Where to look for grants
There are many places to start looking for grants, and the more you learn about what grants you are looking for the better your searches will become. When you are first getting started I would recommend checking out the following places: Foundation Center, GrantScape, GrantStation, as well as your county foundation, other regional associations, and state associations.
Do you have a team that works on this?
It is an important part of the process to have someone who is tasked with looking for additional funding for the organization. Sometimes that person is the executive director, other times, it’s spread out over several members of staff. We recommend having one person who is spearheading the effort to ensure that nothing is messed up and that there is a process for finding these grants and applying.
What do you need to apply?
When it comes to applying for grants there will often be a need for different requirements. Many requirements will be easy to meet. You will be asked to provide proof of your 501 status, and briefs on the overall work that is being done. One of the other requirements is often that funders will often ask for the overall budget as well as program budget to enable them to see how much of your organizational funds are derived from their funding. This will enable them to see where their funds are going and see if there is funding diversification (which we will talk about more in the future).
Takes money to make money
As with anything in the work that we do, it takes resources, and your time is a resource. So you will have to spend resources on searching and applying for funds. Resources will have to be acquired and reports will have to be created. As well as all the accountability measures and reports that will be used once grants are awarded
Don’t let this scare you. If you have a process and if you have good programs you can put together robust grant applications that will ensure that you can be prepared and successful in grants.