Weekly Funding Opportunities Listing – March 19, 2012

Below are funding opportunities of interest that I have learned about/received RFP notifications about in the past week that I wanted to share. 

Animals

Banfield Charitable Trust

Deadline: April 30, 2012

The Banfield Charitable Trust has three grant categories:

1. Pet Advocacy Grants – Support nonprofit organization programs that are designed to keep pets with their families.
2. Pet Food Distribution Program and Equine Feeding Grants – Provide financial support to both nonprofit organizations and Meals On Wheels Associations of America members to fund expenses associated with starting or maintaining a pet food distribution program for clients.
3. Pet Peace of Mind Grants – Offer hospices a program model for a hospice patient/pet support program that includes funding to deliver in-home volunteer pet care services, pet food and veterinary/grooming services for patients who are unable to maintain routine health care and nutrition for their pets because of financial and/or physical disability.

Domestic Violence

The Mary Kay Foundation

  

Deadline: April 30, 2012

Domestic violence shelter grant applications are awarded every year in October to coincide with National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  Each year at least one grant is made to at least one domestic violence shelter in every state through this grant program.  Any remaining funds are distributed based on state population.

Environment

Acres for America

  

Deadline: June 1, 2012 (Pre-proposal deadline)

Acres for America is National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's premiere land conservation program, and was established to provide urgently needed funding for projects that conserve large, landscape-level areas that are important habitat for fish, wildlife, and plants through acquisition of interest in real property.

All grant awards require a minimum 1:1 match of cash or contributed goods and services. Federal funds may be considered as match. Higher ratios of matching funds will at times aid in making applications more competitive.

American Water

  

Deadline: 10^th of the month

The majority of grants are $1,000 or less.

The most successful grant applications:

• Fund organizations or projects in American Water’s service areas
• Link a program to American Water’s grant focus areas:
• Water and the Environment
• Water and Healthy Living
• Environmental Education
• Community Sustainability
• Fund specific programs as opposed to general operating expenses
• Address a demonstrated community need
• Provide an opportunity for American Water employees to volunteer in the

community

• Provide the grantee and American Water with recognition in the community

Climate Adaptation Fund

Deadline: March 30, 2012 (Pre-proposal deadline)

With funding provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the WCS Climate Adaptation Fund will provide up to $3.1 million in competitive grants in 2012.  Grants will be 1-2 years in length.  Awards will be made to non-profit conservation organizations for applied, on-the-ground projects focused on implementing priority conservation actions for climate adaptation at a landscape scale. 

Jobs

Rural Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge

  

Deadline: May 9, 2012

The Rural Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge offers a combination of $15 million in funding from 4 agencies, including the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Appalachian Regional Commission, and the Delta Regional Authority. Funding will be awarded in approximately 20 regions through a competitive inter-agency grant process. In addition, the Rural Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge leverages existing technical assistance resources from 9 federal agencies and bureaus to promote economic growth in rural regions and accelerate innovation-fueled job creation and global competitiveness. This opportunity will support customized solutions targeted to address the gaps and opportunities specific for individual regions by strengthening linkages to self-identified, high-potential industry clusters such as renewable energy, natural resources, food production, rural tourism, and advanced manufacturing. 

Youth

Build a Bear

  

Deadline: August 31, 2012

Direct support for children in the areas of health and wellness such as childhood disease research foundations, child safety organizations, and organizations that serve children with special needs.  Grants will be a one-time contribution and range from $1,000 USD to $5,000 USD.  The average grant is $1,500.

Grant Types Funded:

o Individual Project grants – These grants are generally for one-time purchases or to fulfill a short-term need, such as the purchase of materials or equipment.

o Organization Program grants – These grants fund start-up or operational costs for ongoing programs.  Examples include funds for research, health and wellness educational programs, or financial assistance for children and families in-need

Child Welfare Foundation

  

Deadline: July 15, 2012

We accept proposals from nonprofit organizations for projects which meet one of the Foundation’s two basic purposes:

·        To contribute to the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual welfare of children through the dissemination of knowledge about new and innovative organizations and/or their programs designed to benefit youth; and

·        To contribute to the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual welfare of children through the dissemination of knowledge already possessed by well-established organizations, to the end that such information can be more adequately used by society.

