NCAA Division III Strategic Initiatives
Grant Program
The Division III Strategic Initiatives Grant Program was formally approved
by the
The Strategic Initiatives grant program is intended to encourage
collaboration and involvement of all Division III constituent group
representatives in the planning, decision-making and accountability of
programming to achieve the goals established in the division’s strategic
plan. The program offers Division
III conference members and the Association of Independents, the opportunity to determine
at the appropriate “local level” how to achieve the clearly defined
annual and cyclical broad areas of focus. Presidential oversight and accountability
with the new process and budget allocations, consistent with the legislated
leadership role of presidents within conference governance, is paramount.
The program consists of annual
grants that target three strategic goals, or “Tiers”:
Tier One – Professional Development, Education and Communication.
Annual Mandatory Enhancements
·
Student-Athlete
Advisory Committee.
·
Compliance
and Rules Seminar Education.
·
Faculty
Athletic Representative Enhancement – FARA Fall Forum.
·
SWA
Enhancement – NACWAA Convention.
·
Sports
Information Director Workshop (Bi-Annual).
·
Academic/Chief
Student Affairs Officer Education – NCAA Convention.
·
Commissioners
Meeting.
Tier Two – Social Responsibility and Integration.
Four-Year Rotation Cycle
·
Student-Athlete
Well Being/Community Service Initiatives.
·
Diversity
and Gender-Equity Initiatives.
·
Sportsmanship
Initiatives.
Tier Three – Quality of the
Participation Experience.
Strategic Enhancements (These are
examples ONLY)
·
Technology.
·
Officiating
Improvement.
·
Training,
Sports Medicine and Nutrition.
·
Promotions
and Marketing/Division III Identity.
·
Championships
Enhancements.
·
Professional
Development.
TOTAL ANNUAL ALLOCATION:
$35,000 - 54,000 per conference and $84,588 to the Association of Independents,
based on the number of institutions.
TOTAL DIVISION III ANNUAL ALLOCATION: Approximately $1,762,250.
NOTE: Division
III programs and funding that will remain under National Office oversight
include:
·
NAD3AA
Partnership. ($49,500)
·
Women
and Minority Internship Grant.
($720,000)
·
SWA
Enhancement – NACWAA/Hers Institute.
($45,000)
·
Strategic
·
Student-Athlete
Leadership Conferences. ($680,000)
Total - $2,874,700
Grant Program Rationale:
·
Encourages
broader-based initiative participation and collaboration by making numerous
menu items available automatically (eliminating NCAA application selection
process). Conference administrators
and members will have an organized
way of sharing ideas and information as appropriate at the “local
level.” Involvement of
conference constituent group members is required.
·
Clearly
defines key divisional priorities, consistent with the strategic plan, and
allocates resources for each conference and Association of Independents to establish
a broad-based process for selection and participation.
·
Clearly
defines mandatory items as well as specific menu items to stimulate additional
avenues of enhancement. (e.g., officiating improvement, promotions and
marketing, compliance and rules education and championships enhancement).
·
Supports
efforts for increased cost saving measures and more efficient operations by
decreasing NCAA national office application processes, finance and business
office processes, and overhead fees, particularly fees associated with the
administration of the current Initiative Grant program and related overhead
expenses.
·
As
the NCAA grows to improve and expand upon its services to its membership,
conference offices have also grown significantly to do the same. In fact, the NCAA is relying more and
more on conference offices to serve as a conduit between the national office
and member institutions. This
program will enhance this effort in a manner consistent with Association-wide
and divisional strategic goals.
·
Easier
to administer and file with one single Budget Request Form and one Detailed
Report. Takes items that are now
piecemeal with varied application deadlines and communication vehicles and puts
them in control of the membership for processing and accountability. Permits conferences and Association of
Independents to create customized administrative frame works and selection
guidelines as appropriate.
·
Greater
autonomy adds flexibility to allow for different projects in different
years. Instead of spending $10,000 annually
on technology, it may be wiser for a conference or Association of Independents to
hold off for a year in that area while using those funds in another area.
