eligible to apply: Every grant competition has a section listing the types of grant applicants eligible to apply for funds (Chapter 1 gives you a list of eligible grant applicants). If your organization’s forming structure (local education agency, nonprofit, and so forth) isn’t listed, consider partnering with an eligible applicant. (Head to Chapters 9, 10, and 11 for more on finding the right grantseeking partners.) You may also want to contact the funding agency to clarify any non-published eligible applicants because your organization may be eligible to apply after all.
The number of grants to be awarded: You may have to call the funding agency’s contact person to find out the number of available grants; this information often isn’t included in state grant application guidelines. Unless you’re the only organization delivering highly specialized services/programs and have no competitors, don’t apply for competitive grant funds where fewer than three awards will be made statewide. The fewer the number of grant awards, the worse the odds are for winning an award.
All grant applicants have a fair chance of winning a state or territory agency grant award if a sufficient number of awards are available. I always ask how many grants will be awarded so I know how many ways the money will be divided. This information helps me develop a more competitive project budget — staying conservative and on the low end of the average grant range. (Browse Chapter 18 for pointers on putting together a winning budget section in your grant or cooperative agreement proposal.)
Looking for pass-through funding
At the local government level (county, town, village, township, hamlet, and city), look for public monies at the County Board of Commissioners, local Area Agencies on Aging, the Mayor’s Office on Neighborhoods (or a similar Federal Community Development Block Grant administrator), regional housing authorities (they subgrant for neighborhood-based services), your county-based department of social services, and more. All these agencies receive direct funding from state agencies and federal pass-through funding for re-granting purposes at the local level (more on pass-through funding in the following section).
Analyzing the Types of Federal Funding Available
Federal government grant monies come in two forms:
Direct grants: You apply directly to the federal government. There is no intermediary agency.
Pass-through grants: Your state applies to the federal government for a grant. After receiving the grant, the state then passes the federal monies on to applicants. Pass-through monies are still considered federal monies even though they’re distributed by state agencies.
Whether in the form of direct or pass-through grants, federal monies are also classified as either competitive or formula.
In this section, I give you the scoop on the pros and cons of direct and pass-through grants, and I share the details you need to know about competitive and formula grants. Note: Some of the terms in this section may seem to overlap with the kinds of allocations listed earlier in the chapter, but that’s just because the government ran out of unique names to use (that’s my theory and I’m sticking to it). The grants in this section are different entities from those earlier terms.
Discovering direct grants
The advantages to applying for a direct grant award or cooperative agreement, which comes straight from the federal government, include the following:
Direct grants have no middlemen and none of the extra layers of red tape added by intermediary grantmaking agencies. You apply directly to the federal government for a grant in response to an announcement of the availability of funds.
When you compete for a direct grant, you communicate directly with a program officer in a division of a federal agency. This interaction means one-on-one attention, so be sure to review the application guidelines thoroughly and then compile all your questions. You can email or call the grantmaking agency’s contact person for clarification and answers. Doing so upfront clears the way for the topic research and the grantwriting process. Avoid being a nuisance! Don’t call and make small talk. Have your questions ready before approaching the agency contact and ask if the individual prefers to have questions emailed. Be prepared to take copious notes. If you feel you still lack a clear answer about how to proceed, ask again.Some federal agencies have a deadline for submitting questions via email or by phone; read the grant application guidelines to make sure you can still make the call or email contact. If the window has passed, look at the agency’s website for a link to frequently asked questions (FAQs). Others have probably asked the same questions you have, and the agency may have posted the answer for the general public to review. Also, remember to check daily for modifications to the initially posted grant applications guidelines.
Look for a link to the Full Announcement on the Related Documents tab in the View Grant Opportunity page (the same link you clicked to view the Synopsis). Figure 4-1 shows you what to expect when you’re on the Grants.gov site, perusing a NOFA, RFP, FOA, or RFA.
