Get That Grant! Part 4
with Karen Glaser
Karen Glaser (karenglaser@tc3net.com) is a proposal writer and consultant with 25 years of management experience and 30 years of paid nonprofit work experience. Her grantwriting workshops, conducted in Michigan and northwest Ohio, focus on the complete proposal process, from finding potential funding sources to saying "thank you" to benefactors.
When it comes to creating a budget for your grant proposal, fund-raising expert Karen Glaser follows three golden rules:
- Ask only for what you need. "There's an old myth that you
ask for more than you want and work your way down," she says. Such haggling
has no place in today's environment. "Donors can see through padded
budgets. And they're savvy about what things cost." But at the same
time . . .
Budget tip
Be exacting in your dollar-amount request. "Rounding off looks lazy, or like a number you pulled from thin air," says Glaser. So if you tabulate your need at $50,240, that's what you should ask for — not $51,000.
- Ask for everything you need. Though there's no cause
to be greedy, Glaser says that this is not the time to be shy, either.
"The worst thing you can do is get a grant that doesn't cover all your
needs." Finally, and perhaps most importantly . . .
- Show off your frugality. "Do your homework in competitive pricing and show what you can contribute to the project," Glaser says. "Donors will be impressed when they see how much thought has gone into your budget."
So, how do you develop the actual budget? It all goes back to your original objectives. "That becomes your road map," says Glaser. "Ask yourself, 'What is it we really want to accomplish?'"
She uses the example of teacher-training as an objective: "You'll need a trainer, training area, supplies and resources, communications to the participants, ways to measure results" and more.
Sharing the Load
Of course, your school and/or district can — and should — pick up some of the responsibility for these needs. "Distinguish between what you can provide and what you'll need funding for," Glaser says. If someone on your staff has the expertise to do the training, that will save the donor some money." How else can your school pitch in?
- Cash contribution. This shows the actual costs saved by contributing your time and services. If an existing staff member uses 10% of her time on your project, you can factor in 10% of her salary into a cash contribution. This is the money the donor would save — make sure the foundation is aware of your efforts!
- In-kind contribution: These are not actual costs, but money-saving efforts from your school. Using a room in your school for training, for example, saves the donor the cost of renting a room elsewhere. "You just have to determine the fair-market value of a rented room," Glaser says. The same goes for volunteers. You can factor their contribution into the hourly costs it would take to hire someone to do the same job. "Many schools forget to factor these contributions," Glaser says. "It's another way of showing your donor the value you're bringing to the project."
Indirect Costs
This is another budgeting concept that is often overlooked. As opposed to in-kind contributions, indirect costs are "unseen" monies related to the project. For example, "payroll costs related to the people on your project," Glaser notes, "plus wear and tear on your building." And don't items like electricity, parking space, snow removal, plumbing — all are unseen costs that in effect support your project.
You need not guess about how much to charge. Most states have a pre-authorized, fixed indirect cost rate, negotiated through the state's Department of Education. For a grant of $100,000, an indirect cost rate of 3% would add $300 to your grant request. The good news, Glaser says, is that indirect costs "are very acceptable to donors. They're in business themselves and they know it takes money to finish a project."
Writing It Out
Most donors give explicit instructions on how to express your budget; "if there are no guidelines in your proposal," Glaser advises, "keep it to one page."
Glaser likes to create a two-column sheet that breaks down each need and shows who is responsible for what. For example, if you need computers to train 20 teachers and have 12 computers handy in your school, you would express the need this way:
| Grant request | School contribution | |
| Need: 20 computers for training | 8 computers (express the competitively priced cost here) | 12 computers (express the in-kind cost savings here) |
Express to Impress!
Glaser recommends adding a narrative along with the line items. In the computer example, "tell how 20 computers are required for each teacher to learn how to use online databases. Then explain that you have 12 computers ready for this purpose." Use straightforward terms to express how you're sharing the cost. "You want to imagine the donor reading your proposal and saying, 'What a good deal!' Your chart and your narrative demonstrate how well you thought the project through. The donor becomes more readily accepting because every cost is tied to the objective."
Funding for the Future
Every donor wants to know that their money will not be wasted. Most foundations request information on how you plan to sustain your grant.
Using the training example, you could say that your grant will provide expertise to allow teachers to train their peers in the future. If your grant is for a vehicle, explain that you'll maintain it with regular oil changes and scheduled maintenance.
If you are asking for seed money — funding for a new project — you can use examples of how your district will pick up future costs. "If you want seed money to start a youth symphony," Glaser notes, "you can create a plan that sustains the project in the future by charging students based on their parents' income. This shows your project can be sustained, while not excluding students of lower-income families."