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Grants Committee Policies

1. Honoraria: Oneness Project views honoraria to teachers as gifts intended primarily as recognition and thanks, rather than a “fair market value” payment for services rendered. At the same time we recognize that certain individuals have made service through the DUP their life’s work and that a living wage is essential for that work to continue. Setting guidelines for honoraria for DUP teachers can be complicated because of such factors as the teacher’s attunement and years of experience; the extent of the service performed before, during and after the event; advanced preparation required; lengthy or difficult travel; event duration; numbers of participants and total budget; and currency exchange differentials. OP’s goals in this area are to extend our grant resources while achieving balance in our approach to funding honoraria for teachers of the DUP. For now, we offer below the following examples of honoraria ranges that we will consider. For US and Western Europe Economies:
   $50- $100 – for a single dance evening or service involving little or no travel
   $200 to $300/day – for an event requiring travel to the event location, with advanced preparation, and a significant skill base.
   Note: A “day” means 3 services: a morning, afternoon and evening dance session of at least 2-1/2 hours.
   $300 to $500/day – for event with a senior teacher (such as Shabda Kahn, Wali and Arienne vd Zwan, Darvesha, etc.) providing advanced training or attunements in the DUP or walks, for an event requiring significant travel, advanced preparation and/or coordination with other teachers. The upper end of this range applies to shorter, weekend events and the lower end to longer events. We look for remuneration of local leaders to be in scale with the local economy. Please include with your honoraria information the local cost of a loaf of bread and one month rent of an average-size apartment.
   
   Applicants are of course are free to pay teachers any honorarium amount they choose. However, in determining grant awards OP will weigh applications according to the factors described above and suggested honoraria ranges. In cases where honoraria exceed these guidelines we will award a lesser amount of funds to support the project.

2. Oneness expects to fund projects that represent new or expanded activity. Funds will not be given for projects that have already taken place or are partially completed, unless a new component or initiative is clearly defined.

3. Funding proposals for bricks and mortar capital projects will not be accepted until further notice.

4. Oneness financial participation in any project will nearly always be limited to no more than 50% of the total project cost. Applicants are therefore expected to show other sources of cash and in-kind support for the project totaling at least 50% of the total project cost.

5. The OP Trustee Council looks favorably upon proposals which have funds contributed or raised from multiple (and especially local) sources, as they have a beneficial tendency to involve both more people and generate more support.

6. Grants are primarily intended to support and promote participation in the Dances of Universal Peace, and not to support participation in a particular spiritual tradition or practice.

7. Dance Leader Training events receiving project grant support may have a cap placed on the total amount of funds from OP’s dance leader training program that Oneness may award to participants for the same event.

8. Oneness Project grants for the same multi-year project (for example, initiating and building a new dance camp) will generally be limited to a declining amount in each year over a 3-year period.

9. Within 6 weeks of completion of your project we require you to file a final report form with Oneness Project telling us how the project met your goals and objectives. OP provides a project report form for your evaluation results, available at http:\\www.onenessproject.com. You must file a final report on your project to be eligible to apply to OP for another grant.

10. Outreach projects introduce the Dances of Universal Peace to people in localities where they have not been experienced before. This can include towns, regions and countries throughout the world, but also special populations residing economically challenged communities, or in group facilities as prisons, nursing, retirement and mental health facilities. Outreach can also mean bringing the Dances to places of worship, ecumenical gatherings and conferences of various kinds. Because we must weigh the benefits of bringing the Dances to new areas alongside more traditional DUP projects, we therefore expect outreach projects to break new ground and put forth a truly compelling vision for bringing the DUP to a particular place or venue.  We ask applicants requesting funds for outreach projects to address the following criteria as thoroughly as possible in the project description section of their proposal:
    Ripeness – The situation seems promising and the vision compelling to introduce the dances into this situation
    Environment – The socio-political/religious/economic picture warrants an investment of the Dances at this time
    People-Power – Both the DUP teachers and the local sponsors seem promising in terms of expertise, interest and likelihood to follow-up on the outreach experience
    Qualifications of the Teacher – the experience and magnetism of the DUP teacher is likely to bear fruit with this outreach project.