Proposal Review Process

Review team

Your proposal will be read by a review team, which is made up equally of SARE-affiliated reviewers and reviewers from the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development. Normally four readers are assigned to each proposal so that differing responses and perspectives are brought to bear.

How projects are scored

Reviewer scores, from 0 to 5, are added up, divided by the number of reviewers, and a final score arrived at. Projects are then ranked by score, and all projects and scores, along with recommendations for funding, are presented to the Northeast SARE Administrative Council.

Funding decisions

This council--the SARE governing body--makes the final decisions on which projects to fund, although this group relies heavily on reviewers, their scores, and their recommendations.

Funding awards

During the selection process SARE may ask for performance and budget amendments to proposals that are conceptually sound but have minor implementation flaws.

In general, about $150,000 to perhaps $200,000 is used for Sustainable Community Grants, and, with the recent decision to cap awards at $25,000, we anticipate funding 8 to perhaps 15 projects.