Community Grants
Sertoma’s Community Grant is available to National Affiliates for hearing health programs and projects. Grants are available for any amount between $2,500 and $5,000.
Projects that will be considered:
- Hearing health programs and projects
- Equipment related to hearing health
- Program supplies [expendables]
- Development of new program
- Salary stipend to support start up of new program
- Parent support groups/video library in support of group – a stipend would be considered to run this program for the first year only
- Hearing/speech screening program
- Information research [surveys, focus groups – primarily for market research]
Projects that will not be considered:
- Scholarships
- Multi-year grants, however a recipient may reapply for the same project a second time
- Capital improvements [brick and mortar]
- Endowment Funds
- Projects completed prior to grant deadlines
- Projects for professionals to attend seminars/conferences
- Projects used for fundraising
- Projects that support administration salaries/expenses or facility costs
COMMUNITY GRANT PROJECT EXAMPLE
The Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics Hearing and Speech Department was awarded a Sertoma Community Grant in the amount of $5000. This money has been used to create a video about how to use and care for hearing aids. It is a short video (under 10 minutes). It can be downloaded from our website www.childrens-mercy.org , or it can be provided on DVD to our patients and their families.
The purpose of the video is to reinforce the information provided at the initial hearing aid fit appointment. We fit 15-20 children per month with their very first hearing aid(s). Most families are unfamiliar with hearing aids at that point. Having the ability to review the information when needed as many times as needed is helpful to our patients and their caregivers. Often only one parent will attend the appointment with the child. So, having the information available to the other parent as well as grandparents, childcare providers and teachers is very important. The video allows those people to hear the same information instead of placing the burden on the parent to educate others.
