Developing a strong grants program

Developing a Strong Grants
Program
Tips, Trends, and Two Very Good Tools

Cynthia M. Adams, CEO, Grantstation
Jeffrey A. Sobers, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Blackbaud
Financial Solutions

AGENDA
Knowledge-based Grant Seeking

Grant writing: Blending Trends Into
Your Proposal
How GrantStation and Blackbaud
Can Help You

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Build Leading Edge Grant Requests
2. Capture the Grantmaker’s Attention
3. Discover New Work Tools

5

KNOWLEDGE-BASED GRANT
SEEKING
TECHNOLOGY
DATA
ATTITUDE

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
Like all technology, social
media is neutral but is best
put to work in the service of
building a better world.
- Simon Mainwaring

Social media – be it
Facebook, blogs, Twitter, RSS
feeds, You Tube or the multitude of
other information sharing methods
are a key element in doing research
today!

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
New Music USA’s project grants will help our funded
artists to promote themselves, and help us to promote
all the projects we fund. Instead of filling out a grant
application, you’ll create a simple project page on this
site with all of your work samples and project
information. Pages will remain invisible to the public
through the course of the review and decision process.
If your project is awarded, we will make your project
page public on our website. Once that happens, you’ll
be able to post updates as your project unfolds.

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

Someone who knows
technology is now
participating in the
review process.

ATTITUDE
Today we think of
scale = big
Tomorrow we will think
Of scale = networked
“. . . you can form consortiums and apply for grants as it is
more attractive to go after these funds as a group. I have formed
consortia as small as two districts and as large as 21 school
districts. It works!”
- Jane Erickson
DEVO Consultants 10
/Detroit

ATTITUDE
Impact

Process

Outcomes

Efforts

ATTITUDE

Integrate
this
thinking
into your
request

The outcome of your project or program
becomes a community asset.

ATTITUDE
“Philanthropy is reinventing itself . . . to be
bolder and more investment oriented.”
Nancy Roob, President & CEO
Edna McConnell Clark Foundation

Evidence
building is key!

13

DATA
Markets for Good

Financial SCAN

Connect, align and accelerate

Used by organizations &
grantmakers. Up & running!

PerformWell

Strategy
Landscape

Identify & share common metrics.
Up & successfully running!

Mainly used by grantmakers.
Still in development

DATA

TIP
You can become an expert at observing and illuminating
what is happening in your community and learn to
effectively share that information with grantmakers.

Find the
data

Interrogate
the data

Visualize
and “mash
up” the
data

DEFINING THE NEED
 Data will dictate what your

next steps should be.
 Current conclusions will be
examined allowing you to
explore new solutions.
 Using reliable data speaks
to your credibility, and the
credibility of your proposal.

If you survey
stakeholders, b
e sure to
include at least
one open ended
question to
unearth new
issues.

DEFINING THE NEED
This problem is just
growing worse. We
need support today.

Data must be
objective &
compelling

Your goal is to reach
agreement that this is
a true need.

Is this need
something we
must address
immediately?

DEFINING THE NEED
 Cast a wide data
collection net
 Look at both
internal and
external data
 Run that data
through a sieve

Your statement
of need is
objective.

Your project is
the
right response.

DEFINING THE NEED
Get to know your data sources!
Find good resources that deliver excellent
data – and use them regularly.

Consistency of use instills confidence in your
writing.
There are a number of high quality, peerreviewed subject directories on line.

DEFINING THE NEED
INFOMINE is a comprehensive virtual library and reference
tool for academic and scholarly Internet resources, including
Web sites, databases
Searchable by Author, Title, Key Word, Subject, and many
other areas.
INFOMINE offers an email alert service so if new data arrives
you’ll be the first to know.

DEFINING THE NEED
Stateline is an editorially
independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit
news service of the Pew Charitable
Trusts that provides daily reporting
and analysis on trends in state
policy.
Searchable by state, issue, and
date.
Stateline offers an RSS feed so
you’re always getting the latest
news coverage.

Find several
resources that
speak directly to
your work. Use
this data with
the data
development
tools already
discussed.

DEFINING THE NEED
Archives and
distributes
child abuse
data sets to
researchers.

GENERATING A SENSE OF
URGENCY
You can incorporate
one or more of these
approaches.

Discontent
with the
status quo

Urgency of
opportunity

Every delay
causes
harm

24

URGENCY year the Jennifer Perkins Literacy Project
Every
Discontent
with
status quo

Every
delay
causes
harm

works with hundreds of young people, ages 17
to 23, and their families in the inner city to
promote literacy and the pursuit of knowledge.

