One of the best things that can happen to a grant writer is to have the Census roll around during a time of economic crisis, because decennial Census data hangs around for about ten years. It takes the Census Bureau around two years or so to publish the latest data, which then gets used until [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Grants'
The Census During Hard Times: A Gift That Keeps On Giving
May 9th, 2010 · No Comments
Tags: Advice · Government · Grants · How-to · Research
Federal Naming Conventions, EDA’s i6 Challenge, the Future of Innovation, and the Ministry of Silly Walks
May 8th, 2010 · No Comments
Carefully study this screenshot of EDA’s website for the i6 Challenge:
Bear in mind that the purpose of the i6 program is “to support groundbreaking ideas in science and technology,” and ideally to fund really innovative stuff (in this respect it’s like i3 or any number of federal programs). But you might notice something funny about [...]
Tags: Government · Grants · Tools
Change for Change’s Sake in Grant Proposals: When in Doubt, Claim Your Program is Innovative
May 2nd, 2010 · 2 Comments
Federal grant programs are constantly demanding “innovative” projects, even when the specific requirements of the program prevent any deviation from narrowly defined activities. Take two examples regarding how project services can be delivered:
No matter what the RFP for any human services program requires, there are only two basic ways to deliver human services: you can [...]
Tags: Advice · Government · Grants · RFPs
Teenage Pregnancy Prevention and the Replication of Evidence-based Programs: the Research and Demonstration Programs and Personal Responsibility Education Program are Two RFPs that Provide a “Madeleine Moment” for a Grizzled Grant Writer
April 26th, 2010 · No Comments
Everyone has a Madeleine Moment from time to time, when a breakfast pastry or, for an old grant writer, an RFP, sends one into a reverie. I experienced a Madeleine Moment recently when the Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) issued two RFPs, one for Teenage Pregnancy Prevention: Replication of Evidence-based Programs and one for Replication [...]
Tags: Advice · Government · Grants · RFPs
The Real World and the Proposal World
April 11th, 2010 · 3 Comments
In the Ghostbusters movie, there’s a scene where Ray (played by Dan Aykroyd) tells Gozer to get off an apartment building. He then makes a critical mistake:
Gozer: [after Ray orders her to re-locate] Are you a God?
[Ray looks at Peter, who nods]
Dr. Ray Stantz: No.
Gozer: Then… DIE!
[Lightning flies from her fingers, driving the Ghostbusters to [...]
Tags: Advice · Clients · Government · Grants
So What Are You Supposed to do to Respond to the Community Resilience and Recovery Initiative (CRRI) program RFP?
April 10th, 2010 · No Comments
Subscribers to our email Grant Alert Newsletter will see a link to the Community Resilience and Recovery Initiative (CRRI), which is a program designed to provide “Grants to strength families, communities, and the workforce through appropriate, evidence-based interventions.” What does that mean applicants should actually propose to do?
You won’t really find out based on SAMHSA’s [...]
What Exactly Is the Point of Collaboration in Grant Proposals? The Department of Labor Community-Based Job Training (CBJT) Program is a Case in Point
April 5th, 2010 · 15 Comments
Among the many oddities of writing proposals is that most RFPs require that the applicant demonstrate extensive collaborations or form partnerships. I don’t know why RFPs demand this, because it is unlikely that a collaboration between McDonald’s and Burger King would result in a better burger (McWhopper?). The feds specifically preclude businesses from “collaborating” through [...]
Tags: Advice · Clients · Government · Grants
Rock Chalk, Collapse: Another Grant Writing Lesson from Basketball as Seen in the Investing in Innovation (i3) and Administration for Native Americans Social and Economic Development Strategies (ANA SEDS) Programs
March 21st, 2010 · No Comments
For KU basketball fans, the unthinkable happened yesterday. Our beloved Jayhawks, pre-season Number One and end-of-season Number One in the polls, winner of the Big 12 regular season and tournament and picked by the Bracketologist-in-Chief, President Obama, to win the NCAA championship, lost in the second round to the University of Northern Iowa (UNI). Despite [...]
Tags: Advice · Clients · Grants · Questions · Stories
The Investing in Innovation Fund (i3) Notice Inviting Applications Finally Appears
March 15th, 2010 · 2 Comments
Subscribers to our e-mail grant newsletter saw that the Investing in Innovation Fund (i3) RFP was (finally) released on Friday by the Department of Education, with a deadline of May 11. We’ve already written about i3 twice, including a post about its similarity to other Department of Education programs, like Goals 2000. We’ve also found [...]
Tags: Advice · Education · Government · Grants
How Not to Get a Grant
March 7th, 2010 · 2 Comments
Usually I write posts about how to get grants. Today I thought I would give some surefire ways to not get a grant . . .
Call/email/meet with a field deputy in the office of your senator, congressperson, governor, mayor, or city councilperson. Regardless of the project idea, the field deputy will be polite, encouraging, tell [...]