ING - Run For Something Better 

 

Deadline: May 15, 2012

Working in partnership with the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE), ING is providing a minimum of 50 grants (up to $2,500 to each school) to establish a school-based running program or expand an existing one.

Because the ING Run For Something Better school-based running program is so flexible, it's easy for elementary or middle schools to qualify. Start with at least 25 kindergarten to eighth grade students willing to commit to the program, and you're ready to apply!

The program can be as short as eight weeks or as long as you want it to be. And it can take place in physical education class, during recess, before school, after school or any combination of these. A physical education teacher, coach, classroom teacher or school administrator can facilitate it – whatever works for your school.

**Please feel free to pass this listing along to your colleagues. It may also be viewed by visiting Grantwriter's Blog directly or in your email inbox by subscribing to the email feed. If you have any funding announcements that you think would be helpful to colleagues and would like to have listed in the weekly update, please pass them along!

Best wishes for continued success in your grant seeking efforts!

Diane

A Grant What? A Grant Writer.

A bit of a lighter post today.  

These images have been circulating for numerous professions the last few weeks and the Grant Writer image was forwarded to the Grant Professionals Association membership via their email newsletter last week.  The images and description will likely hit very close to home and you may consider making it your desktop for awhile, I know I have it as my desktop background this week :)

While it is a great visual representation of how the grant writing profession is viewed by those in the trenches as well as those on the outside of the field, it did make me stop to think about the value of having a common professional standard and voice to prevent misconceptions of the field.  This image made me stop to appreciate the voice that is provided to professional grant writers in the US by our professional association, the Grant Professionals Association.  While those in our personal lives will likely still have varying degrees of understanding of our profession, at least the Grant Professionals Association has helped to establish in the nonprofit community what it means to be a grant writer and what level of ethics we hold ourselves to as professionals in the field.  Not familiar with the Grant Professionals Association and especially their code of ethics which all members pledge to uphold?  Give them a quick read over your next cup of coffee and think about how they could help with your definition of your professional self as a grant writer.   

Weekly Funding Opportunities Listing – March 12, 2012

Below are funding opportunities of interest that I have learned about/received RFP notifications about in the past week that I wanted to share. 

Capital Campaigns

US Airways Community Foundation

Deadline: April 1, 2012

The focus areas of the Community Foundation mirror the three key areas of the Corporate Giving Program. However, the US Airways Community Foundation specifically supports multi-year capital campaigns (the hard costs for bricks and mortar building projects only) for 501(C) (3) nonprofit organizations located in and providing services in the major metropolitan areas of Charlotte, Phoenix, Philadelphia and Washington, DC. Please note that only hard costs related to new building construction or major renovation/expansion of an existing facility is eligible for support.

Education

Target – Early Childhood ReadingGrants

Deadline: April 30, 2012

Target awards grants to schools, libraries and nonprofit organizations to support programs such as after-school reading events and weekend book clubs. Together, we’re fostering a love of reading and encouraging children to read with their families.  Early Childhood Reading Grants are $2,000. Grant notifications are delivered in September.

Health

Roadmaps to Health: Community Grants

  

Deadline: May 2, 2012

The Roadmaps to Health Community Grants program (Community Grants) will support communities to implement policy or system changes to address one of the social or economic factors that, as defined by the County Health Rankings, most strongly influence health outcomes in their community. These include: education; employment and income; family and social support; and community safety. Grantees will be organizations that participate in established coalitions or networks that span multiple sectors and perspectives and may include representatives from business; education; public health; health care; community organizations; community members; policy advocates; foundations; and policy-makers. Applicants must engage community members in the planning and implementation of projects, and must collaborate with organizations having expertise in improving the health of the public. Applicants must secure 100 percent matching support, including a cash match of at least 50 percent with the balance as in-kind support.

Safety

COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services)

  

Deadline: March 22, 2012

The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) is pleased to announce that we will be accepting grant applications for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 COPS Hiring Program (CHP). $111 million in funding for grant awards will be available in FY 2012 for the hiring and rehiring of additional career law enforcement officers in an effort to create and preserve jobs and increase their community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts.