Every month we graduate several dozen young
adults from this program – moving them into
jobs throughout the community where
recruitment of good workers continues to be a
challenge for local employers.

Every week the Literacy Project turns away 9 to
15 youth and their families who have asked for
our help because we don’t have the staff to
open our doors any wider.
Every day is a challenge for the employers in
our community who struggle to find welleducated workers to help build their businesses.

URGENCY
Be selective in your
use of writing
techniques

Scarcity of
product or
service

Note genuine
deadlines or
emergencies

26

Establish a
window of
opportunity

APPLY A CONSISTENT
RESEARCH METHOD
Six specific,
easy to do steps

Look for
government
& private
sources

Review
background
materials

Determine
questions

Create a
script

Unlock the
door to the
right grant
makers

Contact
funder

Build
strategy

APPLY A CONSISTENT
RESEARCH METHOD
Check out all government funding
Federal
State
Local government(s)

Research private grantmakers
Foundations (regional, national, global)


Family Trusts, Community Foundations

Corporations (local business, regional, national, global)
Religious grantmakers (cross denominations)
Associations and clubs (local, statewide, national)

APPLY A CONSISTENT
RESEARCH METHOD
Review and eliminate
First Cut

Deadline date(s)
Average grant award
Geographic focus
Areas of interest
Types of support
Second Cut
Who have they given to in the
past year?
Have they funded a project
similar to ours?

Develop questions
• Can they share with you the
review process?
• Should the proposal be written
for reviewers with technical or
non-technical backgrounds?
• As a first time applicant, should
you ask for a less amount then
average?
• Can they tell you the probable
award announcement date?
• Are there unannounced
programs or unsolicited funds
available to support your
project?

APPLY A CONSISTENT
RESEARCH METHOD
Create a script

Engage the grantmaker

Let the funder know, right up
front, that you have done your
homework

Contact via email or phone
Don’t go off script!

 Don't ask questions that are
already answered in their
published materials.
 Do introduce yourself, your
role, and one or two sentences
about your organization.
 Don’t give them a lot of
information about your
organization or project at this
juncture.

 If you are writing an
email, make it short and
easy for them to answer
specific questions.
 If you are calling, tell them
exactly how much time you
need (5 minutes, 10
minutes, etc.) and stick to it.

Here’s what we offer to help you in your good work!
Comprehensive, searc
hable databases of
private and public
sector funding in the
U.S. and throughout
the world.

On-going, on-line
education to help in
every aspect of grants
research, grant
writing, and grants
management.

GrantStation is a terrific "one-stop" for comprehensive information about grant
opportunities... Federal, State and Foundation. I have found it to be a better
resource than any of the other "directories."
Dr. Mary C. Hoke
Non-Profit Administrator and University Faculty
Jewish Family & Children’s Service
St. Louis, MO

32

ABOUT BLACKBAUD
Serving the nonprofit and education sectors for 30 years, Blackbaud (NASDAQ:
BLKB) combines technology and expertise to help organizations achieve their
missions. Blackbaud works with more than 28,000 customers in over 60
countries that support higher education, healthcare, human services, arts and
culture, faith, the environment, independent K-12 education, animal
welfare, and other charitable causes. The company offers a full spectrum of
cloud-based and on-premise software solutions and related services for
organizations of all sizes including: fundraising, eMarketing, social
media, advocacy, constituent relationship management
(CRM), analytics, financial management, and vertical-specific solutions. Using
Blackbaud technology, these organizations raise more than $100 billion each
year. Recognized as a top company by Forbes, InformationWeek, and Software
Magazine and honored by Best Places to Work, Blackbaud is headquartered in
Charleston, South Carolina, and has operations in the United
States, Australia, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

The

#1 reason

you lose your funding is

inefficiency

What should you do
about it?
37

THE FINANCIAL EDGE
FOR GRANT FUNDED ORGANIZATIONS

38

CYNTHIA ADAMS
cadams@grantstation.com
@GrantsCEO
For more information, resources,
and conversations, visit:
GrantStation.com

JEFF SOBERS
Jeff.Sobers@blackbaud.com
@jeffsobers
For more information, resources,
and conversations, visit:
npEngage.com
Blackbaud.com/fund-accounting/financial-edge

Save the Date!

October 6 – 8, 2014, Gaylord
Nashville, TN

Developing a strong grants program

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