IAS-SG EARTH GRANT - $5,000.00 PRIZE!
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Here is a first of its kind grant as another way of IAmShaman doing their best to give back to the community they will always be a passionate part of. They continue to explore finding ways of contributing in some small way to the preservation of this planet as well as the freedom of thought that has been under attack from so many and for so long.
The program couldn't be more simple: Anyone from anywhere in the world is invited to submit a proposal in which you try to explain in 5,000 words or less, how you would use a grant of $5,000.00 in one of these Five Categories: 1. ETHNOBOTANICAL RESEARCH
2. ENTHEOGEN RESEARCH
3. ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
4. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
5. GREENING YOUR WORLD |
Maybe you’d like to use it to bring a speaker on shamanism to your college, or maybe you would make a donation in your name to the cause of your choice as they fight for cognitive freedom for all of us, or hopefully, for something that you might think of something that has never occurred to anyone before. As an example of what $5,000.00 can do, we started the Peruvian Cooperative on $5,000.00. Surprises and thinking out of the box is highly encouraged, so don’t cater to what you think THEY want; submit a proposal based on what YOU want.
As proposals arrive, an informal "Top 20" will be posted on the website, 4 from each category (if there are 4 for each category submitted, of course). This could be a very fluid list, subject to continual change as other proposals arrive and are discussed. Each proposal will be presented in a blog format, to invite discussion by anyone who cares to offer an opinion.
The cutoff date for proposal submissions is September 1st, and this is when things will get really interesting. There will be three rounds of voting:
1. FIRST ROUND: Bodhi and his staff will choose the initial Top 20 proposals based on their expert opinions, as well as taking comments posted on the blog site into consideration.
2. SECOND ROUND: The public gets to decide which will be the Top 5, by voting on which of the Top 20 proposals are your favorites. Yes, IP addresses will be logged, and each person is allowed one vote, but we've got nothing against gathering as many of your friends to vote for you as you can.
3. FINAL ROUND: Deciding the Winner and 1st Runner-up will a group effort by Bodhi, his staff, and all if your votes. Decisions are final, and results will be posted on the website at all times to ensure transparency.
You don’t need to be a customer to apply; you only need to share a mutual desire to help preserve our freedom of thought, to help expand consciousness in some way, to add to the ripple effect that we hope will raise the awareness and the consciousness in relation to ethnobotanicals, rainforest destruction, and the continuing decimation of our Earth’s precious resources.
Yes, this grant is a drop in the bucket, but we believe in our mission to preserve and to promote the kinds of thought that promote the preservation of this planet, all of its peoples, plants, and animals, as well as the unique thought, cultures, and traditions that go with each. We only hope that the existence of the program will get people to think in ways they wouldn’t have otherwise, to network and share ideas or gain inspiration from someone else’s.
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Proposal submissions will follow strict guidelines, and once they're posted, visitors will be then able to vote for their favorite proposals, and their vote will weigh heavily on deciding the final winner.
Winners will then sign a contract with general rules governing how they conduct their projects, as we follow their progress throughout the year, posting it on the website. Each applicant will also get their own space to upload documents, photos, files, etc., to show what they've accomplished throughout the year.
We've had only 10 submissions as of 01 April 2008, and there's much time to go!
