Monday, January 16, 2006

So you got the grant, great! Now what?

You have done your due diligence and submitted the proposal and have been awarded the grant. Great news. Now you can relax right? Wrong! Your work has just begun.

Now you have to actually do what you said you were going to do in the proposal. Hopefully you set realistic goals, objectives and activities. You need to be able to track those as well as the financial expenditures. The most effective way to do this is to utilize some type of software. For the financial component you may be able to use your organization's current financial software such as QuickBooks, or Quicken. Whatever you have be sure to track each and every penny of the granting agencies funds. Creating a simple excel spreadsheet might be all you need to use to track activities. Use software that will give you the best ability to track your progress. You will need the information at a later date and it can be tedious trying to remember what you did seven months ago.

With the check you will probably receive an award letter that outlines when reports are due, how the funds can be expended and other important information. Review this letter immediately and store in a prominent place in case you need to refer back to it.

There should be an internal process in place to book and track the funds. This process needs to have the capability to differentiate grant funds from individual gifts or endowments. Often times funders will require you to place the check in its own separate account so that interest can be calculated and expenses made specifically for the program or project that they funded. Make sure your bank can do this for you.

After six months or a year, funders normally require an accounting of how you spent their gift in the form of a progress or final report. Since budgets are projections and necessitate educated guesses, sometimes the funds need to be expended in a different way than originally proposed. Some organizations will allow for a certain percentage of the total amount to be moved between line items. For example, lets say the funder gave $40,000 for salary, $2,500 for equipment, $2,500 for consulting and $5,000 for supplies for program X. The director of the program leaves the organization after six months. After two months without replacing the program director you have additional funds available in the salary line, while you have depleted the funds in the consultant line because you have had to rely more heavily on the consultant to meet the constituent needs. Let's say the funder allows you to move 10% of the total grant ($50,000), you may be able to move $5,000 from the salary line to the consultants line to defray the additional cost. Remember that unless the project or program completely stopped when the program director left, someone was doing the work. If another staff member took on the responsibilities of the program, he or she should be compensated with a portion of the grant funds. When in doubt contact the funder to find out what they will allow as far as line item changes.

This brings up a very important point-contact the funder throughout the course of the grant on a regular basis, especially when challenges arise. Invite the program officer to the event they are sponsoring. Send that press release to the funder even if it is not directly tied to the program they are funding. Send your quarterly newsletter, and annual report. You want to use every opportunity to market your entire organization, not just the program they are funding. Making them aware of other programs or projects that your organization is involved in may boost potential interest in those programs from the funder in the future. They may not have time to read the press release or decline your invitation, but contact has been made and that is important. It shows them that you care about their support. Of course, don't harass the funder by sending weekly updates, but don't wait until the final report is due to let them know about the progress that has been made.

A colleague recently wrote an excellent article called Stewardship: What Happens after the Grant is Won that nicely details the relational aspects between granting and recipient organizations.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Grant checklist for the new year

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Mine was refreshing and relaxing, but now it is time to get back in to the world of grants.

I enjoy setting goals for myself, family and business at the beginning of the year. It helps me to stay focused and I am able to gain a sense of accomplishment when I am able to complete the activities and objectives that correspond with each goal. Grantwriters and other organizational planners can and should create a plan during the year to keep their organization's mission at the center of what they do. The steps to this planning process could include:

1. Work with your organization's key stakeholders to determine organizational priorities for the year. Identify the needs of the people being served by the organization. This will vary from year to year depending on both internal and external circumstances.

2. If a new program is being introduced, the key stakeholders develop a plan and formalize it in the form of a concept paper. If this is an ongoing program, the plan needs to be updated to reflect changes over the past year and anticipated changes over the next year. The concept paper could include the following details:

A. An overview of how the project serves the needs of the constituents
B. Goals, objectives, activities and tasks
C. Staff and equipment needed
D. A three-year preliminary budget (For new programs)
E. Outline of evaluation methods and/or assessment tools to measure outcomes
F. Post grant sustainability plan.

3. With the plan in hand, thoroughly research and identify potential funders. How do you know if granting agencies will fund the program? Know your funders. Start with the city or region that your organization is headquartered. Look at the areas major corporations, nearest community foundation, philanthropic families, and foundations. Many tools are available to research prospects on the internet. A good place to start is the Foundation Center. Check your nearest University, they may have the Foundation Center collection available for your use. There are many other resources available. Do a Google search to find one that meets your specific needs. Research as much as possible to determine if your program fits into their focused area of giving. If the funder is a foundation (Not a corporate giving program) look for their IRS Form 990 on Guidestar, which will give a wealth of information such as their total assets, previous grant amounts and sometimes provide guidelines to submitting a grant.

4. Don't try to fully fund a program with only grant funding. This is dangerous. Diversify your revenue streams with other types of funding such as an annual appeal, special events, individual donations, in kind gifts, and endowments. Generally speaking, only one in three grant proposals are funded. Be prepared to approach more than one potential funder.

5. Begin building relationships with the funder(s) whenever possible. Some granting agencies appreciate face to face visits, others prefer telephone calls or email. A colleague recently mentioned that more and more foundation staff prefer to correspond via email or letter as it gives them the ability to respond to inquiries as their schedule allows. Some organizations do not want to be contacted prior to submitting a Letter of Inquiry or full grant proposal. Follow their guidelines to the T! No use getting off to a bad start with someone you want to help meet your organizational goals.

6. Your program plan can be used to create a grant proposal based on the funder's specific guidelines. Some funders want a two page letter of inquiry, others want a ten page detailed full proposal. Again follow their specific guidelines. Having the program plan pre-written will be extremely helpful when submitting government grant applications. Typically Federal Government agencies only allow a one to two month turnaround time between when their Request for Proposals(RFP') are released and the grant application is due. These government applications can be extremely arduous and time consuming. Without a well though out plan the chances of being awarded a large government grant is very unlikely.

7. Work through the editing process and when possible include the organization's key stakeholders. Again follow those grant guidelines, don't forget the attachments such as your IRS tax-exempt letter and drop it in the mail (or email it if they prefer).

Next time I will discuss what you should do when you get the grant!