2007 Target Store Grant Application

2014 Target Store Grant Application Template & Instructions

Reach Out and Read recommends that you read completely through these instructions and template prior to beginning the application. While the process is straightforward and should only take a few hours, you may need to complete a few steps early so that you are able to submit your application prior to the April 30 deadline.

General Application Information and Directions

Early childhood reading grants are $2,000. Grant applications are accepted between March 1 and April 30 at noon Central Standard Time, with grant notifications delivered by September. All grantees will be expected to complete a report at the end of the grant period.

To Apply: 1. Click on this link (or copy and paste it into a browser): https://corporate.target.com/corporate-responsibility/grants/early-childhood-reading-grants 2. Click on the red button, “click here to apply” (link is directly under the photo). 3. If you have not previously applied for a Target Early Childhood Reading Grant, select “New Applicant?” under the email address field, and then enter your email address and password to create an account. 4. Log in and follow the template below to complete the eligibility quiz and application. Be sure to save your application frequently to avoid losing your work. 5. Remember, Target will take down the application at noon central time on the April 30 deadline, so try to finish a day early to avoid any issues!

All Reach Out and Read programs are eligible to apply for a Target store grant. Before you can access the online grant application, you must complete a short eligibility quiz. During the quiz, Target requires that you either indicate you are a public agency OR a 501(c)(3) public charity [which means a nonprofit organization]. If you are neither a public agency nor a nonprofit organization, you can still apply for a Target grant by requesting fiscal sponsorship from Reach Out and Read.

If you are a public agency (an organization established and primarily funded by the government): You will not need a tax ID number to apply for this grant. Simply indicate that you are a public agency on the application eligibility quiz, and proceed to the application.

If you are a nonprofit organization: You will need to enter your tax ID number on the

Reminder: This is a template for planning purposes. Target grants can ONLY be submitted online. 1 2014 Target Store Grant Application Template & Instructions application. Select “a 501(c)(3) public charity” on the eligibility quiz.

If you are a for-profit company: You will need to be fiscally sponsored by Reach Out and Read in order to complete the application, since a nonprofit tax ID number is required. Fiscal sponsorship means that you sign a short agreement and return it to us, and we then give you our tax ID number so that you can apply for this grant. We ask that you return the form by April 7, 2014 so that we have time to process your request in advance of the April 30 application deadline. You may select “a 501(c)(3) public charity” on the eligibility quiz and proceed to the application, and you will need our tax ID number prior to submission of the application.

How to request fiscal sponsorship from Reach Out and Read: Note: If you have filled out a Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement with Reach Out and Read in the past, you do not need to do so again – simply use the tax ID that we gave to you at that time.

If you have not previously completed this agreement, and your clinic/hospital/health center is for-profit:

1) Complete the highlighted fields on the Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement with your information. Be sure to complete all yellow fields and sign at the bottom. 2) By April 7, 2014, return the completed Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement to Laurel Ford at Reach Out and Read’s National Center. You can either email it to [email protected] [this method is preferred], OR mail it to: Reach Out and Read Attn: Laurel Ford 56 Roland Street, Suite 100D Boston, MA 02129 3) Once your paperwork is processed, we will send you our tax ID, either via email or mail (we will use whichever method you used to send us the paperwork).

If you have any questions about applying for fiscal sponsorship, or whether you will need to be fiscally sponsored in order to complete the Target grant application, contact Kate Wallace at [email protected] or 617-455-0665.

Eligibility Quiz (you will need to answer these questions before accessing the application)

1. You must be an authorized agent of the potential grant recipient organization in order to complete this application and all contact information provided in the application must be for a person employed by the organization. Are you authorized by the potential grant recipient to complete this application and to issue an official grant tax receipt? Yes 2. Which best describes your request for funding? Family Reading Programs 3. Which group does the program primarily serve? Preschool through 3rd grade

Reminder: This is a template for planning purposes. Target grants can ONLY be submitted online. 2 2014 Target Store Grant Application Template & Instructions

4. Which best describes the geographic area your funding request will support? United States 5. During which time period will the project/program you are requesting funding for begin? September 2014-August 2015 6. Is your organization a 501(c)(3) public charity as determined by the IRS or is your organization a school, library or a public agency? a 501(c)(3) public charity a School, Library or Public Agency Note: Select whichever applies to your clinic. See instructions above for what to do if your clinic is a for-profit organization.

Application

Organization Information

1. Organization Tax ID If you are a public agency, leave this blank. If you are a nonprofit organization, enter your own tax ID number. If you are using Reach Out and Read as a fiscal sponsor, enter our tax ID number, which will be provided upon receipt of your completed Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement.

