Assessment Task 1: Fitting a project idea to a funding organization

Remember Dr. Madhuri Arasaratnam? She is an OB/GYN who works in a women’s hospital in Madurai, India. The number of women who come to her hospital with HIV has increased dramatically in the past five years. These women often do not know that they have this life- threatening disease and are usually pregnant when Dr. Arasaratnam sees them in the hospital.

Through her work with these patients and their families, she has determined that socio-economic class and education level affects how much her patients know and understand HIV and AIDS. She feels that education is important, but many of the patients she sees have limited access to education and would not benefit from current HIV awareness programs.

To better serve this community, she wants to conduct a study about cultural factors and HIV knowledge. She has spoken with other Indian OB/GYNs who see the need for this research and would participate in the study. However, if the project is to benefit India’s poor, Dr. Arasaratnam feels the research should be done throughout the country. The scope of the research project goes beyond her limited financial resources.

After Dr. Arasaratnam and her colleagues have conducted their research, they want develop an educational program. This part of the project would involve training doctors all over the country and providing educational resources that would be helpful to under-educated Indians.

Visit the private foundation* websites below and consider the following:

• Read the mission or program information: What are the organization’s goals?
• Consider the values: Who are they serving? For what purpose?
• Which organization might fund Dr. Arasaratnam’s project (choose one)?
• Why did you choose this organization?
  

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

The David and Lucille Packard Foundation

*These foundations come from a list of the top ten international givers from The Foundation Center's International Grantmaking III (3rd ed.), 2004.