Clean Air Fenceline

Words in [brackets] are blanks you fill in with your own details when you adopt this sample in Supreme Plan AI.

Executive Summary

Clean Air Fenceline is a nonprofit in Texas that works with families who live next to industrial sites to measure the air they breathe and share the results. Neighbors host low-cost air monitors, a community science coordinator checks the data with a university partner and results are shared at public meetings and with the agencies that regulate pollution.

Many fenceline neighborhoods report odors, smoke and health worries, but have no data of their own. With this grant we will pay a community science coordinator and the monitors and parts needed to run the network. We share data honestly, including when levels are within the law. We do not give medical advice, we do not claim that any health problem is caused by a specific facility and we do not promise that data will change a permit or a policy.

What we are asking for. Our program has a Year 1 budget of about $192,500. We are asking for $60,000 from a state environmental justice fund to a community science coordinator salary and air monitors. The rest of the budget comes from other grants, sponsors and donors that are listed in the funding section. Every dollar amount in this plan is an estimate and none of it is a promise of any result for the people we serve.

Company Description

Clean Air Fenceline is a nonprofit organization recognized under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code, governed by a volunteer board that includes residents who live near industrial sites. The board meets monthly, approves the budget and oversees the executive director. A new organization without its own determination letter can use a fiscal sponsor, explained in the funding section.

What we believe. Residents have the right to know what is in their air and to be heard. We use careful methods, share all of our data and respect every resident's privacy.

What we do:
- Community air monitoring. Neighbors host small sensors, and we track and publish the readings.
- Data checking. A university partner reviews our data and compares our sensors with regulatory monitors.
- Community education. Plain-language meetings on what the numbers mean, how to read air quality alerts and who to call.
- Civic participation. We help residents prepare questions for public hearings and meetings with agencies.

What we do not do. We do not trespass or collect samples on private industrial property, give medical or legal advice or accuse a company of breaking the law. We report what we measured and leave enforcement to the agencies.

Who we serve. Residents of neighborhoods near refineries, plants, highways and ports, with priority for areas with low incomes.

Our board has at least five members, including at least one person who has used our services or lives in the community we serve, and only a minority of board members may be related to each other or paid by the organization.

We keep a written conflict of interest policy, a whistleblower policy and a record retention policy, and the board reviews them every year.

Problem & Opportunity

Neighbors near industrial sites often worry about their air without good information.

1. Few monitors. Official monitors are far apart and may not show what happens on a given street.
2. Odors and smoke. Residents report odors and smoke but have no record to show agencies.
3. Health worries. Families with asthma and other conditions want to know when to stay inside.
4. Hard-to-read data. Technical reports are hard for most people to understand.
5. Feeling unheard. Residents feel their concerns are not taken seriously without data.

Why it matters now. Low-cost sensors make it possible for communities to collect useful data, and agencies are increasingly open to community information that is carefully checked.

How we know the need is real. We mapped industrial sites and official monitors near our neighborhoods, held meetings with 80 residents and asked school nurses about asthma episodes. Residents told us they want data they can trust and a way to get it to the right people. The numbers are in the appendix.

We update these facts every year using public data, partner reports and what the people we serve tell us, and we change the program when the facts change. If a need turns out to be smaller than we thought, we will say so and put the money where it is needed most.

Products & Services

What the funded project will do. With this grant we will pay a community science coordinator and monitors and replacement parts for a full year.

How the project works:
1. Site selection. Residents and the coordinator choose monitor sites with permission from the host.
2. Installation and training. We install monitors and train hosts on what to expect and how to keep the sensor working.
3. Data collection. Sensors report readings that are shown on a public dashboard.
4. Checking. The university partner compares sensor readings with official monitors and flags problems.
5. Sharing. We hold community meetings, publish plain-language summaries and send results to regulators and elected officials.
6. Follow-up. We help residents ask for action based on the facts.

What the grant pays for. The request covers the coordinator's salary and air monitors and parts.

What we do not promise. We do not promise that data will show a problem or that agencies will act. Low-cost sensors are less exact than official monitors, and we say so clearly. We report all results, including good news.

