Grantfunding Opportunities
IN THIS PART …
Begin your search for public-sector funds with your local or state government. Aim for bigger bucks by applying for funds from one of the 26 federal grantmaking agencies. Create a grantfunding plan.
Become best friends with the main federal e-grant portal, Grants.gov, in order to find critical funding opportunities and submit applications.
Explore online grant databases to identify private-sector funding opportunities and figure out whether your organization fits a funder’s organizational, geographic, and programming criteria so you don’t pursue an opportunity that’s not realistic.
Understand the types of legitimate individual and for-profit business grants available. Dispel infomercial-based myths, and discover what’s really out there for you or your organization.
Peruse grants for academia and fellowships to identify funders for research projects in higher education.
Locate the grants set aside for organizations that provide programs and/or services outside the United States and follow the rules of the international funder you’re applying to.
Chapter 4
Venturing into Public-Sector Grants
IN THIS CHAPTER
In this chapter, I take you on a journey down the government’s grantmaking highway, which starts in Congress and ends in your state, county, town, village, or city. I also reveal how to get your elected officials to support your grantseeking efforts.
Before we get started, let me set the record straight when it comes to government money: There is no such thing as a “free” grant or “free money.” Every grant award comes with strings attached. Either you have to spend your own money first (reimbursement grant) and submit receipts to get grant funds, or you have to file reams of electronic paperwork to generate an electronic funds transfer into your organization’s bank account.
Looking for Local Funding First
Washington, D.C., is a funding epicenter for U.S. government grantmaking agencies. Congress creates legislation and then votes to allocate funding to hundreds of grantmaking programs annually. This funding then trickles down to your state capital. (Note that there are plentiful opportunities for nonprofits and units of local government to apply directly to a federal funding agency for a grant, providing they are eligible grant applicants.)
Federal dollars trickle down in three forms:
Formula: This money is paid based on a preset head-count (enrollments and population) formula.
Entitlement: State agencies get these monies because federal legislation entitles them to receive it every fiscal year.An entitlement grant is one in which funds are provided to specific grantees on the basis of a formula, prescribed in legislation or regulation, rather than on the basis of an individual project. The formula is usually based on such factors as population, enrollment, per-capita income, or a specific need. Entitlement grants often result in pass-through grants to municipalities and nonprofits.
Competitive grant or cooperative agreement awards: The state, municipality, nonprofit, or other grant applicant with the best grant application wins this money.
Some states and U.S. territories post all their federal pass-through funding and re-granting opportunities on one website. (Re-granting and pass-through refers to grants made from the monies a state or territory has received from the federal government.) In addition, some states and territories develop their own grant programs funded entirely through state dollars. If you’re fortunate enough to live in a state or territory that does so, check out their website for a mailing list. You may be able to sign up for email grant notice alerts from their Capitol-based agencies.
However, most states or territories don’t post these announcements where they are easy to find, so you have to be a really great Internet detective to find the monies in your state or territory (not to mention in Washington, D.C.). You need to surf a bit each day to catch all the new postings for grantfunding opportunities. When I’m searching for state grants in Washington state, I use Google and type in “grants, state of Washington agencies”. The results are a list of state agencies in Washington state that have grantfunding opportunities posted on their websites.
The next sections reveal how to find grant monies available at the state and local government levels.
Finding out where the money is in your state or territory
To find grant opportunities at the state level:
Visit your state government or territory website. If you search the state site and can’t find a listing of all the state’s grant opportunities, call the governor’s office and ask to be directed to the various agencies that give grants. Only track grantfunding opportunities from the agency that administers the federal programming for the type of funding that your organization is seeking. For example, a charter school will track state Department of Education grant alerts. A substance abuse prevention agency will track state Department of Health and/or Human Services grant alerts.
Email or call each appropriate state agency. Contact the agencies responsible for carrying out legislative funding mandates relevant to your own funding needs and be sure to get on their mailing lists for grantfunding opportunity alerts.
When you receive an alert about a state or territory grantfunding opportunity you’re interested in applying for, look for the link that connects you to the grant application summary and download the complete grant application (including guidelines). Look for the following information:
Type of application: Is it an electronic or a print application? For example, the majority of grant applications are submitted electronically via online e-grant portals; some state agencies can still only accept hard copies.
Due date: Make sure the due date is manageable and gives you enough time to collect topic-related information and write the application. A reasonable amount of time is 30 days from the date the grantfunding announcement is published or issued via email and the actual due date of the application.
