After reading through the FAQs below, do you still not see an answer to your question? Submit your inquiry here and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. 

Interested in applying for the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund 2021 grant? Learn all you need to know about the application process, proposal writing tips, and important eligibility requirements in our CDAF Information Session on Tuesday, June 15 at 12pm ET and Proposal Writing 101 Session on Wednesday, June 30 at 1pm ET. Register on alumni.state.gov under the U.S. Alumni tab. 

General 

1. What is the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund for U.S. Alumni?

The Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund for U.S. Alumni provides small grants to teams of past and current U.S. citizen participants of U.S. government-sponsored exchange programs to carry out public service projects using the skills, knowledge, and networks gained during your exchange experiences. This funding opportunity is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and implemented by Partners of the Americas in partnership with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund will award funding to teams of at least two exchange alumni, of whom the primary team member must be a U.S. citizen, to carry out public service projects in one of the following themes:

  • Promoting media literacy education,
  • Protecting the environment,
  • Bolstering outreach to the underserved,
  • Fostering alumni network development, and/or
  • Building community through arts, sports, language, and technology. 

2. What are some examples of projects suitable for this competition?

For examples of previous winners including projects pertaining to media literacy education, building community resilience, and alumni network development, please refer to the winning teams’ announcements below.

Competition Eligibility 

1. Can you please elaborate on the specific selection criteria used by the review committee?

Please review the criteria used by proposal reviewers here.

2. What limitations are there due to the COVID pandemic?

Due to the ongoing global pandemic travel will be reviewed and funded on a case-by-case basis. If you propose travel, please provide a brief health and safety plan on how you plan to maintain a healthy and safe environment, as well as how you might adapt your project if unable to travel (ex: Go virtual, manage the project virtually, etc.)  If local travel is proposed to take place internationally, the U.S. embassy or consulate in that country must review and approve. We welcome applications that propose virtual options to typically conducted workshops, trainings, or other innovative programming.

3. Can a project be proposed by an individual?

No. Proposals must be submitted by teams of at least one U.S. exchange alum and one U.S. or international exchange alum.

4. Are there age restrictions for project leads?

Yes. Project leads and any team members must be at least 18 years-of-age (high school graduate) at the time that the application is submitted.

5. For how many projects can I apply/be a team member?

Eligible alumni can participate in a maximum of three Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund proposals adhering to the following:

  • Alumni are limited to submitting one proposal as the project lead.
  • Each submitted proposal must consist of unique alumni individuals or teams.
  • The same proposal cannot be submitted multiple times by different project leads. If this happens, the submitted proposals will be disqualified.

6. If I received a Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund grant the 2019, Media Literacy, Rapid Response, and/or 2020 rounds, am I eligible to submit a project for the 2021 round?

Yes! Previous Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund grantees may submit a proposal for the 2021 round, however priority will be given to strong proposals of team lead applicants who have not won a CDAF grant within the past 2 rounds (CDAF Rapid Response and CDAF 2020) to allow more alumni the opportunity to implement public service projects.

If you are the primary team lead who has submitted a previous application and plan to work with a different team, please update your team profile before submitting a new CDAF application.

7. Must grant recipients receive approval from and/or partner with embassies in countries where they intend to carry out the proposed activities?

No, it is not required that teams partner with embassies for their projects prior to submitting the proposal — however, as part of the review process, projects must be approved by the Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the respective U.S. embassy if they plan on carrying out any portion of the project outside of the United States. This is to ensure that PAS supports the project concept.   

For projects that propose virtual activities with international communities and participants, the review committee will share the idea with the PAS of the U.S. embassy or consulate in the country of the proposed activities.  If teams have an existing relationship with PAS, we encourage teams to reach out for approval and collaboration. 

8. Do projects need to receive IRB approval?

No, IRB approval is not required. Please note, however, that the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund is not intended to fund academic research projects or research projects including human subjects.

Application Process 

1. Why do I need to have an International Exchange Alumni account to apply?

Each year, thousands of students and professionals are accepted into U.S. Department of State international exchange programs. The International Exchange Alumni website is the central place for alumni to connect with one another, access resources, and learn about exclusive funding and event opportunities.  The portal to access the application is available in the section only accessible by International Exchange Alumni members. 