FP & S - FEMA

Deadline: TBA

*FEMA announced this week that the FP & S applications will be accepted beginning in April.  Be sure to subscribe to their email updates now to get updates about the upcoming application process.  Fire Prevention and Safety Grants (FP&S) Web page on the Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) Website  FP&S grants support projects that reduce fire-related injury and death among high-risk populations and research and development initiatives that improve firefighter safety.

Youth

State Farm Youth Advisory Board

  

Deadline: May 4, 2012

The Youth Advisory Board currently funds service-learning projects between $25,000 and $100,000 that address the root cause of the following issue area:

-         Access to Higher Education/Closing the Achievement Gap

-         Financial Literacy

-         Community Safety and Natural Disaster Preparedness

-         Social Health & Wellness Issues

-         Environmental Responsibility

**Please feel free to pass this listing along to your colleagues. It may also be viewed by visiting Grantwriter's Blog directly or in your email inbox by subscribing to the email feed. If you have any funding announcements that you think would be helpful to colleagues and would like to have listed in the weekly update, please pass them along!

Best wishes for continued success in your grant seeking efforts!

Diane

Do You Continue to Write An Application When It Doesn't "Feel Right?"

As I'd mentioned a few weeks ago in a post, I've been selected to contribute to Charity Channel's Grants & Foundations Review as well as their We Review book review panel.  I'm pleased to announce that my first article through the Grants and Foundations Review was published today!

Do You Continue to Write An Application When It Doesn't "Feel Right?" is available in its entirety to those of you that are already members of the Charity Channel community by clicking here.  (And as a side note, if you aren't already a member, for a very nominal annual membership fee you gain access to ALL sorts of great articles, forums and information, and no, I don't get any sort of kickback for endorsing the organization, I just really believe in the work they do.)

However, for those of you that aren't currently members of Charity Channel, I have republished the article in it's entirety with permission of Charity Channel on my business, DH Leonard Consulting's, website.  You can read the article by clicking here.

I'd welcome your comments and suggestions for future articles as well as your comments on this article!

Happy Reading,
Diane

Weekly Funding Opportunities Listing – March 5, 2012

Below are funding opportunities of interest that I have learned about/received RFP notifications about in the past week that I wanted to share. 

Arts

NEH – Challenge Grants

Deadline: May 2, 2012

NEH challenge grants are capacity-building grants, intended to help institutions and organizations secure long-term improvements in and support for their humanities programs and resources. Through these awards, many organizations and institutions have been able to increase their humanities capacity and secure the permanent support of an endowment. Grants may be used to establish or enhance endowments or spend-down funds that generate expendable earnings to support ongoing program activities. Challenge grants may also provide capital directly supporting the procurement of long-lasting objects, such as acquisitions for archives and collections, the purchase of equipment, and the construction or renovation of facilities needed for humanities activities. Funds spent directly must be shown to bring long-term benefits to the institution and to the humanities more broadly. Grantee institutions may also expend up to 10 percent of grant funds to defray costs of fundraising to meet the NEH challenge.  Because of the matching requirement, these NEH grants also strengthen the humanities by encouraging nonfederal sources of support. Applications are welcome from colleges and universities, museums, public libraries, research institutions, historical societies and historic sites, scholarly associations, state humanities councils, and other nonprofit entities. Programs that involve collaboration among multiple institutions are eligible as well, but one institution must serve as the lead agent and formal applicant of record. 

Health

NYS Health Foundation

Deadline: April 27, 2012 (Letter of Intent)

Although many projects will be eligible, competitive applications will also:

• Be immediate or time-sensitive opportunities for Foundation funds to make a difference.

• Demonstrate that the project will be sustainable after the one-time grant support from NYSHealth (this is particularly relevant for projects that start new services). It is important to explain the business plan for sustaining the project.

• Include clearly stated evidence of need or opportunity, goals, timelines, objectives and measurable outcomes.

• Have an effective plan for evaluating the measurable impact of the project and the funding received.

• Have strong potential for replication elsewhere in New York State.

