Federal Grants: 4 Tips for Greater Success
Writing a federal grant may seem like an intimidating task, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are 4 tips for greater success to help you secure federal grant funding. Of course, no grant application can ever be 100% guaranteed to be successful (and anyone who tells you differently is running a scam!) But with these four tips in mind, you can feel confident as you write and submit your federal grant application.
#1 Make the Time Investment – Don’t try to Multitask
Writing a Federal Grant is full-time work, so make sure you’re prepared to dedicate ample time to the application – or recruit someone who can. Allow plenty of time to prepare. Approximately 25-40 hours is needed. The bulk of that time will be spent in research; grant writing is about 80% research, 20% writing. The grant writer should be dedicated to the task at hand, at least during the application process. Other duties and tasks (for example, fundraisers, donor advisement, endowment development, clerical duties, special events, and so forth) are better taken up by others.
#2 Clean House – Get Your Organizational Documents in Order
Before you begin, it’s essential to have a ‘clean house,’ organizationally speaking. This will make the federal grant application process so much smoother. Gather and ensure the following documents are updated and in order:
Mission, vision, and/or values statements
Current strategic plan
Current organization structure chart
Current flow chart for all programs (how services are delivered)
Accurate job descriptions for all staff, their updated resumes, and bios
Current budgets, financial, and audit statements
Certificate of incorporation and bylaws
Copy of IRS forms 501c3 (letter of nonprofit determination) and most recent IRS form 990
Current volunteer data (number of individuals volunteers: total hours volunteered in the past year, as well as the value of their volunteer contribution (use www.independentsector.org)
Current Board of Directors policies and procedures
Current Board of Directors roster (member names, officers identified, professional titles, affiliations, contact information, gender, and ethnicity)
At least ten community or regional partners who will write letters of commitment or sign agreements to provide match funding or in-kind contributions
While it may seem like a lot upfront, by gathering everything needed at the start, you avoid the hassle and headache of frantically searching for needed information hours in those final hours before the grant deadline!
#3 Formatting and Presentation Matter
A grant reviewer once shared a hot insider’s tip: with so many grant applications to sort through, to quickly make the first round of cuts grant, reviewers immediately pass on applications that don’t follow the formatting guidelines outlined in the application instructions. So follow the suggested formatting guidelines. Font size, margins … they name it, you follow it! Structure your narrative according to the selection criteria, keeping the order of sections in your application narrative the same as the order of sections in the application instructions. This makes it easy (and therefore more favorable) for peer reviewers to evaluate your proposal. Pay careful attention to the language that you use; be clear, concise, and specific. Proofread your proposal carefully when you finish. Better – have multiple people proofread/edit, as it's often hard (if not impossible!) to catch your own errors.
#4 Maintain a Relationship with Your Representatives
To successfully apply for federal funding, your chances are improved significantly if you have the support of your state and US Congressional representatives. Of course, it’s much easier to ask for their support if you have an existing relationship. Therefore, it’s important to establish and maintain communications with your state’s Congressional team members about federal grant funding needs, as well as your county’s State legislature representative. Additionally, if you establish a good relationship, your Representatives can be an excellent source for information about new or upcoming federal funding sources.
The Michigan Nonprofit Association has some great tips for establishing and maintaining these kinds of relationships in their ‘Nonprofit Advocacy’ handbook. Among the advice:
Target specific policymakers – Consider focusing on the officials that make policy affecting your organization. Also, consider targeting the individual policymakers that serve on relevant state and federal legislative committees. For example, if your policy issues are referred to the education committee, then you would want to reach out to the members of the education committees at the state and federal levels.
Collect basic information about your policymakers – Learn about your local, state, and federal policymakers’ interests, responsibilities, and experience with your issue or the nonprofit sector. You can learn a great deal about your officials from media coverage and through their official websites. You should also remember to incorporate your board in this activity by asking about their relationships with policymakers.
Educate policymakers and staff about your organization by adding policymakers and staff to your mailing lists, invite your officials and staff to tour your facilities, and visit your officials’ district or legislative offices to provide information on the purpose and activities of your nonprofit.
Check out the entire handbook for more information
Do you need more federal grant writing help?
We at Spark Group are available for a wide range of grant writing services. Reach out if you have any questions or need any grant writing services.
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