2. Organization Legal Name the Legal Name as identified in the IRS database based on the Tax ID entered above If you are a public agency or a nonprofit organization, enter your organization’s legal name. If you are using Reach Out and Read as your fiscal sponsor, enter “Reach Out and Read Inc.”

3. Organization Name Please limit your response to 25 characters maximum. Reach Out and Read - Your site name EX: Reach Out and Read - Boston Medical Center

4. AKA Name Leave this answer blank

5. Street Address or P.O. Box Please include your primary mailing address in the first line (street or P.O. Box). If applicable, put your Suite Number in the second line. Please limit your response on each line to 25 characters maximum. Your site’s address and contact information

6. City

7. State

8. 5-Digit ZIP Code

9. Extended 4-Digit ZIP Code (to find your extended code, please click here to open a window to USPS.com)

10. County

11. Main Phone Number Please type 10 digits only without punctuation (i.e., 6122334567)

12. Main Fax Number Please type 10 digits only without punctuation (i.e., 6122334567)

13. General E-mail Address

14. Website www.reachoutandread.org

15. Verify General E-mail Address

16. Which best describes the organization? Education - Other (EDUCATION)

17. What is the organization’s Mission Statement: Reach Out and Read’s mission is to prepare America’s youngest children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together. Building on the core belief that parents are their children’s first and most important teachers, we give families the books and early literacy guidance they need to prepare children to reach their full innate potential, in school and beyond. We work with children ages 6 months through 5 years, capitalizing on a critical developmental period. In fact, during these first years of life, 90% of brain development occurs, with 700 new neural connections formed every second.

Alarmingly, despite this tremendous window of opportunity, many young children are not building a strong foundation for academic success by sharing books with their families. Without this early preparation, they enter kindergarten without the foundational skills needed to learn to read. Children from low-income families are particularly at risk, and so we focus our program on those children. Parents may have difficulty fitting reading into busy schedules, may not be able to read well or read English, lack children’s books in the home, or have no prior experience of being read to when they were children. Furthermore, despite the clear link between reading in the early years and academic achievement, many parents are not aware of the powerful impact daily shared reading has on their children. Because of these challenges, on average, children from economically disadvantaged households start kindergarten with a 12-14 month learning deficit.

By giving guidance to parents and books to children, we build the early literacy skills needed for school. We envision a day when all children will enter kindergarten supported by highly engaged parents, performing at grade level, and prepared to excel.

18. What year was the organization founded? 1989

19. Do you have any Target Team Members serving on your board? No

20. If you have Target Team Members on your board, list first and last names in the box below (e.g., John Doe) separated by commas. [Leave this answer blank.]

Contact Information

1. Organization Primary Contact: (e.g. Executive Director, President, etc.) This should be the contact info of your Site’s Medical Consultant. a. Prefix b. First Name c. Middle Initial d. Last Name e. Suffix f. Title You can click on the button, “Click here if address is same as organization address.” g. Street Address or P.O. Box Please include your primary mailing address in the first line. If applicable, put your Suite Number in the second line. Please limit your response on each line to 25 characters maximum. h. City i. State j. 5-Digit ZIP Code k. Direct Phone Number 10 digits only without punctuation (i.e., 6122334567) l. Fax Number 10 digits only without punctuation (i.e., 6122334567) m. E-mail Address n. Verify E-mail Address

2. Primary Contact for this Funding Request: This should be your contact info, ok if same as above. a. Prefix b. First Name c. Middle Initial d. Last Name e. Suffix

f. Title You can click on the button, “Click here if address is same as organization address.” g. Street Address or P.O. Box Please include your primary mailing address in the first line. If applicable, put your Suite Number in the second line. Please limit your response on each line to 25 characters maximum. h. City i. State j. 5-Digit ZIP Code k. Direct Phone Number 10 digits only without punctuation (i.e., 6122334567) l. Fax Number 10 digits only without punctuation (i.e., 6122334567) m. E-mail Address n. Verify E-mail Address

Proposal Information

Proposal General Information:

1. Program Title Please limit your response to 30 characters maximum. Reach Out and Read

2. Program Start Date 09/01/2014

3. Program End Date 08/31/2015

Proposal Detail:

4. Which best describes the primary focus of the program? Family Reading Program (EDUCATION)

5. Please provide an overview of the program. During regular pediatric checkups, doctors, nurse practitioners, and other medical providers deliver Reach Out and Read’s three-part model:  In the exam room, medical providers speak with parents about the critical importance of reading aloud with children.  During their checkups, children 6 months through 5 years of age receive a new, developmentally- and culturally-appropriate book to take home and keep.  As a result of this early literacy intervention, parents become more engaged and read with their children more often.

