Posted on by David Matsumoto

Request for Proposals for Fiscal Year 2004-2005

Date: 1 February 2004
To: All Yudanshakai Presidents
Cc: Noboru Saito, President
Robert Fukuda, Executive Director
Development Committee
From: David Matsumoto
Development Committee Chair
Re: Request for Proposals for Fiscal Year 2004-2005

Hello. I hope you are all well.

The Development Committee (DC) invites Yudanshakais to submit requests for
programs for Fiscal Year (FY) 2003- 2004.

Strategic Direction of the USJF DC

The mission of the USJF DC is to support the goals of the USJF President and
Executive Committee by organizing, coordinating, and guiding the activities
of each of its subcommittees: National Teacher’s Institute, Kata Development
and Certification, Coach Development and Certification, Referee Development
and Certification, Women’s, Technical Research, Senior Development, and Junior
and Youth Development. The overall goals of the USJF DC are to (1) improve
the technical proficiency of our members, and (2) increase membership in your
USJF.

The USJF DC envisions achieving its goals by producing and conducting educational
activities for judo leaders, and by enabling member yudanshakais to become
successfully functioning entities that are the primary direct support for
their member dojos and individuals.

Examples of objective markers of these goals include but are not limited to:>

  1. Increasing the total number of individuals doing judo.
  2. Increasing the number of certified teachers, referees, kata instructors,
    and coaches in the USJF.
  3. Increasing the number of women participating in judo.
  4. Increasing the number of USJF members who are listed on the USJI Elite
    Senior and Junior rosters.
  5. Producing technical documents related to the study of judo.

The USJF DC views Yudanshakais as the coordinators of the delivery of services
that the USJF can provide to support its member dojos and individuals. As
such the success of the USJF is dependent on the success functioning of its
member yudanshakais to be continually proactive, evaluative, and progressive
in its approach to judo and its development.

One of the ways in which yudanshakais can achieve this is through a process
of strategic planning. There are many variations of strategic planning, but
they all basically entail the following processes:

  1. Outlining the goals, mission, and vision of the organization
  2. Reviewing previous activities and past practices in terms of how those
    goals were met and the mission and vision addressed
  3. Evaluating the efficacy of those past practices using objective standards
  4. Based on that evaluation to design a plan of future activities to continually
    address the goals, mission, and vision better
  5. Engage in a process of evaluation of future activities based on objective
    criteria

Within the plan of activities that are generated in Step D, many of them can
probably be accomplished with little or no funding. Other things require funding,
and of those, some of them may be beyond the financial resources of the yudanshakai.
It is those activities that require funding that are beyond the resources
of the yudanshakai that we are seeing as most eligible for applying for funding
from the USJF.

Request for Proposals

This letter is a request for proposals for funding from yudanshakais based
on this process. If you believe your yudanshakai can benefit from USJF funding
for your programs, we invite you to submit a proposal for funding.

The proposals should include the following:

  1. A cover letter
  2. A main proposal, which will include the following:
    1. A review of the current FY’s activities funded by the USJF, if
      any, and the impact it has had on membership increases in the
      USJF or improving technical proficiency on an objective, measurable
      basis.
    2. An overview and rationale for your funding requests and amounts
    3. A statement that confirms that the request was officially approved
      by the voting members of your Yudanshakai.
    4. A detailed description of each activity proposed, including the
      following:
      1. A description of the activity
      2. A rationale as to how it relates to the USJF Development
        Committee’s goals of increasing membership or increasing
        the technical proficiency of its members
      3. Budget requested for the activity with complete listing
        of projected expenditures
      4. Identification of project manager in your committee who
        will be the USJF’s Development Committee’s liaison to
        the project
    6. A budget summary that lists the total budget required for each
      activity, with complete listing of projected expenditures, and
      a listing of cost-sharing by individuals, fees to be charged and
      projected income, dojos, yudanshakais, and the proposed USJF’s
      share of the total necessary for the activity. The USJF Development
      Committee will give priority to activities that demonstrate effective
      cost-sharing by all parties involved. PLEASE USE THE ATTACHED
      BUDGET SUMMARY FORM (IN MICROSOFT EXCEL).

    Please submit these to my office in writing by 31 March 2004, as per
    the board approved procedures. I will compile them for deliberation
    at the Development Committee meeting in April. I will receive proposals
    only in writing (electronic mail attachment preferred; Microsoft Word
    compatible). No proposals will be accepted after deadline. And
    I will return all proposals not meeting the format requirements above
    without review.

    Funding Criteria

    The DC will deliberate on all proposals received by deadline. The deliberation
    process will include but not be limited to the following criteria:

    1. Effectiveness of previous program activities in terms of improvements
      in membership counts or technical proficiency of the membership.
      Measures shall be presented to the DC by the requesting subcommittees
      and yudanshakai
    2. Objective evaluation of previous activities and creation of markers
      of success shall be stated in writing by the requesting subcommittees
      and yudanshakai
    3. Identification of subcommittee or yudanshakai strengths, and opportunities
      to fulfilling DC strategic goals shall be declared in writing
      by the requesting subcommittees and yudanshakai
    4. A written plan of goal achievement shall be presented to the DC
      that ties its committee or yudanshakai strategic plan into the
      DC plan
    5. The proposer’s strategic plan should show significant evidence
      of collaborative efforts and buy in by committee members
    6. Commitment of the proposer to the proposal shall be exhibited
      by such things as cost-sharing within the proposal and availability
      of a representative at the DC meetings to discuss the proposals

    The Development Committee will be making a recommendation to the Finance
    Committee and Board of Directors of the USJF for its April Board meeting.
    Final approval of the FY 2003-2004 budget will occur at the July meeting.

    Also, you will be required to have a representative present at the
    Development Committee meeting who is prepared to speak on behalf of
    your yudanshakai’s request. Failure to have a representative there
    may jeopardize your application.

    All funded applications will become the property of the USJF and may
    be made available to interested

    If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to let
    me know. Thanks a lot.