two prototyping or demonstration
projects.

-- 
Co-Founder, Open Knowledge Foundation
Promoting Open Knowledge in a Digital Age
http://www.okfn.org/ - http://blog.okfn.org/