What to Know Before You Look for Grant Opportunities

HayDay Services is bringing you a series of “how-to” articles related to successful grant prospect research.

Part 1: Establish Funding Priorities

Whenever a new employee or consultant shows up with the word “grant” in their title, they tend to become everyone’s new best friend. You get the phone calls, emails, and desk visits immediately, often accompanied with the words, “So glad you’re here, I need money for this.”

It can be easy to fall into the trap of chasing the money – going after anything that looks promising or that a colleague, board member, or supervisor sends your way. Chances are you’ll get funding, maybe even a lot of it.

But the measure of a true grant professional isn’t just bringing in dollars. It’s bringing in awards that fund the true needs of those you serve. Who cares if you win a million dollar grant to feed 1,000 families if those same families told you they have enough food, what they don’t have is safe and affordable housing.

Before you write the first grant for an organization, you should first establish its funding priorities. Let’s dive into how to make that happen.

READ EVERYTHING YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON

When I start somewhere new, I want to read up on the organization and the community it serves. What’s the mission, vision, and other priority statements? What does their website say? I check out their latest annual report. Do they have a strategic plan? What about a fundraising or sustainability plan? Is there any other documentation that talks about long-term commitments – because local governments often have 5- or 10-year transportation, recreation & parks, economic, and other planning documents.

This helps you understand what the organization says is the priority. I especially love it when said documents share details about public input. Plans are so much more relevant when the community is involved in directing future goals and needs.

And these priorities will guide your prospecting. Are you funding programs? Who is the population who will benefit from the activities? What is the goal? Does your organization have capital or infrastructure needs?

TALK TO LEADERSHIP

It’s important to communicate with your board members to not only determine annual needs, but future plans as well. Are they talking about expanding services to a larger area, serving a different population type, or offering new services? As the grant professional, the more we know about where our organization is headed, the better prepared we are to help fund those plans.

I also like to speak with directors/leaders within the organization. When I worked in local government, I would schedule time annually to chat with the head of each department. We’d talk about things that got cut from the budget but were still needed. We’d also talk five years in the future – what are things not currently in the budget but will be needed at some point down the line. When you are focused on federal funding, you have to avoid supplanting. If you know you need a new fire truck in five years, start working now to get one through a grant (if possible). Once the fire chief has the new truck included in the approved budget, I can no longer get a federal grant for that expense.

SURVEY YOUR COMMUNITY

When was the last time your organization communicated with the population(s) it serves? Surveys, both formal and informal, are a great way to determine if your programs are hitting the mark or if there are other needs you could fund to best serve the community.

Want to know what people need? Ask them.

USE ALL THAT INFORMATION TO CREATE FUNDING PRIORITIES

Once you know what the true priorities are, you have an official list of funding needs. That list should include the following details:

• Geographic Area Served – Do you serve a certain geographic area, such as a city, county, zip code, neighborhood, or census track? Is the area you serve urban, suburban, or rural? Foundation grants often focus on certain areas, so this is an important element to understand.
• Population Served – Do you serve veterans? Do you serve all families within your school district? Do you serve a community within a 100-mile radius of your facility? Are your programs geared towards pregnant mothers or children from birth to age 5? Knowing this ensures you can match the right grant to the right population.
• Project Type – Does your organization need to fund a program? Or do you have large equipment or infrastructure needs? Some grants will fund direct program staff, but others will not. Understanding what type of program you are running, along with the budgeted items needed, will help in your grant research.
• Purpose – What is the purpose of your program? Are you feeding people? Improving public safety? Assisting with mental health? Educating children – and at what level (preschool, K-12, or college)? Caring for animals? Providing primary care? Just like our own organizations have an overall mission and purpose, funders do too. Knowing what your program aims to achieve will help you better match your organization’s needs to the right funder.

DIG IN AND DO THE RESEARCH

Now that you have a game plan, it’s time to dig in and do the research. Our next couple of articles in this series will focus on that aspect of grant prospect research. But there is no point in jumping in and finding grants until you know the types of grants you need to fund.

The last time I started work as a grant employee, I told leadership not to expect me to write a grant for the first couple of months. I needed time to understand the current landscape, determine priorities, and then do the work to find the grants. Unless you’re walking into an organization that has already done all that homework for you, you must take the time to do it. Otherwise, you’ll be chasing the money and not seeking the right funders. Trust me, it’s worth the time and effort in the long run.