Reach Out and Read was founded in 1989 by doctors and early childhood educators who recognized the critical importance of the early years of life, as well as doctors’ unparalleled access to children and families in need. The program expanded rapidly across the country, and today we serve more than 4 million children in all 50 states. In addition to our scale, we also have the evidence to prove our effectiveness: 15 independent studies published in medical journals prove the program works, engaging parents with their children’s early education and building foundational literacy skills in children. Parents are four times more likely to read aloud regularly to their children, and non-English speaking parents are up to 10 times more likely to do so. As a result, children have higher vocabularies and greater language comprehension skills. In fact, during the preschool years, children served by Reach Out and Read score three to six months ahead of their non-Reach Out and Read peers on vocabulary tests.

Our Reach Out and Read program at [insert your site name] was founded in [insert year your Reach Out and Read program started]. Each year, we distribute [# of books] books to [# of children] children, along with early literacy advice for their parents. [# of providers] medical providers incorporate Reach Out and Read into children’s checkups. According to the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress, two-thirds of fourth graders in the U.S. scored below proficient in reading. We address this need by providing this evidence-based early literacy intervention to [insert number of children served] young children during the most critical stages of their development. [INSERT any other special facts or stories]

With this application, we respectfully request a grant of $2,000 to purchase books for [insert site name]’s Reach Out and Read program. This funding would provide [#] books to disadvantaged children in the [insert location] neighborhoods where [insert local Target name here] Target team members and guests live and work.

6. Provide a description of how the program will demonstrate success in increasing the reading proficiency of Pre-K and/or Elementary Students. Reach Out and Read is committed to helping children increase their early literacy skills by engaging parents to read aloud with their young children, building children’s vocabularies and other vital pre-reading skills. As a first step to ensuring a high-quality and effective program, Reach Out and Read provides participating doctors with a Continuing Medical Education (CME)-accredited training in the most up-to-date research on early literacy development. Doctors use this in-depth knowledge, as well as their expertise on child development, to give parents anticipatory guidance about the importance of reading aloud. At the same time, they provide each child with a new, developmentally-appropriate book to take home and keep. For many of our families, the Reach Out and Read books are the only children’s books in their homes. Furthermore, we are able to reach children who do not have access to preschool or other high-quality early education programs. While nearly 90 percent of all young children see a child health provider at least annually for a check-up, less than one-third are in any childcare setting, the next most common contact with a formal service system (The Colorado Trust Issue Brief: Connecting Child Health and School Readiness 2009). By operating within the existing medical infrastructure, we are able to reach children in need, using books as the focal point of their visit to the doctor.

During the checkup, parents learn that reading aloud regularly with young children is critical to their ability to start school ready to learn. Parents hear individually-tailored guidance about books and reading, helping them overcome any barriers to sharing stories with children on a daily basis. Doctors assure parents who cannot read themselves that they can instill in their child a love of books by developing a nurturing relationship around storytime, using the illustrations as an opportunity to tell a unique story. In this way, children associate books with parental love and attention. Furthermore, children leave their well-child visits with a beautiful, brand-new book in hand, ensuring families have the tools they need to read together at home, fostering the language and literacy skills children need to succeed in school.

The families served by our Reach Out and Read program have more books in their homes and read together more often. As a result, studies show that our children enter kindergarten with larger vocabularies and stronger language skills. Children who arrive at school ready to learn to read are more likely to continue to perform at or above grade level. Every day in exam rooms throughout the country, Reach Out and Read is preparing our next generation of learners for long-term academic success.

7. What year was this program first implemented? [Year your Reach Out and Read program started]

8. What is the organization annual budget? The organization budget refers to the average amount of funds raised each year to run your organization. We understand this varies by year, so please refer to last year's budget as a point of reference. Please enter one whole number without any punctuation (i.e., no dollar signs or decimal points). Enter your site’s total Reach Out and Read budget. This should be your total annual book budget plus any other costs (literacy/waiting room materials). Book cost is $2.75 x 2 x # of children served. You may also choose to enter your full organization budget, if you prefer.

9. What is the proposed program budget? The proposed budget refers to the amount of funds needed to fund the project for which you are requesting a grant. Please enter one whole number without any punctuation (i.e., no dollar signs or decimal points). [Same as above, unless you entered your full organization budget above.]

10. List the 5 primary expenses for the program budget. i.e., line item: $0; line item: $0, etc. List the expenses for your Reach Out and Read program. If it’s fewer than 5, that’s fine, just enter as many as you have. Ex: Books: $1,800 Literacy Materials: $200

11. List committed and potential funders of this program. Include the funder's name and funding level. List sources of funding for your Reach Out and Read program including any that are just prospects, but have not yet committed. Specify “pending” or “committed” for each funder.

