Chesapeake Bay Funders Network (CBFN) Guidance

This Chesapeake Bay Funders Network (CBFN) Guidance was developed to document the methodology used by CBFN's Agriculture Initiative to "strengthen the economic sustainability of the Chesapeake Bay farming community . . . , while simultaneously addressing the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay water quality". Recognizing the need to produce measurable results and build the capacity for sustained improvements for the Bay, the Initiative has pioneered an innovative approach to identifying and supporting strategic partnership projects in key farming communities.

The Guidance is divided into two sections. Part I describes the process by which project opportunities are identified and organized for use by CBFN staff, Funders and prospective project partners. The basic information in the section has been used to explain to potential project partners in the field how we go about working with them to develop a project, since it is very different from most standard "Request for Proposals" application processes. Part II. provides a user's manual for the process of supporting and overseeing projects that offers a way of increasing project effectiveness and performance.

It is hoped that the Guidance will be used specifically by project managers as the means to increase the effectiveness of efforts by public and private organizations to protect the Bay and to create environmental and agricultural benefits through projects across the country.

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