Data Design Diabetes

Deadline: March 23, 2012

Submitted concepts for the 2012 Data Design Diabetes Innovation Challenge will be judged on the following attributes:

• Ability to improve the outcomes and/or experience of people living with diabetes in the US.
• Ability to improve the quality and effectiveness of diabetes care in the US.
• Ability to improve the delivery of diabetes care in order to provide the most appropriate intervention at the right time.
• Ability to reduce the cost of care without compromising the quality and delivery of care.
• Enable people within the diabetes ecosystem to feel in control.
• Reflect an understanding of how diabetes affects families, not just individuals.
• Support a desire of the diabetes ecosystem to live in a state of overall wellness, and not just symptom mitigation.

Janssen Connected Care Challenge

  

Deadline: March 25, 2012

The Janssen Connected Care Challenge is looking for approaches that will improve both patients' direct engagement with their care and recovery and physicians' connectivity to patients during the recovery process after hospital discharge. They are particularly interested in technology enabled clinical solutions that focus on improving information sharing between hospitals, patients, care givers and community-based doctors as a way to target this communication and coordination gap.  Ideally, these approaches would be easy for patients to access and would take advantage of the tools and technology that patients and physicians have or can easily acquire.  They envision these solutions as "low tech" (for example, texting using the patient's own cell phones) that could be quickly adopted and scaled with minimal cost. They are seeking approaches that have the potential to improve health and post-hospital care and to lower costs of unnecessary readmissions and physician services that could occur.

Safety

State Farm

  

Deadline: May 31, 2012

State Farm values the importance of keeping neighbors safe.  Safety grants funding is directed toward:

·        Auto and Roadway Safety

·        Home Safety and Fire Prevention

·        Disaster Preparedness

·        Disaster Recovery

·        Personal Financial Safety/Security

Youth

Explore Fund

  

Deadline: April 6, 2012

The Explore Fund supports organizations that encourage youth outdoor participation, focus on sustainability initiatives, or help to create a connection to nature that will empower the future leaders of tomorrow. Grants will be awarded up to $2,500. The following criteria will also be considered in the grant making process:

·         The project or program should seek a specific audience and reach out to a specific community or place of interest.

·         All funding requests should be quantifiable with specific goals, objectives, and action plans, with a clear measure for evaluating success.

·         This program should have a good chance of significant measureable results & momentum over a fairly short term (one to three years).

·         Potential grantees should include a specific communications plan in the application that demonstrates how you plan to disseminate information about your program, as well as maintain visibility of your program & organization on PlanetExplore™.

·         Applications that come with matching dollars will be viewed favorably & this will be taken into consideration during the granting process.

World of Children Awards

  

Deadline: April 1, 2012

There are three award categories currently accepting nominations:

Humanitarian Award

·         The Humanitarian Award recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to children in the areas of social services, education or humanitarian services.

·         Nominee must have been doing this work for a minimum of 10 years.

·         Nominee must have an existing non-profit organization in good standing, which can receive grant funds if awarded.

Health Award

·         The Health Award recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to children in the fields of health, medicine or the sciences.

·         Nominee must have been doing this work for a minimum of 10 years.

·         Nominee must have an existing non-profit organization in good standing, which can receive grant funds if awarded.

Youth Award

·         The Youth Award recognizes youth that are making extraordinary contributions to the lives of other children.

·         Nominee must be under the age of 21 by the nomination submission deadline each year.

·         The individual must have been doing this work for a minimum of three years by the nomination submission deadline each year.

**Please feel free to pass this listing along to your colleagues. It may also be viewed by visiting Grantwriter's Blog directly or in your email inbox by subscribing to the email feed. If you have any funding announcements that you think would be helpful to colleagues and would like to have listed in the weekly update, please pass them along!

Best wishes for continued success in your grant seeking efforts!

Diane

The Importance of a Grantwriting Team in Editing Proposals

Talking about the importance of identifying/setting up a grantwriting team within an organization is one of my recommendations that I will frequently climb up onto the proverbial soap box for.  I firmly believe that having a team in place to support a grant application, even if the head of the team is an actual grantwriter, helps improve your success in your grant seeking efforts tremendously.  There are countless reasons...

A major one is that everyone has a slightly different writing style, and by including multiple people in the process, you finished application is more likely to be clearly understood by any reviewer than if just written and edited by one person.