Maintaining an active International Exchange Alumni account will keep Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund applicants up-to-date on important reminders regarding the competition, as well as provide them with valuable resources that they can leverage for their proposed projects. Keeping an active account is also the quickest way for the Proposal Review Committee to verify your status as an alum. To submit your request for an account, visit alumni.state.gov/account-inquiry and complete the “Account Inquiry” form.

2. I have an account at alumni.state.gov. Why can’t I access the page for the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund?

The Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund webpage at alumni.state.gov is available only to U.S. citizen exchange alumni and can be accessed under the “U.S. Alumni” tab once you have logged into your account. Since this funding opportunity is open primarily to U.S. citizen exchange alumni, the page is not visible to applicants who are not U.S. citizens. If you are a U.S. citizen and unable to access the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund webpage, please reach out to [email protected]. If you are a U.S. citizen partnering with an international exchange alum for this opportunity, please note that only the U.S. citizen team lead will have access to the grant portal via the alumni.state.gov page. If you aren’t a U.S. citizen and are not partnering with a U.S. citizen alum for this opportunity, follow International Exchange Alumni on Facebook and Twitter for later opportunities open to international alumni.

3. How do I know if my request for an International Exchange Alumni account has been approved?

Once your request for an account is approved, you will receive an email from [email protected] inviting you to log into alumni.state.gov to verify and activate your account. It typically takes up to one week from the date of the request submission to receive the email invitation.

4. I submitted my request to create an International Exchange Alumni account. When will I know if my request is approved?

It typically takes up to one week from the date of the request submission to receive the email invitation. All alumni who request accounts are deemed eligible to apply for the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund, given that their requests are approved and their alumni status can be verified.

5. I am ready to submit my Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund application, but I am experiencing technical difficulties. What should I do?

Make sure all required fields of the application are complete. You will not be able to submit your application unless all required fields are completed.

Make sure you have an Internet connection and are using a supported browser. We recommend using Google Chrome. You may also use Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Internet Explorer 9.0+. You may need to update your browser. Make sure both Javascript and cookies are enabled in your browser.

If you continue to experience problems with the submission of your application, please contact [email protected].

Budgetary Considerations 

Read more about funding guidelines here.

Find the budget template here. You must use this template in your application.

1. I’m not sure if my proposed project costs are compliant. Where can I check on this?

Please refer to the Funding Guidelines and Instructions for Budget Template document found on the grant application portal. Head to alumni.state.gov, log in, and click on the U.S. Alumni tab. Then, head to the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund (CDAF) page found on the left-hand bar and click on the “2021 Competition” link. Scroll down and click on the “Sign Up” button to create a grant application portal account or sign in if you have already created a grant application portal account. Once you have signed into the grant application portal, you will be able to access links to the guidance documentation for this competition prior to starting your proposal application. Note that your grant application portal account is not the same as your alumni.state.gov account.

2. Can Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund grants be used for emergency cash assistance?

Cash transfers, small loans, gift cards, or vouchers of any kind are not allowable under the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund. You could instead use Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund grant money to pre-purchase food, personal hygiene, or other allowable relief supplies and obtain cash transfer or small loan money, gift cards, and/or vouchers as in-kind contributions to your project as is appropriate to respond to your beneficiaries’ needs.

3. How will my team be asked to manage the grant funds/budget?

Project teams must carry out the project using one budget. Funds will be disbursed to one bank account (the bank account of Team Lead 1) and the team members will need to coordinate on spending the funds.

4. Are project leads eligible to receive honorarium based on their capacity and engagement in the project, as described in their application?

When appropriate, honoraria may be budgeted for speakers, trainers, and similar contributors to project activities up to $250 per day depending on contribution and up to $599.99 per contributor total. Project funds cannot be used to fund salaries. Yes, project leads are eligible to receive honoraria for their contributions to the project activities. Whether team leads or not, please base the funding on contribution which you’ll describe in the budget narrative. We continue to encourage alumni and others to donate their time in support of the community. Please allocate any extra volunteer time from team leads, partners, etc. as cost share in your budget and budget narrative. We can help you document these contributions throughout your project; you may use the Department of Labor hourly rates to estimate them in your budget. You may also include regular rates that the project lead or team members would typically charge for such services as cost share.

