Policy for the American Society of Agronomy Program Enhancement Fund (PEF) establishes a competitive process for PEFs to be administered by the A711 Program Planning Committee. These funds will be used to fund activities at the Society’s Annual Meeting. This document provides guidance and the format for proposals submitted to the Committee.
General Guidelines
You must be an ASA member to request funds. Allocation amounts are anticipated to be in the range of $500-$2500, with a maximum request of $5,000 (this will likely be smaller amounts for Section and Community competitive allocations). PEFs will only be used in support of Annual Meeting activities. ASA community/section leaders can submit only ONE ASA Competitive PEF proposal as the lead organizer.
Examples of appropriate expenditures for program enhancement include but are not limited to:
- Paying expenses and awarding stipends to invited speakers (member and nonmember) of symposia
- Monetary awards to any member for outstanding accomplishments
- Underwriting costs of field trips and workshops
Submitting Proposals
You may request additional ASA Society Program Enhancement Funds by submitting the below online form before this year’s proposal deadline.
In the event of awarded funding, you will provide a report to the Technical Program Manager after the conclusion of the Annual Meeting. The report will include a breakdown of all expenditures, PDFs of original receipts, and a final amount.
Helpful Proposal Tips:
- Highly detailed proposals are more likely to be accepted.
- Partial funding is common.
- Although speakers do not need to be confirmed at this point, including a listing of potential speakers puts your proposal in a favorable light.
- If you are proposing a symposium session, please note that symposia are to be a maximum of two hours long, consisting ideally of three invited speakers at 40 minutes each or four invited speakers at 30 minutes each.
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Stipend/Travel reimbursement considerations:
- Domestic speakers are often offered approximately $500 in stipend/travel reimbursement funding.
- International speakers are often offered approximately $750 in stipend/travel reimbursement funding.
- Alternate amounts are certainly open to request. Please provide as much detail as possible
- While catering expenses are often the hardest to defend because of convention center pricing, do not let that discourage you if you have a strategic goal/special event in mind.
- Additional funding can be pursued through corporate sponsorship opportunities via the Marketing and Business Relations Manager.