What is proof of concept/principle of a social service?

[Hazel-Ann P]

My team won an innovation grant for our nonprofit club for children. There were other awardees, mostly with a new product they want to market. The grant will fund awardees' project up to proof of concept/principle, but I'm confused... what is proof of concept in the context of our kids club?

[simplicitus]

Is this something that is unique to your situation is can it be applied elsewhere? If it can be applied elsewhere, then a success of your first attempt would be a proof of the concept (non-profit clubs for kids all over the country).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_of_concept

Another possible interpretation is that the grant will fund you until you have "proven that the idea works" (or demonstrated that it doesn't), but if you need more money to keep it running on a day-today, year-to-year basis, you'll have to go to another source.

Either way, the basic idea is that they have funded the transition from a pure idea to something that can actually be shown to, and evaluated by, others. Therefore, further funding would be less speculative and hence should be easier to get from other sources.