Safety. Monitors are installed with the host's permission by trained staff. We follow electrical safety rules and do not climb poles. We call 911 in an emergency. We point residents who are worried about health to their doctor.

We start small, check what works and grow only when we can do the work well. Every few months we review the numbers and the stories from the people we serve and change the plan where it is not working.

We write plain-language handouts for every step so people know what to expect, what it costs and who to call with questions, and we ask each person at the end whether the help was useful and what we could do better.

Market Analysis

Who benefits from this project are residents of fenceline neighborhoods in our service area, especially children, older adults and people with asthma.

Who we serve. Families who live within a mile or two of industrial sites. Many have low incomes, rent their homes and speak Spanish at home.

How many people we plan to serve. In Year 1 we plan to place about 12 monitors, reach about 1,200 residents with meetings and mailings and hold about 8 public meetings. By Year 5 we plan to run about 30 monitors and reach about 4,000 residents a year. We chose these numbers from the capacity of one coordinator at first and two by the third year and from the number of hosts who agree.

Where we serve. The neighborhoods closest to industrial sites in our city and county.

Who else benefits. Schools that can plan outdoor activities, clinics that understand local conditions and agencies that gain more information.

How we will be careful. We never publish a host's address, we keep resident information private and we report data carefully.

We choose how many people to serve from the number of staff, hours and rooms we really have, not from the size of the need. If we reach fewer people than planned, we will report it and explain why.

Competitive Landscape

Other choices in our area.

1. Government monitors. Reliable but sparse and not always located near homes.
2. Industry monitoring. Companies may monitor their own sites, but residents may not trust it.
3. University research. Valuable but often temporary.
4. Other environmental groups. Some focus on advocacy rather than community data.
5. Do-it-yourself sensors that residents buy.

What makes us different. We combine community-hosted sensors, scientific review and plain-language education for residents. We work with universities and agencies and do not replace them.

How we avoid duplication. We share our maps with the agency and the university and avoid placing sensors where official monitors already provide clear data.

We keep a written list of every other organization that does similar work in our area and review it each year. If another group can serve a person better, we refer the person and say so plainly. Funders can expect us to tell the truth about overlap, to share what we learn and to work as part of a larger network of help.

Marketing & Sales Strategy

How we will reach residents once the project is funded.

Neighborhood partners. Churches, schools, tenant groups and neighborhood associations will help us find hosts and spread the word.

Door-to-door outreach. Our organizer and trained resident leaders will explain the project and invite neighbors to meetings.

Public meetings. We will hold meetings in the evening with food and child care, in English and Spanish.

Word of mouth. Residents tell neighbors what they learned. With permission, we share their stories.

Digital outreach. A public dashboard and social media will share readings and meeting dates. We will not post personal information.

Access. Materials will be in plain language and Spanish, meetings will be held near bus lines and we will provide interpreters.

Measuring outreach. We will track how many residents attend and how they heard about us and adjust our outreach where it is not working.

Marketing budget. Outreach and printing are part of the program budget.

Most people hear about services from someone they already trust, so we spend more time with partners and neighbors than on advertising. We write our materials in plain language, test them with a few people from the community and fix anything that confuses them.

Operations Plan

How the project will be carried out, in plain terms.

Timeline for Year 1. Months 1 and 2: hire the coordinator, recruit hosts, sign the university agreement and buy monitors. Months 3 to 12: install monitors, collect and check data, hold meetings and publish quarterly reports.

Space. Monitors are hosted at homes, schools and community buildings with permission. The office is a small shared space.

Partners. A university lab, the state environmental agency, schools and clinics. Each has a written agreement.

Safety and data rules. We follow electrical safety rules, get written permission from every host and never enter industrial property. Data are checked and corrected before publishing and we label sensor readings as estimates. Resident information is kept private. We call 911 in an emergency.

Money controls. Laboratory fees are paid directly to the laboratory. Two people review every payment.

Records and reporting. We track monitors, data quality, meetings and attendance, and report to funders each quarter.

Training. Staff and resident leaders receive training in air quality, data ethics and community engagement.

