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New Ideas Committee
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Do you have a New Idea? Here’s the Ideation and Review Process to Potentially Bring Your Idea to Life

Our goal is to evaluate proposals that support new initiatives in our industry, focusing on talent training, technological advancements, and process improvements. By fostering collaboration and innovative thinking, we aim to direct investments toward projects that enhance skills and drive sustainable growth. We seek proposals that demonstrate thorough planning and the potential for successful execution. Only well-developed ideas with a clear budget and a structured plan for implementation will be considered for support.

New Ideas Committee Process and Procedures

Below is the process set forth by the New Ideas Committee for intake, recording, due-diligence, presentation, and other support required for new investments in programs and services potentially funded through the New Ideas Committee and the SCTE Foundation Board of Directors.

 

New Ideas Investment Resource Package

Applicants may obtain the new investment resource package from the Foundation website or by email. The package contains the following materials:

  1. This process and procedures document, which explains how the investment process in new ideas works.
  2. The New Ideas Investment Proposal Form (see below), used to gather information about the proposal.
  3. The New Ideas Investment Presentation Template, used for board presentations.
  4. SCTE Foundation New Ideas Committee Guidelines.
  5. Other material useful to applications, such as a completed example application.

 

Additionally, consult with a member of the SCTE Foundation Board

You may want to consider consulting a member of the SCTE Foundation Board. Board members can effectively communicate the mission of the SCTE Foundation. Successful programs should align with this mission and deliver measurable value to stakeholders and the SCTE community. The New Ideas Committee members will be particularly valuable in this process.

 

Submission and Initial Review

Upon completion of the New Ideas Investment Proposal Form, applicants can submit directly to the Foundation by email or directly to any Foundation board member. The applications will be recorded in the New Ideas Register database and internally routed to the New Ideas Committee for review.

 

Due Diligence

The New Ideas Committee will conduct or delegate reviews in each of the following areas of due diligence. These categories will be tracked in the application register database including all notes and status related to those activities. This information will be readily available to all SCTE Foundation board members for review at any time. The applicant should be prepared to address questions in any of the following categories.

 

Bylaws, Mission and Compliance

The activities described in the application must be pursuant to the Foundation Mission set forth in the bylaws.

a) Bylaws, Mission and Compliance
The activities described in the application must be pursuant to the Foundation Mission set forth in the bylaws.

 b) Financial Review
The SCTE Foundation Treasurer will provide a review of the proposed budget including any cost-vs-benefit statements made in the application. The financial consideration should include one-time costs, ongoing fees and any other possible financial exposure.

 c) Legal Review
Legal council will evaluate the program and provide an opinion regarding the following items:

i. Suitability for 501(c)(3) activities.
ii. Possible conflicts or other legal exposure to the board members and Foundation.
iii. Other legal items as needed.

 d) Stakeholder Review
The applicant is encouraged to provide information about the possible benefits to the SCTE Foundation stakeholders and community including SCTE, CableLabs, operators, vendors and members. If so, these assertions will be checked and validated with those stakeholders.

e) Additional Research
In some cases, additional research may be required to obtain sufficient information to properly inform the SCTE Foundation Board’s decision-making process.

 

Board Presentation and Vote

The applicant should have a short presentation prepared, using the New Ideas Investment Presentation Template found in the new ideas investment resource package. This presentation should be contained to 10-minutes or less, leaving a few minutes for questions to be asked by the board members. These presentations may be presented quarterly, ad-hoc or by email, depending on the urgency and availability of the board to assemble with a quorum. All new ideas investment programs must be accepted by majority vote of the participating board members, making up a quorum.

 

Program Disposition

After the presentation, the applicant will be notified by phone or email of the program disposition. The possible outcomes of the vote are:

  • Approved
  • Declined
  • Deferred
  • Request for further information.

 

New Program Formation

Upon approval of a program, the New Ideas Committee will coordinate with the applicant to fund and execute the program. All programs will have reporting of goals and performance for the duration of that program.

New Program Proposal Application

Name(Required)
Please include a short title of the program being proposed.
A paragraph that summarizes the program, less than 300 words. The title and abstract will be presented to the board for initial review so there should be enough information here to convey the basic concepts of the program, without all the detail of implementation.
Any additional details about the problem statement including facts and figures to motivate or justify the claims made in the abstract.
Additional details about the program here including what will be done to address the problem statement, who will be participating and how.
Details about the goals including who benefits, in what ways. Note the primary stakeholders of the foundation are the membership of the SCTE, CableLabs, vendors and operators. The board will give priority to programs that benefit the most stakeholders as a community so please be as specific as possible. These goals will need to be measurable and described in the performance section.
Provide an estimate of milestones for the program. This can be specific dates or more general, such as quarterly activities. If there are specific date dependencies, those should be cited here.
The committee will need to know the costs associated to the program.
Explain how the committee will measure performance against the stated goals and objectives. If there is a clear way to measure the cost vs. benefit, that should be included here.
Optional section for additional supporting material such as endorsements, testimonials or any other informative material that should be considered in the application.
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We Want to Hear Your New Idea

For questions about applications, submissions, or any other inquiries, please contact:

Kerry Hannay – SCTE Foundation
Operations Manager
Email Us
610.321.5249