Grant Program General Policies:
·
Annually,
a Requisition Form must be submitted
to the NCAA national office prior to each academic year with a
detailed Impact Form submitted at
the end of each year to ensure accountability. For
the 2007-08 grant program, the Requisition Form is due June 1, 2007 and the
Impact Form due July 1, 2007. To
ensure broad-based involvement, signatures are required on both forms from the
conference executive, and a representative of the conferences chancellors/presidents,
directors of athletics, senior woman administrators, faculty athletics
representatives and SAAC.
·
A
broad-based, conference-wide dialogue should occur to determine the best
approach for the conference to establish the policies to govern the
distribution of funds and the selection of grant recipients.
·
The
Division III Strategic Planning and Finance Committee will oversee the grant
program. NCAA staff will review all
Requisition Forms and issue checks to conferences. For
the 2007-08 grant program, checks will be mailed by September 15, 2007. The Impact Forms will be submitted
to NCAA staff; however, they will be reviewed in detail on an annual basis by
the Strategic Planning and Finance Committee to determine consistency with
Division III strategic goals and objectives and policies of the grant
program. The committee will also
recommend changes, as appropriate, regarding program components, budget
allocation, unused funds and individual conference commitment to the program.
·
The
Division III Strategic Planning and Finance Committee and NCAA staff reserve
the right to request further details and information on allocation and use of
funds at any time.
·
Resource
Allocations.
o
Provisional
members (06-07) are not included in financial calculations. Affected conferences that have
provisional members may choose to share grant resources with those members.
o
Conferences
with members in two conferences will receive allocations for “half-members
(.5)”.
o
Association
of Division III Independents will support its current members as well as independents
not currently members of the association to receive resource allocations. The total membership and subsequent
allocation equals five percent of grant resources.
o
Tiers
One and Two allocations are based on the number of active member institutions
in the conference. Tier Three
allocations are conference based; all conferences receive the same
allocation. All
conferences will also receive an annual allocation to support administrative
functions.
o
Allocations
may vary each year based on fluctuating conference and Association of Division
III Independent membership.
o
More
than a total of $1,000 of unused funds (all three tiers) must be returned at
the end of each year. Unused funds
totaling less than $1,000 may remain with the conference; however, a
justification and plans for their future use must be submitted as a component
of the Impact Form. Further, Tier
One excess resources must remain in Tier One. Flexibility exists for moving excess
resources of less than $1,000 between Tiers Two and Three only.
·
Tier One - Professional Development,
Education and Communication. Annual
Mandatory Enhancements. The strategic goal is to
support each constituent group for professional development, education and
communication on an annual basis. Specific
allocations may vary depending on needs or location of professional development/education
experiences and may also be split among more than one individual within a
constituent group. If specific member
institutions are funding constituent professional development/education and no
other interest in the grant exists within a particular group, then conference reallocation
to another constituent group within Tier One is permitted. Unused resources under $1,000 can carry
over within Tier One, with a justification submitted on the Impact Form.
·
Tier Two - Social Responsibility and
Integration. Four-Year Rotation
Cycle. Core values of our division will shine
through in this particular area. Each
of the three areas (Student-Athlete Well-Being/Community Service, Sportsmanship
and Diversity, and Gender Equity) must be addressed at least once within a
four-year cycle at the annual amount the conference receives for Tier Two. Funds can be used for conference-wide
programming or provided to institutions.
Distributions can be based on equity, rotation or selection. If you complete your cycle of
programming
in three years (e.g., Year 1 - Diversity, Year 2 - Student-Athlete Well-Being/Community
Service, Year 3 - Sportsmanship) then in Year 4 the resources may be used in
any of the tiers to meet conference needs.
Unused resources under $1,000 can carry over within any Tier with a
justification submitted on the Impact Form.
·
Tier Three - Quality of the
Participation Experience. Optional Strategic
Enhancements. This Tier emphasizes autonomy to utilize
the pool of resources for a series of optional strategic enhancements to
address conference needs, consistent with the goals of the Division III
strategic plan. Particular emphasis
should be placed on the impact and quality of the participation experience for student-athletes.
·
Questions
regarding Grant Program should be directed to: Leah Nilsson (lnilsson@ncaa.org) or Dan Dutcher (ddutcher@ncaa.org).