Vital Spark has one golden rule: any project we support must be in the area of education, community development and/or the environment and will meet the requirements of our mission and our values.

There is no set of rules to tell us how to decide which projects to support. If projects meet our golden rule we'll then assess whether they have the following qualities:

• Clear, quantified objectives
  We prefer proposals that include well-thought-out, realistic business plans. We can sometimes help with the production of these plans.
• Proven (if limited) track record
  We find it difficult to judge the practicality of an idea that has not been tried at all. On the other hand, it is unlikely that our resources would be most effectively allocated to a project team that already has a long record of success – it could probably get on quite well without us.
• A sustainable future
  We prefer a project to have a strategy for eventual independence from us.
• Significant, measurable contributions to local, well-defined issues
  For example, a project whose aim is to reduce poverty in a particular town – and whose effect could be measured and demonstrated – is preferred to one aiming to raise money as part of a general movement to alleviate world poverty.
• Support from VSF's Bank of Talent and the relevance to our skills
  A project with whose aims most of us can identify stands a better chance of getting our whole-hearted support. We also prefer projects that can best use the skills offered by our Bank of Talent volunteers.

So if you think you have a suitable project, please complete the application form and fax it back to us.  Alternatively contact Vital Spark Forum to discuss what happens next.