With the U.S. Government's increasing focus on streamlining resources and engaging in whole-community and regional approaches to education, law enforcement, and healthcare, collaboration is a critical component of several federal grant programs.  Many organizations are already engaged in valuable and mutually beneficial collaborative projects that fit seamlessly within the guidelines of the grant to which they're applying for funding.  However, sometimes a grant's requirements might lead you down a new path of collaboration.  While there are obvious benefits to working with other organizations to accomplish a project—additional personnel and support, additional resources, broader project impact—there can also be pitfalls that result from miscommunication, different organizational objectives, and the failure of one or more partners to fulfill their responsibilities, all of which can threaten the success of the project.  There are several steps you can take in the beginning to ensure that your collaborative efforts will be more likely to result in a successful project period, increasing your likelihood of building on a successful partnership and receiving future grant awards for continued impact in your community.

Many people submit their grant application and anticipate the end of the process: notification from the funder on whether funding is approved. Of course, those who win awards understand that the notice is not the end, but a transition to a new phase in post award administration and project deployment. Unfortunately, many who are denied funding simply accept the fate of their application as the end of the road. Being notified that an application has been denied funding may be a depressing setback, but is should never be viewed as the end of the grantseeking process. Some of the most successful organizations at pulling down grants don’t win every time they submit an application. Successful organizations are denied funding and ask themselves: How do we pick up the pieces and move forward?

At least once a day someone will ask me to provide them some tips and strategies to improve their grantseeking efforts. As simple as the request sounds, it actually is a very difficult one to address. Volume is not the issue, as there are reams of information that can be provided to organizations seeking to maximize the potential of grant funding. Unfortunately, this may be an instance where the right answers are being provided but the wrong question has been asked. In other words, the problem is that when folks are seeking information at such a high and unspecified level, they usually don' t know where to start. When organizations are just getting their feet wet with grants, information overload may have the reverse effect of intimidating involved staff members to the point where they become discouraged with grant funding mechanisms and throw in the towel. This article is intended for those organizations that may be asking the wrong question and really want some feedback on where to begin.

The start of the new year means big business for gyms and fitness clubs as overstuffed holiday revelers seek to atone for their overindulgence by resolving to get in shape and lose those extra pounds. Whether or not this year's flock will stick with their goals remains to be seen, but the beginning of the year is also a great time to think about getting your grant-seeking program in shape. Whether you have yet to embark on a quest for grant funding or are a weather-beaten veteran of the process, take this opportunity to rethink your strategies, or develop an entirely new one, and make 2012 your most successful grants year yet.

By Christopher Haight
December 2011

Corporate philanthropy has long been a staple of the more socially-inclined aspects to running a company. Cash or in-kind donations to schools and nonprofits brings multiple benefits to the donor, including helping to make a positive contribution to the communities in which they do business, improving brand image and loyalty, and helping provide a small tax write-off.

With what seems like a never-ending saga of budget cuts, organizations across the country continue to seek out alternative sources of funding such as grants from different government sources or private foundations. Many of these requests, perhaps unsurprisingly, tend to be for basic operating expenses, salaries, or equipment such as new computers or technology. Even as more organizations line up to compete for grants for basic purposes, funders are actually seeking much more comprehensive projects beyond these kinds of requests.

September can be an important marker for a lot of yearly transitions - students from kindergarten to graduate school return to the classroom, Fall begins, Monday night Football returns. However, for public agencies and nonprofit organizations, it should also herald the start to a new season of grantseeking.

The United States currently faces twin economic challenges - growing the national economy (more specifically, lowering the unemployment rate) and shrinking the national debt. However, if you were to listen solely to the rhetoric and heated exchanges taking place in Washington, you could be forgiven for thinking our only problem is debt, debt, and more debt. The over 14 million individuals who remain without a job have become a tangential issue to the ongoing debate over debt.

The education funding landscape continues to evolve, especially at the Federal level where the final 2011 budget deal resulted in the elimination of many highly-anticipated grant programs. Popular programs such as Smaller Learning Communities, Enhancing Education Through Technology, Improving Literacy Through School Libraries, and Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools will not be offered this year. Other programs, such as the Teaching American History Grant, will only be available for continuation awards (meaning no new grant applications will be funded).

At the heart of the debates in Washington and in state capitals across the country is the ongoing crisis in public finance as politicians, unions, lobbyists, policy wonks, and others debate just what it will take to align revenues to outlays. With the 111^th Congress having left Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 appropriations unfinished, it remains up to the 112^th Congress not only to finish the FY2011 spending bills but also begin work on the budget for FY2012.