Getting Started in Library Grant Writing An Infopeople Workshop

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Getting Started in Library Grant WritingAn
Infopeople Workshop
Instructor Holly Hinman hinmanh_at_infopeople.org No
vember December 2007
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This Workshop Is Brought to You by the Infopeople
Project
Infopeople is a federally-funded grant project
supported by the California State Library. It
provides a wide variety of training to California
libraries. Infopeople workshops are offered
around the state and are open registration on a
first-come, first-served basis. For a complete
list of workshops, and for other information
about the Project, go to the Infopeople website
at infopeople.org.
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Introductions

• Pair up with someone not from your library
• Introduce yourself (name, library, position)
• Describe your project idea to your partner
• Introduce your partner to the group and describe
  their project idea

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Workshop Overview

• The world of grantsmanship
• Planning your project
• Anatomy of a grant proposal
• need
• goals, objectives/outcomes
• evaluation
• budget
• Finding a funder

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Quick Grant QuizTrue or False

• You can get grants to make up for budget cuts.
• You can pay for personnel from grants.
• Grants are free money no strings attached.
• Grants must be for something totally new.
• Its important to establish a personal
  relationship with the funding source.
• After you take this workshop you will be 100
  successful in your quests for grant funding.

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Sources for Grants

• Government
• Federal
• State
• Local
• Foundations
• Private
• Community
• Corporations

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Grant Seeking vs. Fundraising

• Written application
• Standard format
• Formal
• Relatively high level of effort

If you need only a small amount of money,
fundraising may be a better way to go!
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What Makes a Good Project?

• Matches funders interests and priorities
• Demonstrates strong need
• Offers something new or creative
• Offers a model that can be replicated
• Has tangible outcomes or products
• Has a reasonable, defensible budget
• Can be accomplished in a finite timeframe
• Includes community partners
• Follows directions and is well written!

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General Advice for Grant Writers

• Write so grandma can understand
• Be kind to the grant reviewers
• Use 12-point, clear font
• Number pages
• Find out how your proposal will be evaluated

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3 Essential Ps

• Planning
• Partnerships
• Personal contact with funder

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Planning

• Grant resource file
• library fact sheet, org chart
• latest guidelines/info from funding source
• sample successful proposals
• Internal planning/writing team
• Advisory group including end users
• Needs assessment involving end users

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Exercise 1 Selecting a Project and Identifying
Partners
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Anatomy of a Grant Proposal

• Summary
• Introduction
• Needs assessment
• Goals and objectives
• Plan of action
• Evaluation
• Budget

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Project Summary

• Appears first
• Written last
• Important because
• its used for screening
• may be only section read
• Do not exceed space limit
• Can cut-and-paste from other sections

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Introduction

• Basic info about applicant
• May be separate section
• Often part of narrative
• needs or plan of action
• Boilerplate OK here
• Not needed for state LSTA

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A Good Needs Assessment

• Provides the foundation for the rest of the
  proposal
• Is written from the users perspective
• Involves the users in identification of need
• Is supported by evidence
• hard data
• soft data

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If the Need Is for a Thing.

• Reevaluate!!!
• Weak The Large County Library needs a
  bookmobile.
• Stronger Residents of rural areas in Large
  County need job and health care information .
• Students cant complete their reading
  assignments
• Senior home residents are depressed because of
  limited leisure opportunities

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The Five Ws of Needs Assessment

• Who are the people with the need?
• Where are they located?
• What is their problem or need?
• When does the problem or need occur?
• Why does the problem or need occur?

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More Needs Assessment Questions

• How does the need relate to
• Funders mission and current priorities
• Librarys mission, programs, and priorities?
• Who else is interested?
• What will be the community impact?

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Rewrite These Needs Statements

• We need more computers.
• The school library needs more books.
• Anytown PL needs a community meeting room.
• Poor County Library needs a literacy program.
• Main Library needs a book security system.

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Needs Assessment Mechanics -- Who

• Outside consultant
• Library staff
• Volunteers

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Needs Assessment Mechanics -- How

• Interviews
• Surveys
• Focus groups
• Community meetings or forums
• Data collection and analysis
• Testing
• Observation

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Exercise 2 Assessing and Documenting Need
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Is needs assessment always required?
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Anatomy of a Grant Proposal

• Summary
• Introduction
• Needs assessment
• Goals and objectives
• Plan of action
• Evaluation
• Budget

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Goals

• