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Remember that the application process, bureaucratic obstacles, and reporting applications are far more time and cost prohibitive with government grants, when compared to grants from private foundations.  Nonprofits must have adequate administrative support to fulfill all obligations as a government grant recipient.  This often requires hiring additional administration staff out of discretionary funds, beyond the staff funded by the grant itself.

Tips for Government Grantseekers

Federal grants for social services are often awarded for a single year, with annual renewals up to three years based on satisfactory performance and completion of evaluation obligations. Although renewal is normally assumed, a significant number of grantees fail to deliver the originally proposed outcomes or miss mandatory reporting deadlines and thus lose continued funding.

Government grantmaking can be political, so obtain support from elected officials and recognize that geographic considerations might limit your competitiveness.

Many federal agencies conduct workshops for applicants.  Even if attendance requires travel and overnight accommodations, competitive proposals depend on understanding the detailed guidelines and the particular scoring criteria.

Follow up with the designated federal contact person to determine the estimated ratio of applicants to grantees based on prior rounds, planned deadlines for future grant cycles, the constituents who will serve on the review panel, and clarification of funding criteria.

Do not be shy about contacting previous recipients of government grant funding.  Certainly be respectful of time constraints, but many nonprofits will offer tours of their funded program and provide examples of their record-keeping procedures. Recognize however that the current grantee might be applying for continued funding and may view your organization as the competition.

Example of Federal Application Complexity

The example below is from the “Family Strengthening” program of the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, part of the United States Public Health Service. Funding is provided for local parenting programs that are designed to reduce substance abuse, with 20-30 awards nationwide. Grants range from $80,000 - $100,000 annually for the two year project period. The instruction packet is 58 pages long, without even including the necessary application forms. A maximum of 25 pages are allowed for the proposal narration. A technical workshop is held for prospective applicants.

Review Criteria for the "Staff" Section:  The “Staff” section is part of the “Organizational Capability” component of the proposal and encompasses both 1-1/2 pages in the narration and some specified attachments. The “Staff” section is worth approximately 7 points on a 100 point review scale. Within this brief 1-1/2 page section, grantwriters must address all of the topics below to receive maximum points in the review process.

Adequacy of the proposed staff including evidence of the qualifications and experience of the proposed project staff to: (1) conduct substance abuse and/or family interventions; (2) demonstrate staff competence in any of the population-specific factors related to age, culture, acculturation, gender, sexual orientation, language, mental health, literacy level; (3) recruit and retain this target population; (4) execute a process and outcome evaluation; and (5) report the results.

Adequacy of the percent of time dedicated to the project, and of proposed documentation of staff time dedicated to this cooperative agreement.

Adequacy of staff’s experience and qualifications in providing substance abuse violence prevention and family intervention services, recruiting, and retaining this target population, including staff’s qualifications and competence in the population-specific factors related to age, gender, culture, acculturation, sexual orientation, language, and literacy.

Describe staffing plan, ensuring that staff at all levels of the organization reflect the target population served.

Describe method for providing mandatory cultural competence training specific to the communities served for staff at all levels of the organization.

The staffing plan should also include time lines and rationale for percent of time dedicated to the project as well as ways for documenting staff time dedicated to this cooperative agreement.

In the attachments section, a biographical sketch must be included for the project director and for other key positions. Each of the biographical sketches must not exceed 2 pages in length. In the event that a biographical sketch is included for an individual not yet hired, a letter of commitment from that person must be included with his/her biographical sketch. Job descriptions for key personnel must not exceed 1 page in length. The suggested contents for biographical sketches and job descriptions are specified in the application packet.

Lessons Learned from the Federal Example

Obviously if the instructions are this complex for just one isolated section of the government application, then the full proposal can fairly be called a monster. When tackling your first government submission, begin preparing well in advance of the deadline, break the application into manageable sections, develop a timeline for completing each section, delegate some of the preparation work to other staff, and carefully review your draft against the review criteria to ensure that no detail is overlooked.

The Federal Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration website offers the following advice for prospective applicants: "Establish a timetable and organize the necessary personnel as soon as funding availability is announced.  Do not waste energy fretting about the short time frame or seemingly complicated Guidance for Applicants (GFA) instructions.  These parameters cannot be changed, and an applicant must be willing to accept these requirements if obtaining funding is important . . . . Establish a plan for what needs to be accomplished, by whom, and when.  Block out time on people's calendars in advance.  The production of a grant application requires the same diligent planning and scheduling as does any other labor intensive, priority project."

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