We write down every step of the project in a short manual so that any trained staff member can carry it out the same way. We hold a short team meeting every week to review problems, safety concerns and numbers, and we ask the people we serve for feedback at least twice a year.

Management & Organization

The executive director leads the organization and manages the budget and partners. The community science coordinator manages monitors and data, and the community organizer works with residents and hosts.

The team. Pay figures include payroll taxes and workers' compensation insurance. The numbers in parentheses are how many people we plan to have in Years 1 through 5.
- Executive Director: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 (Years 1 to 5), about $58,000 a year each.
- Community Science Coordinator: 1, 1, 2, 2, 2 (Years 1 to 5), about $48,000 a year each.
- Community Organizer (part-time): 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 (Years 1 to 5), about $24,000 a year each.

Governance and money controls. A volunteer board of directors oversees the budget and the executive director. Two people review every payment, the board reviews financial statements every month, an outside accountant prepares the yearly tax return and audit-ready records, and every grant is tracked in its own budget line. We screen staff and volunteers who work with the people we serve, train everyone on privacy and safety and keep written policies on conflicts of interest and complaints.

Staff and advisors. We seek staff with experience in community science or environmental health and welcome residents on our team. A science advisory group of a university scientist, a nurse and an engineer reviews our methods, and a resident advisory group meets quarterly.

Feedback and complaints. Anyone we serve can give feedback or a complaint by phone, in writing or in person, and can ask to speak with the board chair. We reply within five working days, keep a log of every complaint and report the themes to the board each quarter. No one loses services for speaking up.

Milestones Narrative

Goals for each of the first five years and how we will measure results. These are goals, not promises.
- Before the grant starts (2 to 3 months before the grant starts): hire the coordinator, recruit monitor hosts, sign the university agreement, buy and test monitors and plan the first public meeting
- Year 1: place about 12 monitors, hold about 8 public meetings and reach about 1,200 residents. The budget is $192,500.
- Year 2: publish the first annual report and add 6 monitors. The budget is $195,500.
- Year 3: add a second coordinator and youth science club. The budget is $247,500.
- Year 4: expand to a second neighborhood. The budget is $251,000.
- Year 5: run about 30 monitors and reach about 4,000 residents a year. The budget is $254,000.

How we will measure results: monitors working, data completeness, residents reached, meetings held, reports shared with agencies and residents' understanding of the data. We report results to funders in the same plain numbers we use here, and we say honestly when a goal was missed and what we changed.

We report to funders every quarter and send a short plain-language summary to our board each month. At the end of each year we review all of the goals, publish a short results report and update the plan for the next year.

Funding Request

What we are asking for, and how the money will be used. Our request: $60,000 from a state environmental justice fund for a community science coordinator salary and air monitors, for January through December 2027.

The request is spread across these budget lines:
- Personnel: Community Science Coordinator salary, $48,000.
- Supplies: Air monitors and replacement parts, $12,000 (other funds add $3,000).

Other money in the program. This request is about 37% of our Year 1 grant income. Other grants and the income lines below pay for everything it does not cover.

Year 1 budget: about $192,500, planned to balance with a small surplus (about $7,100 after the yearly wear on equipment). Year 1 money coming in: grant revenue $162,500; individual donations $20,000; community and business sponsors $10,000. Year 1 costs: executive director $58,000; community science coordinator $48,000; community organizer (part-time) $24,000; air monitor supplies, sensors and replacement parts about $22,000; independent laboratory analysis fees about $12,000; community meetings, translation and printing about $8,000; administration and insurance about $12,000.

One-time startup costs. Startup costs of $16,000 are paid once from startup money, not from the yearly budget: $4,800 for twelve community air monitors with weather-proof housing and mounting, $2,200 for laptops, a data dashboard and a projector for community meetings, $2,200 for training for neighbors on sensors and data, $2,600 for data quality review by a university partner, $2,200 for organization policy review and legal setup, and $2,000 for banners, flyers in english and spanish and a simple website.

