Trying to get the town council to give me $1300 for hoop-making supplies, lol.  I have no experience with grant writing and this is my first, partial draft. What think?

My name is Caroline, and my company Golden Hoops distributes adult exercise hoops.   (This is not hula-hooping, although hoop-dance has its roots in the 1950’s toy by Whammo that you’re thinking of.   Modern adult exercise hoops are made from significantly heavier plastic).  I have been making hoops for sale and donation since 2011.  I do not make the hoops for profit, I make them to generate health and well-being for my clients.  I have worked with A Muse performance troupe to create hoop-dance acts for the Snow King Festival, and volunteered with the local high school to teach hooping to students and donate hoops to the GSS Juggling Club.  So far, I have been the sole source of funding for the materials needed to make and distribute hoops cheaply, which is why I am now appealing to CBT for a small grant.

My initiative has the opportunity to positively impact the health of hundreds of people in our community.  Hooping is a little-known form of low impact yet total body exercise that can succeed where other programs fail to improve our health.  Anyone can do it, from children and teens to busy moms to senior citizens.  Unlike going to the gym, hooping is enjoyable.  Waist hooping provides amazing cardio and you can easily lose an hour dancing around with a hoop to your favorite music.  Once you begin to learn the thousands of different movements you can create with hoopdance, you quickly realize that this is a tool that works every muscle in the body, drastically improves balance and coordination, is a form of moving meditation, and the single most underestimated fitness tool in existence. 

I wish that there was a hoop in every home, for every member of the family to use when they want to creatively express their favorite music, when they want a pick-me-up, when they want energy, when they want to challenge themselves, when they aren’t even sure if they want to exercise but the hoop is just so fun, they can’t help it!

 Unfortunately, the cost and time involved in making hoops is somewhat prohibitive.  This is why you don’t see adult exercise hoops in stores, and more people aren’t aware of the benefits of hooping.  A hoop is a hand-made craft that typically sells for $30-50.  Although the materials are relatively inexpensive (it can cost anywhere from $5 to $20 per hoop) it takes an hour or two to make each one.   I believe that if the cost of producing hoops were subsidized, I could sell them for such an affordable price that the popularity of using a hoop as a fitness tool in our town would skyrocket. 

Is there a need for an inexpensive, low impact and truly enjoyable exercise that anyone can do in our community?  I think so!  A lot of people can’t afford monthly gym memberships, or they don’t want to exercise in public, or they simply don’t enjoy working out.  Hooping can change all of that, promoting a healthier and happier lifestyle for anyone willing to give it a try. 

This isn’t a highly-known activity, but I am willing to invest the time and energy required to promote hooping in Golden and to widely distribute hoops among our populace.  Mine is the only company which currently produces adult exercise hoops in our town.  I believe I am the only educator with this particular vision and I have the know-how and ability to distribute and demonstrate my product. 

This is my vision, and I am determined to imply my business plan with or without a grant.  I must stress that I am not doing this for profit, I am doing this solely to get hoops into the hands of the people.  Any grant monies received will be applied to the costs of materials in order to lower the price of the product, thereby increasing sales and increasing the collective health and happiness of individuals in my community. 

The project is based around point-of-sales at the Golden Farmer’s Market  for the summer of 2013.  I will be purchasing all of the equipment necessary to create a diverse inventory of hoops over the winter.   My objective is simple: to sell hoops to the masses.   I plan to meet that objective by selling the hoops as cheap as I possibly can, which would be very cheap indeed if the materials were subsidized.  It’s simple, really.  I invest in the materials required to make the hoops (tubing, connectors and tapes), and the time required to build up an inventory of 100 or so products, ranging from the most basic that I can sell for nothing more than the cost of the tubing ($5) to deluxe model hoops with extras such as rubberized or grip-tape wrappings, in different sizes and weights, for any fitness and experience level, and any budget.  In this way, any person who sees my stand at the Farmer’s Market and experiences first hand the joy of hooping as exercise can take one home. 

100 HOOPS

10 rolls of various tubing at approx. $45/roll = $450

100 connectors at $1/piece = 100

10 rolls of various tapes for wrapping at approx. $25/roll = $250

Farmer’s Market selling fees:  $20 twice a week for  12 weeks = $480