The XYZ of Grants: Some Secrets of Grant-Writing Success
by Gail Eggeman
|
So your city has great ideas and not enough resources. A well-thought-out grant program can fill in the funding void. Even with small or minimal staffing, you can manage grants and reap the benefits of the variety of intergovernmental funding opportunities available. State and federal entitlement, competitive and discretionary grants are plentiful to accomplish everything from landscaping, bicycle trails, airport improvements, care for victims of crime, intervention and prevention programs for youth, land preservation, and more.
How To Find Funding
There are several ways to locate available grants. At its annual conference, the Florida League of Cities holds a Grants Exchange where you can meet with representatives from funding agencies and pick up information on grants, technical assistance and other resources available to your city. The League also publishes a comprehensive guide called Financial and Technical Assistance for Florida Municipalities. This guide is the most valuable tool available for planning and scheduling potentially funded projects. The guide provides the information that is critical in the first phase of grant writing, which is identifying funding. The guide also provides information on all resources that flow through or are generated at the state level to municipal governments.
A quick look through the book, which is updated annually, reveals an abundance of opportunities for funding for cities. It provides much the same information as the “Code of Federal Domestic Assistance” does on the federal level, and is considerably easier to use. Combined with the online Florida Administrative Weekly and Federal Register for current notices of new funding, these resources are the basic tools for municipal grant research in Florida.
Other places to look include locally are your Metropolitan Planning Organization; independent taxing districts such as children’s welfare boards, found in many Florida counties; large corporations that have a community mission similar to what your city provides in services; and the county government, to receive a share of those grants that go directly to the counties from either the state or federal government.
|
|
Before Applying for a Grant
A key to successful grant writing is ensuring there’s a good match between what is offered and what you want to provide. Once you’ve found the funding source that fits your needs, consider the following questions before writing the grant. Some of the answers to these questions are not in the funder’s request for proposal, so contact the funding agency early with your concerns and questions.
Does this grant opportunity fit the needs of the project or program to be funded?
It’s hard work accomplishing a program that is only partially within your mission. What if you don’t accomplish all of what was promised in your application? You may be required to return the funds. Are the reporting requirements going to be too disruptive and costly to regular operations? For example, with an after-school program, if student grades must be collected from schools to report to an agency, and there is no way to get that information but to hire an extra staff person to go to the school, that’s an added cost.
What are the future expectations of the granting agency?
The types of questions you should ask include:
Will you need to provide increasing amounts of local match, or dedicate land for a single purpose forever? Who will own the land purchased, and are there other expectations concerning its future use? Will the city be responsible for future costs, and for how long? What happens to the property upon disposal?
Is there an expectation by either the funder or your community that after grant funding is depleted for a program, employees or services will continue and be funded locally? Have you planned for future maintenance costs? Have you considered how the new program/equipment will affect your annual operating budget next year and the years following? If you are funding a program for youth, will they have to present or perform for the funder?
If you are considering the purchase of a building, does your agency really need the added problems of a building? Who else in the community is doing this type of work? What experience can you draw on to accomplish your project?
Preparing The Grant Application
When you have decided that the grant is suitable, ask these questions:
What type of collaborations will bring added resources to the project?
Can you trade services to enrich your program? (For example, with the youth program example, you provide transportation and someone else provides supervision.)
Consider asset mapping based on John McKnight’s book, Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets, to identify what is available in your community. Consider holding a forum of like special interests, then collectively seek funding.
Can you document in your application which community groups were included in the process of program development — an indication to the funder that the program is needed and will be well received and supported in the community?
Have you prepared a critical path for your project?
Include all the necessary steps and identify all costs related to the project, such as added or new audit fees, additional insurance or increased maintenance contracts. Also prepare a realistic timeline from project start-up to completion.
|
|
Writing the Grant
Check to see what support the funding agency can offer.
Some agencies provide application assistance. See if the funding agency where you are applying provides technical assistance or grant application workshops, such as the one offered by the Florida Department of Community Affairs for the Florida Small Cities Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.
Compare notes with other cities that have been successful in receiving funding under the particular grant that you are seeking. The funding agency can usually provide you with these contacts. Join or organize a grant collaborative to share information, training and resources.
If considering use of a professional consultant or grant writer/administrator, the funding agency should be able to provide names of consultants that other cities in Florida have used. Follow up with these cities to see if they were satisfied with the work product. Free or low-cost grant-writing services also may be available through regional planning councils or area universities or colleges. Remember, however, that the city is ultimately responsible for the grant administration, so staff should be assigned to coordinate with any selected consultant or outside source.
Check to find out if your county or region has an organized group of professional grant writers and request coaching. Check for research online.
In St. Petersburg, a short course in grant writing and research for grass-roots, nonprofit organizations is presented by the City of St. Petersburg and the Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County, a children’s services agency which is an independent taxing authority with a great research library. The first course was offered to nonprofits in an inner-city neighborhood targeted by the mayor for increased services. The most important information offered was a reminder to carefully read the grant, and then more carefully answer every question asked. And of course get it in on time.
Don’t let my “Secrets of Grant Success” scare you from applying for grant funding. Governmental grants are plentiful and, with proper planning, actually do provide more value than effort. The City of St. Petersburg has 55 grants representing more than $22 million, up from $5 million in 1994. The grants have helped further the mission of the City of St. Petersburg and improved the quality of life for our residents.
Gail Eggeman, manager for grants administration, has been writing grants for the City of St. Petersburg for eight years.
Reprinted from Quality Cities May/June 2002
Back to Top
Back to Quality Cities Resource Library Listing
|
|