How we got our startup number. The Funding Need Calculator in this plan adds the startup costs ($16,000), the cash the program uses before it balances (about $0) and a cash cushion of about $46,000, which is about 3 months of Year 1 costs. In all, that comes to $62,000. We start with $12,000 of our own savings and $51,500 in startup support from a local foundation and our board, $63,500 in all, which covers that amount with room to spare.

The next five years. Our budget grows from about $192,500 in Year 1 to about $254,000 in Year 5. Grants are planned at $162,500, $158,500, $203,500, $200,000, $196,000 in Years 1 to 5. Other income grows as sponsors and donors join. The program plans a small surplus each year, about $7,100, $7,100, $7,900, $8,000 and $7,500 in Years 1 to 5, which we put into savings.

Savings. We plan to keep several months of costs in savings. The lowest year-end balance in the plan is about $57,300, at the end of Year 1. Some grant payments and partner payments arrive after we bill, so we plan for about $7,700 owed to us at the end of Year 1.

After the grant. Individual donors and community and business sponsors grow each year, so grants become a smaller share. The university partner and schools may contribute equipment and expertise.

Risks and how we will handle them:
- Sensors may give poor data. We calibrate and check with a university partner and label estimates.
- A host may withdraw. We recruit extra hosts and keep backup sites.
- A grant may end. We grow donors and sponsors each year and keep savings.
- Residents may expect immediate action. We explain honestly what data can and cannot do.
- A privacy mistake could occur. We never publish addresses and train staff.

If you are just starting. A new organization can begin before it has its own 501(c)(3) status through a fiscal sponsor: an established nonprofit that receives grants for you and passes them to your program, usually for a fee (commonly around 5% to 10% of the grant, sometimes more; ask before you agree). Another way is to start smaller with one site or one staff member and track results carefully. Strong results from a small start make larger grants easier to win.

Appendix Notes

Documents to attach before you send this proposal:

- Your IRS determination letter showing 501(c)(3) status, or your fiscal sponsor agreement.
- Your board list and board minutes approving the application.
- Your most recent budget and financial statements.
- A list of other funders and what each has given or been asked to give.
- Your monitor siting plan and host agreements.
- The university data-checking agreement.
- Your data policy and privacy policy.
- Letters of support from residents and schools.
If you don't have any of this yet, no worries - let's continue.

The assumptions behind our numbers (change them in the Financials section to match your own):
- Grant Revenue: $162,500 in Year 1, growing to $196,000 in Year 5.
- Individual Donations: $20,000 in Year 1, growing to $36,000 in Year 5.
- Community and Business Sponsors: $10,000 in Year 1, growing to $22,000 in Year 5.
- Staff pay is shown in the management section and includes payroll taxes and workers' compensation.
- Other yearly costs in Year 1: air monitor supplies, sensors and replacement parts $22,000, independent laboratory analysis fees $12,000, community meetings, translation and printing $8,000, and administration and insurance $12,000. These grow between 4% and 6% a year as the program grows.
- Grant and partner payments arrive after we bill, so about $7,700 (4% of Year 1 income) is owed to us at the end of Year 1.
- The program does not pay income tax. Any surplus stays in the program.
- Every dollar amount is an estimate. Replace them with your organization's real numbers.

Plain words used in this proposal:
- Grant: money given for a specific purpose that does not have to be paid back, as long as it is spent as promised.
- Request: the part of the budget we are asking this funder to pay for.
- Surplus: money left over after a year's costs. A small surplus is healthy because it builds savings for slow months.
- Startup costs: one-time costs, such as equipment, paid once before the program runs at full speed.
- Working capital: cash kept in the bank to pay bills while waiting for grant payments.
- In-kind: goods or services given instead of money, such as donated space.
- Fiscal sponsor: an established nonprofit that receives grants for a new group and passes the money to its program, usually for a fee.
- 501(c)(3): the tax status that lets a nonprofit receive tax-deductible gifts and many grants.

How to read the numbers. Every income and cost figure is a plan, not a result. Income rises as sponsors and donors join, costs rise a little each year, and each year's budget is planned to balance with a small surplus. Startup costs are shown separately because they are paid once. If a real number turns out different, we will update the plan and tell our funders why.

Startup Costs