Tag Archives: granting agency

Multiple Grants Mean More Money for Your School

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If you have a major project you need to implement at your school, you need to apply for multiple grants to make sure all your financial needs are covered.

Writing multiple grants gives you several advantages:

1) The more quality applications you submit, the more likely you are to get at least one or two funded.

2) Completing a second, third, or fourth grant application gets easier and easier because you will essentially use the same data again and again, just in slightly different forms.

3) If you have a large project with large expenses, you may have to get grant money from several sources just to cover everything.

4) Quality practice improves your application. Your second, third, and fourth applications will probably be much better than your first. You will be better able to describe your needs and be more convincing in your narrative. You have to be very careful and stay constantly on guard to get your highest quality application the first time through.

If you already have time problems, you may not have the luxury of submitting several different grant applications. However, there are many advantages to submitting multiple applications.

Below are two mistakes you might be tempted to make. Don’t do it. It is a virtual waste of time to submit the same letter to foundation after foundation. The grant reader will know exactly what you’re doing. Applications for grant funding should be individualized and personalized based on the giving patterns of the foundation and the needs of your school. A generic letter sent to multiple funding entities never works. You will always want to use the granting agency’s own application form if they have one. If not, follow their directions for applying by letter exactly and completely.

If you are seeking funds to buy particular commercial programs, never cut and paste their advertising material into your applications. They may tell their story well, but your job is to demonstrate how the commercial product fits into the overall program you are developing. Many grant readers view the use of advertising copy in a grant application as a lazy, impersonal way to get grant money. You may want to use their copy; just put it in your own words and describe how the product will be used to benefit your students.

I firmly believe that multiple grant applications are the way to go when you are seeking grant funding. The warning never to put all your eggs in one basket may be old and trite, but it applies today as well as it ever did. Multiple grant applications may mean multiple streams of money for your school.

Don Peek is an expert in school funding. He has run The School Funding Center since 2001. Its database contains over 100,000 grants available to all types of schools in the United States. Don worked in education for 20 years as a teacher, principal, and assistant superintendent before becoming the VP then the president of the training division of Renaissance Learning, developer of the Accelerated Reader.
http://www.schoolfundingcenter.info

Obtaining Big Grant Money for Your School

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I shouldn’t say there are really secrets to getting large amounts of grant money for your school, but the guidelines listed below will help you get more grant money than 97% of the other schools in the United States. Follow them closely, and you’ll get more grant money than you believed possible.

As you read these, you may think they’re too simple to be all that important. You would be wrong! Follow the guidelines below, and you’ll get more grant money than 95% of the other schools that apply.

First, know specifically what your needs are and match those needs closely with the granting entity’s mission. Let’s say your students read two grade levels below normal. The U.S. Department of Education gives money to schools who have students with math levels two grade levels below normal.

That’s not a match.

You need lots of new library books. They give money for innovative technology programs.

That’s not a match.

You should always contact the granting agency BEFORE you start filling out their grant application. If you do not have a fairly close match between your needs and their purpose for giving, you are not going to get the grant money you need. Many times a phone call or an email can save you hours and hours of work.

First, match your needs with their purpose for giving.

Second, complete the application EXACTLY as you are instructed by the granting entity. If you don’t, either your application score will not be high enough to compete with other schools also applying for the grant, or your application won’t be read at all. If it says use 12-point type, use 12-point type, not 10, not 14. If it asks for a formal budget, submit a formal budget, not a loose bunch of numbers not specifically directed at the problem.

Follow directions. You expect students to follow directions exactly. Agencies that give grants expect you to follow directions, too.

Third, apply for many grants, not just one or two. For each problem you have, submit at least three grants. Try to solve four different problems. Do the multiplication—that’s 12 applications right there.

Follow the two simple steps above, and the grant money will start coming in quickly once you apply step three.

Once you’ve matched up your needs to their purpose for giving, once you’ve followed their grant application directions completely, then all you need to do is crank out enough applications. It’s a numbers game. Your odds just went up geometrically.

I’m not going to tell you that getting grant money is easy, but if you follow these three basic guidelines, you’ll get as much or more grant money than 95% of the other schools in the United States.

Don Peek worked for 20 years as a teacher, principal, and assistant superintendent. He then became a VP then president of a division of Renaissance Learning, creator of Accelerated Reader.
Since 2001 Don has run The School Funding Center. It boasts a school grant database which contains over 100,000 grants for schools.
http://www.schoolfundingcenter.info