WRITING GRANTS Find Funders, Drafting a

Proposal, and Follow up

ARE YOU GRANT READY

Have you applied for your 501 (c)(3)?

If you haven’t filed a 501 (c)(3) do you have a fiscal sponsor?

Board of Directors

• How active is your board?

• Do you have meeting minutes from all your meetings?

• Do they give in-kind or financially?

Financials

• Do you have an agency budget? Program budget?

• Have you filed a 990 or have your financials is in a format

that gives you a statement of the agencies financial position?

• To audit or not to audit?

TRACKING DATA FOR GRANT READINESS

•Data tracking • What data are you collecting?

• Data you should be collecting:

• Number of clients served

• Demographics of clients served

• Number of items distributed

• Impact Numbers: Surveys to the people you distribute these items to determine your impact.

•Sample Questions: • As a result of receiving baby items I feel like I am able to serve my clients/patients more effectively.

• I am able to spend less time on researching resources (baby items) for clients/patients and more time focusing on direct client service as a result of Helping Mamas.

• I have seen a reduction in financial stress/anxiety in clients/patients as a result of receiving baby items from Helping Mamas.

POTENTIAL BARRIERS FOR NEW/SMALL NONPROFITS

• Budget size: A lot of grant makers like to see organizations with budgets over $100,000

• Budget History: The standard is usually three years of solid financial history before awarding funding. However there are many ways to overcome this.

•990/Audited financial statements: A lot of foundations ask for this, but don’t necessarily need it. Check with them before applying to see if they will take a compulation or a 990.

•Sustainability: Most often you have to have sustainability plan for budget. How are you going to keep providing services after the grant ends.

•Impact History: It can be difficult to show your impact on the community if you are new. That is why it is so important to start collecting data early!

STRATEGIES FOR OVERCOMING BARRIERS

• Budget: Consider partnering with another more established organization on grants, let them be the lead on the proposal and your organization can be the sub-grantee

•Budget History: Sometimes having a fiscal agent is a good option for small start ups. It allows you to file grants under another organization’s 501 (c) (3) utilizing their administration and budget history.

•990/Audit: Talk with a CPA firm about doing a much more affordable review that isn’t a full scale audit

•Impact History: Start early collecting good data. If you don’t collect data yet, and you use a partner agency model, ask them for information on the clients you have served. They most likely have the information and can provide it.

•National Networks: Use the power of NDBN as a model of success. Talk about the amount of diaper banks across the country and how successful they are. It gives you a proven model of success to boost your story.

RESEARCHING AND FINDING FUNDERS

• Foundation Center: Pros and Cons with this approach

•Online/Google: Search companies that you want to reach out to. Many of them have a section under corporate responsibility that will list their foundations and how to apply.

•Online: Search using key works like foundations, children/youth, social services and your city

•Other organizations: Go to webpages of organizations that have similar populations. See who has funded them

•Examples: EMC’s, local branches of insurance companies, local United Ways, local Community Foundations and local banks (they often hold family grants and administer them)

NDBN Members have

access to grant search

assistance.

You may find smaller

family foundations that

may not have an active

page.

Make a habit of

reading the annual

reports of other

organizations. There’s

lots of good data there,

including the percent of

funds they get from

grants.

GOVERNMENT: FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL

• Federal: Very heavy on reporting and time intensive applications. Typically good fits for larger organizations, but can benefit smaller organizations. Grants.gov

•State: Many states have funding available that is pass through from federal or their own initiatives. Search online at your local state agencies and the office of the governor.

•County: Block Grant Funding, CDBG, or other local programs. Search on your county webpages. Again time intensive and heavy on reporting.

•When you are large enough for a building to buy or improve CDBG funding is a great source for that.

DO’S AND DON’TS OF PROPOSAL WRITING

•Research the source you are requesting funding for: who have the funded and in what amounts, do you meet their funding strategies

•If you are a very small organization with a small operating budget don’t ask for more than your budget is!

•Ask for what you can realistically manage and use. Don’t over promise! You will most likely do grant reporting so make sure you can track the funds you spent and the impact that had

•Understand if you are asking for program support, operational support, capital or expansion money

•Understand the reporting requirements before applying. All money isn’t beneficial! Sometimes the funds awarded are not work the amount of reporting.

CRAFTING A STRONG PROPOSAL • Start with the problem (exam it from a national, state and local level). Provide stats on the problem and the impact the problem is having on the community as a whole

• The Diaper Bank’s vision is to be the “food bank” of baby supplies for the metro area. 22% of all children under 5 in the U.S. live in poverty and one out of every three families struggles to afford diapers, which cost $100 per month. Low income families often have to decide between food, medicine or diapers. Diapers can’t be purchased with food stamps and are not available through WIC. In United Way’s metro 211 directory, there are hundreds of organizations that serve low income women and children. These organizations all ask the community for donations of baby supplies such as diapers, clothing, cribs and car seats. These organizations do not have the time to secure baby supplies for their clients and do not have the room to store such items. ….. The Office of the Child Advocate in 2012 states that of the 896 reviewed state sleep-related infant deaths from 2006-2010, 43% involved co-sleeping.

• IMPACT: We secure baby supplies from the community. We use monetary donations to purchase new car seats and cribs. Our partner agencies send us their wish lists and we deliver the items they need when they need them. Our partners report that they build trust with their clients by meeting their children’s basic needs. When their children’s basic needs are met, the clients of our partner organizations have the peace of mind to concentrate on taking full advantage of the services our partners provide such as parenting education, job training, and life skills.

• Impact: Our model is a model designed to impact two generations of poverty. We allow parents to focus on valuable services that move them to self-sufficiency and allow babies the opportunity to have a stronger healthier future by having their basic needs met. We currently partner with 15 organizations.

Add in a compelling

problem statement.

• Pink: national

• Blue: local

• Purple impact

statement

WHERE CAN YOU FIND DATA

• Census fast track data

•National Diaper Bank Network State Fact Sheets

•Kids Count Data

•CDC data

•Office of Child Advocate for you state

TELL YOUR STORY

•Why does your organization matter and how does it meet the need.

•Tell why what you are doing is unique.

•What impact are you having? Say it is a much as you need to!

•Share how you collaborate with other organizations: Collaboration is HUGE in grant funding

• Share your or your staff’s expertise

TELL YOUR STORY WITH DATA

• Know how you are impacting the community

•What are your goals

•What are you trying to accomplish

•What are your outcomes

•Understand outcomes vs outputs

•Numbers are important but talk about them in a narrative

•Having access to diapers has helped families enroll and/or continue with childcare programs.

•Having access to essential baby items has helped teen moms continue in school.

•Receiving baby items from the diaper bank has impacted our agency budget due to not having to purchase essential baby items.

FUNDING IMPACT AND EVALUATION

•Tell how this funding will impact your organization and the population serve. What is the bang for the buck?

•How many people will you serve, what difference will it make in their lives? How is the community better?

•Be able to tell how you are going to evaluate success.

•How do you know the money they gave you made a difference?

•Then measure it!

BUDGET AND SUSTAINABILITY

•Create a realistic budget that asks for what you need

•What is it that they are funding?

•Tell how you will sustain the program without them funding you again

•What are your other sources of funding?

REPORTING AFTER THE GRANT

•Be able to complete the required reports

•Make sure you have been tracking data

•Have good records of how the money was spent