Grant Workshop

Mary Driscoll, RN, MPH, and Kathleen Pietschmann, ND lead discussion groups at the Foundation’s recent Grantee Workshop.

The Washington Square Health Foundation held a Grant Workshop Institute on Friday, October 28, 2005.  Various Chicagoland healthcare organizations were selected to participate by invitation only, and over 40 potential grantees attended.  The purpose of this workshop was to help organizations develop and present grant requests that directly benefit specific organization’s needs and meet Washington Square Health Foundation’s grant making expectations.

The Workshop was held at the Washington Square Health Foundation, Inc. Multimedia Conference Room at the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  This conference room allowed for internet access and the use of a “high tech” touch screen.

The workshop began with an overview of the history of the Foundation and its grant making priorities and objectives from the Foundation’s Executive Director, Howard Nochumson.  Participants then received instruction on meeting the Foundation’s administrative requirements from Catherine Baginski, the Foundation’s Program Assistant.

Finally, the participants were divided into three small groups led by Foundation Consultants, Kathleen Pietschmann, N.D., or Mary Driscoll, RN, MPH, and the Foundation’s Executive Director.  Each participant was requested to submit, prior to the workshop, a one page project synopsis, which was reviewed in the small groups.

The workshop received overwhelming positive responses from the grantees, with requests for additional workshops on such topics as grant evaluation technique and grantee accountability.