Another biggie is that because different members of your grantwriting team will have different roles in the application development process - budgeting, evaluation, program design, etc. and make the gathering of application components easier than as one individual trying to identify the proper source for information within the organization.

The one that resonates with me the most today though is that when you are in the thick of an extremely long narrative, or even a short narrative where you are struggling to fit in your full idea within a small character limit, you as the head of the grantwriting team will become too familiar with the text and miss key holes or questions left within your document.  Having multiple sets of eyes edit your final document will improve the quality of your applications simply because everyone reads it differently and will pick up on different assumptions that were made in the narrative and therefore questions that would likely arise for an outside reviewer.

It is because of this last reason that I recommend when you are putting your grantwriting team together that you are clear in the expectations for reviewing/editing a proposal.  When a word document is sent out for review, to give a quick review and write back in an email "looks great to me!" isn't doing a service to your team or your organization.  No narrative is perfect.  Everyone on the team should be reading with more focus and looking to catch a few minor edits or questions that the text left them with in order to strengthen the proposal.  You are all ultimately working for the same goal - to secure additional funding to support your important work - and spending the extra five minutes spent reviewing a narrative in more detail will greatly increase your likelihood of achieving that goal!

Weekly Funding Opportunities Listing – February 27, 2012

Below are funding opportunities of interest that I have learned about/received RFP notifications about in the past week that I wanted to share.  Big news in the Education heading below with the FY2012 release of "i3" funding applications from the Department of Education today.

Education

Investing inInnovation Fund – Demonstration Project

Notice of Intent to Apply Deadline: March 15, 2012

Deadline: April 9, 2012

These grants will (1) allow eligible entities to expand and develop innovative practices that can serve as models of best practices, (2) support partnerships between eligible entities and the private sector and philanthropic community, and (3) support eligible

entities in identifying and documenting best practices that can be shared and taken to scale based on demonstrated success.

Under this program, the Department awards three types of grants: ‘‘Scale-up’’ grants, ‘‘Validation’’ grants, and ‘‘Development’’ grants. The three grant types differ in the evidence that an applicant is required to submit in support of its proposed project; the

expectations for ‘‘scaling up’’ successful projects during or after the grant period,

either directly or through partners; and the funding that a successful applicant is eligible to receive. This notice invites applications for Development grants.  The Department anticipates publishing notices inviting applications for the other types of i3 grants (i.e., Validation and Scale-up grants) in the spring of 2012.

*One major change to note is that the “i3” Development Grant process has been modified to include a required pre-application step.  This is not just a notice of intent to apply so that the department can prepare to have enough reviewers, but rather, will be the first step of review, and applicants must be invited, based on the review of their notice of intent to apply submission, to submit a full proposal.

Health

Dannon NextGeneration Nutrition Grant

Deadline: March 30, 2012

In 2012, Dannon will donate a grant of $30,000 to one program nurturing healthy eating habits among children in each of the communities where a Dannon facility is located.  To qualify, organizations must need funding for a current nutrition education program for children up to age 18 or be able to launch such an initiative by late 2012.  Programs should be creative in their approach, involve community partners, include professional nutrition staff or consultants, and be designed to impact children’s eating habits today for a healthier tomorrow.  The initiative must also:

• Promote nutrition education to nurture healthy eating habits among children, including the consumption of low-fat yogurt

• Serve communities where Dannon facilities are located (Auglaize, Darke, Mercer or Shelby Counties, OH; Salt Lake County, UT; Tarrant County, TX; or Westchester County, NY)

• Be a program of a tax exempt non-profit according to Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code, but not a private foundation as defined under Section 509(a).

Mental Health

Bristol-Myers Squibb

Deadline: April 13, 2012

Beginning in 2011, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation will focus funding in the following priority areas:

·        Addressing the mental health needs of our returning veterans

·         Addressing the overrepresentation of the mentally ill in the criminal justice system

**Please feel free to pass this listing along to your colleagues. It may also be viewed by visiting Grantwriter's Blog directly or in your email inbox by subscribing to the email feed. If you have any funding announcements that you think would be helpful to colleagues and would like to have listed in the weekly update, please pass them along!

Best wishes for continued success in your grant seeking efforts!

Diane