for Beginners

How does a beginner (to the internet, to web-sites, or just to THIS web-site) find his or her way around (i.e., how to find answers to questions?)

If you are completely new to computers and web-sites, first you should read the information on THIS page. Look below and we believe we will answer your questions.

HINTS TO NEW COMPUTER OR WEB-SITE USERS on how to get around (or how to find answers to your questions) on this web-site:

First of all, you should know that LINKS which look like this can be clicked upon to go that that particular place (or page). You can also use the LINKS that appear at the top of each page (in a purple-ish color) or along the left margin of each page (possibly in a shade of purple or green) to go to that page. You can also use the BACK or FORWARD icons which are generally at the top of each of your own browser's page. BACK is especially useful when you made a false move in a direction you did not want to go in.

Next, know that the Home, start, or index page has a series of questions that we assume you might ask, all in the order that we think you might ask them. Just click on the LINK inside or just following each question and you will find your answers where the link leads you.

You may also wish to consult, if you are very new to this, a primer for beginners which appeared on the SMA Online News Magazine. Just click below on https://www.angelfire.com/jazz/smaonline/new_computer_users.htm or, secondarily, https://www.angelfire.com/jazz/smaonline/computer-tips.htm But, most important is the fact that you must READ something to understand something.

A web-site is like a reference library. No need to read every book the first day. Pick and choose and find only that which you currently need. What should you read first on this web-site? Look at the following table:

What is your current status:	then, just click in these links:
if you have never been to this web-site before, go to these pages first >	For Beginners Table of Contents
if you want to see if you are eligible for a grant, go here first >	Eligibility FAQs BBB and public accountability
if you are looking for your first grant from us, go here >	1st requirements Examples to help you Fast Track certification letter
if you are an on-going grantee, look at these pages first >	Future requirements Some details Annual certification Calendar Subsequent changes
if you want to see what we are all about, read these pages >	Goals & Mission Our beliefs Our grantees
if you are interested in our history and legality, read here>	Our funding History & projections Our legalities
do you want to enter our contest, read these pages >	Lifetime achievement and Transparency awards
can we be of help to you in other ways? try these pages >	Audit procedures Info is needed Internal control

A important note about THIS web-site:

This web-site has been created "in-house" so as to reduce our overhead. Rather than create elaborate graphics and eye-catching exhibits, we have attempted to tell our story, answer all of the questions we have heard in the 6 years of our existence, and allow the reader to find what he or she is looking for quickly. We know that the reduction of our overhead (now almost zero) leaves more funds for our mission: that of helping the children of San Miguel. We also want the reader to know that organizations that spend more of their funding on their own mission, and less funding on overhead, are organizations that we are more likely to fund with our own grants to them.

Additionally, as we have spent countless months creating this web-site and more time updating it whenever necessary, we expect any grantee to have spent some time reading and understanding it so that we don't have to "re-invent the wheel" with each individual grantee and what they think are their own unique questions.

Lastly, though, if you have looked for an answer to your question and with full consideration to what we say in the paragraph immediately above, you still can not find your answer, email the question (in specific detail) to the email address shown below and we will answer it for you AND place the missing question and missing answer on this web-site.