Guidelines for LMC Project Funding Requests

The Life Members Committee (LMC) encourages Life Member activities at the global, regional, and local levels. Qualified members can request financial support for a broad range of projects and activities. In general, the LMC, Life Member Affinity Group (LMAG), and Life Member projects focus on four areas:

1. LMAG Outreach, Engagement, and Community Involvements
2. Life Member Engagement
3. Advancing the image of IEEE and the Life Members by communicating Life Members’ ideals, programs, and IEEE initiatives through various channels
4. Providing general support for IEEE initiatives

Examples include activities in pre-college STEM, STEAM, and CTE; emerging technology; career development; technology policy issues; professional education; government activities; guest speakers; and section-wide outreach initiatives.

The LMC will prioritize funding for projects or activities that support Life Members or LMAG outreach, engagement, and community involvement over those that provide broad support for IEEE initiatives.

Life Members can request financial support for various projects and activities. Life Members and Life Members Affinity Group (LMAG) projects must focus on at least one of the following four areas:

1. Supporting LMAG outreach, engagement, and community involvement, especially in areas of student leadership development
2. Promoting LM engagement
3. Advancing the image of IEEE and its members by communicating LM ideals, programs, and IEEE initiatives through various channels
4. Providing broad support for IEEE initiatives

Sponsored activities may include science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM); emerging technology, career development, technology policy issues, professional education, government activities, and guest education speakers; and section-wide outreach initiatives. In addition, many projects will engage the local IEEE and non-IEEE leaders and other volunteers.

Some activities may already include Section or Region strategic initiatives. That means the proposal would require only expertise and a minimal financial investment. In addition, an LMAG, Section, Region, or external organization may co-sponsor activities.

The Life Members Committee (LMC) will automatically decline any proposal that does not meet all the Evaluation Criteria, including all required endorsements. In addition, the LMC will automatically decline any proposal that includes the following disqualifying criteria:

• Overhead (general and administrative/indirect costs), not including program management costs
• Projects or programs funded by standard IEEE organizational units that have operating expenses included in an annual budget
• Projects or programs included in other areas of the LMC annual budget
• For-profit activities such as conferences, development of prototypes and intellectual property, or other activities that would return a surplus to an organization other than the requesting organization (surplus returned to the requesting IEEE organization or the LMC is permitted)
• Commercial promotion activities
• Personal or commercial loans
• Grants with an individual as the sole beneficiary
• Participation of specific/individual teams in competitions
• Research projects
• Immediate humanitarian disaster relief efforts

The Life Members Committee (LMC) will receive all funding requests through the LMC website or the Region Coordinators. Proposals must include a completed form and budget worksheet.

All grant proposal requests must include all required information and all required approvals. The LMC will automatically reject any proposal lacking the required information and approvals.
The LMC chair shall establish a Funding Request Subcommittee (FRS) to review all funding requests and submit its recommendation to the LMC for consideration, in accordance with LMC practice. The FRS expects to review all proposals within two months of submission.

To increase awareness of and synergy with local IEEE organizations, the local Life Members Affinity Group (LMAG) Chair, the Section Chair, and the Region LM Coordinator must approve all requests from IEEE student branches or IEEE-HKN student chapters. If the Section does not have an LMAG, approvals must include the Section Chair and the Region LM Coordinator, and the Section is encouraged to explore creating an LMAG before submitting future funding requests.

All Life Members Committee (LMC) Local Activity Funding-Opportunity Request (LAFOR) proposals must address all sections in the form and include elements that benefit IEEE members or future IEEE members. Review criteria will emphasize the proposed project or activity’s impact, sustainability, and scalability.

The LMC will prioritize funding for projects or activities that support Life Member or LMAG outreach, engagement, and community involvement over those that provide broad support for IEEE initiatives.

Once completed, submit the LMC Project Funding Request Application to your Region Coordinator.

View Application Instructions (PDF) →
Download LMC Project Funding Application (XLXS) →