Ex: Reach Out and Read National Center – $400 – Pending [You can use $2.75 per book x the number of books you typically receive from the National Center.] Reach Out and Read Coalition funding (if applicable) Other donors (such as individuals or local businesses)

12. What other income sources are being used to support this program? Enter any other sources of income (such as book drive funding, or donated books)

13. Are there any recognition opportunities for Target? Yes

If yes, list any recognition opportunities. e.g., newsletters, website, etc. Target can be featured on our website and in our newsletter. In addition, we would be happy to host a site visit and invite the press so that Target team members can see Reach Out and Read in action, and so that we may publicly thank you for your support of our program and mission. [Insert any other relevant opportunities that might exist for Target to be recognized for their support. Ex: Having a Reach Out and Read doctor present the local Target store with a “Friends of Literacy” award]

14. Would there be any volunteer opportunities for Target? Yes

If yes, list volunteer opportunities that would be available. We are happy to discuss volunteer opportunities to engage employees within the community. We have opportunities for trained volunteers to read stories to children while they wait for their appointments in our literacy-rich waiting room. Volunteers could also organize book drives or help sort, organize, and store Reach Out and Read books in the clinic. [Insert any other applicable volunteer opportunities, such as a literacy-rich waiting room makeover. Be sure to remove the volunteer readers portion above if your site cannot have readers in your waiting room.]

Ethnicity:

15. Indicate your best estimate of the percentage of those served by this program for each of the Ethnic Groups below. African Asian Asian Indian Black or African American Latino or Hispanic Native American or Alaskan Native Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander White or Caucasian Ethnic Group not specified above Select information specific to your site. Make sure the total is 100%. Target says, “We understand that these categories are not mutually exclusive and that they are generally

Reminder: This is a template for planning purposes. Target grants can ONLY be submitted online. 9 2014 Target Store Grant Application Template & Instructions estimates. We hope that you will focus on the primary groups served by the organization and adjust the numbers accordingly.”

16. Indicate your best estimate of the percentage of those served by this program for each Gender listed below. Female- 50% Male- 50%

17. Indicate your best estimate of the percentage of those served by this program for each of the Age Groups listed below. Babies/Toddlers (under 5) - 100%

18. Indicate the percentage of those served by this project/program for each population listed below. You may make more than one selection, but only select those that apply. Your selections do not need to total 100%. Active Military Blind/Vision Impaired Deaf/Hearing Impaired Economically Disadvantaged Immigrants/Newcomers/Refugees Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally (LGBTA) Persons with a Developmental Disability Physically Impaired Single Parents Veterans General Population Enter information specific to your site.

19. Project Program Zip Code Please provide the 5-digit zip code for the location of your program Enter your zip code.

20. Target Store Location Please select the Target store closest to your program from the dropdown list below. Select the closest Target store from the drop-down menu. This store will review your application.

Measurement

1 .What are the anticipated outcomes of the program? [insert site name]’s Reach Out and Read program will provide [insert number of children] children with [insert number of books] age-appropriate books to take home and keep. At the same time, we will give their parents concrete guidance and strategies for daily reading aloud with their children.

Furthermore, [site name] is committed to delivering a high-quality Reach Out and Read program, because we know that when the program is delivered with fidelity to the three-part model, it yields statistically significant results. Therefore, children and families who participate in our Reach Out and Read program with your support will receive the positive outcomes reflected in the evidence base. Participation in the program increases child-centered literacy orientation at home, as indicated by increased numbers of parents who report reading aloud as a favorite family activity and reading regularly to their child. In addition, children in the Reach Out and Read program have higher receptive and expressive language scores and enter school with the foundational tools they need to reach their tremendous innate potential.

2. What key metrics do you plan on collecting to determine if the outcomes have been achieved? In order to ensure that our Reach Out and Read program is delivered at the highest level of quality, and thereby ensure the positive outcomes for families listed above, we have a rigorous process to assess adherence to the proven, three-part model. In evaluating the success of our Reach Out and Read program, outcomes are measured in three specific areas: 1) number of books distributed; 2) program and physician compliance with the Reach Out and Read model; and 3) numbers of children and families living in poverty provided literacy services by physicians. By regularly analyzing these three areas, we monitor the quality of the program, create performance goals, and make improvements where necessary to ensure that your support is having the highest possible impact on children and families.

3. How many people do you anticipate will be served by this program? Please enter one whole number only [Enter the number of children your site will serve this year. (An estimate based on your last progress report is fine.)]

Review My Application

Be sure to double-check that you have entered all information correctly, and print a copy of the application for your records. When you are ready to submit your application, click “Submit” at the bottom of the page. You will receive a confirmation email from Target.

Reminder: This is a template for planning purposes. Target grants can ONLY be submitted online. 11