5. What is the difference between salary and honorarium?

Grant funds may not be used to pay salaries; however, grantees may allocate funds to provide honoraria for speakers, presenters, trainers, and other individuals contributors. You may request up to $250 per day based on the individual’s contribution with a maximum of $600 in honorarium per individual. Project leads and team members are not eligible to receive honoraria. For the purpose of this grant, ‘salary’ and ‘honorarium’ (pl. ‘honoraria’) are distinguished as:

  • Salary: The regular rate that a professional would charge for their services when fulfilling a non-voluntary role.
  • Honorarium: A payment made to an individual for their voluntary contribution of their services and/or expertise to the project.

 

6. Can my team seek out funds from other sources  not included in the original budget proposal?

Yes. Any additional funds you secure to support the project should be reported as cost share.

7. Can a project lead report the time they commit to the project as cost share? 

Yes, project leads and all others involved in the implementation of your Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund project may report any voluntary time spent on the project as cost share in the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund Volunteer Timesheet. If you budgeted for project lead or team member (if applicable) salaries to be included in your total cost share amount for your grant, then you must report this time on the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund Rapid Response Volunteer Timesheet. For volunteer contributions, you can estimate the amount using the official Department of Labor hourly rates.

8. How will CDAF funds be distributed to the project leads?

Upon receiving your official award email notification from the U.S. Department of State, the team at Partners of the Americas will coordinate with you to complete a W9, Vendor Form, and ACH Bank Information form. We will also send you a formal grant contract for your approved project. Once you have completed all administrative documentation, Partners of the Americas will disburse the first 2/3 of your full grant award to your bank account. The remaining 1/3 of your grant award will be disbursed upon receipt of your complete first quarterly project report.

If you are in a team with one U.S. citizen and one non-U.S. citizen as the team leads, these administrative documents will be in the name of the U.S. citizen team lead. These documents may not be in the name of an organization, business, or academic institution under any circumstances.

9. Can grant funds go to a bank account owned by a non-profit, for-profit, or academic institution?

No. Funds must be disbursed to a bank account owned by an individual.  Funds will not be disbursed directly to an organization for any reason.

10. What taxes will need to be paid on these funds?

No taxes are to be paid on the grant funds.  The grant is set up as reimbursable, meaning the funds are being disbursed as an advance, and subsequently cleared through expenses reported on the “CDAF Expense Report & Certification” template. Since the grant is treated as a reimbursement, there are no tax implications.

11. Do individuals and/or teams receive travel insurance if they are awarded a grant?

Partners of the Americas does not cover grantees under any kind of liability or travel insurance. Grant funds may be used to cover insurance costs only if this request for funds is included in the approved project proposal. 

Grantees may consider AIG or Seven Corners if they are interested in travel insurance.

Building a Team 

1. How do I build a team/connect with other alumni?

We recommend reaching out to your exchange program’s alumni services and connecting with local alumni associations that may be in your area.

You can also search online for fellow alumni through the International Exchange Alumni community at alumni.state.gov. Log in and click on “Competitions & Resources.” On the right-hand side of the page, go to the “Find Fellow Alumni” box and select your state in the “By Country/Territory” dropdown menu, then click “Go” to find alumni in your state. You can also filter alumni by program and field of study or professional focus.

You can also look for alumni on LinkedIn by searching for a specific exchange program.

2. Do all my team members have to be U.S. citizens?

No, not all team members must be U.S. citizens. The primary team lead who receives the funds and starts the application must be a U.S. citizen, and the secondary team lead and additional team member can be U.S. or international citizen alumni.

3. Can my team include alumni from different countries?

Yes, you may apply with a team of U.S. exchange alumni from diverse countries, if at least one project team lead (Team Lead 1) is a U.S. citizen exchange alum.

4. Can my team include alumni from different programs?

Yes, your team can consist of alumni from diverse U.S. government-funded exchange programs.

5. Do all team members have to be alumni of U.S. government-sponsored exchange programs?

You are encouraged to engage community leaders, stakeholders, and organizations as partners to support your project. Additional partners and supporters outside of the alumni team do not need to be alumni of U.S. government-sponsored exchange programs. All non-alumni contributors to the project should be listed as a project “partner.”

U.S. Department of State flag and seal

The Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and implemented by Partners of the Americas in partnership with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.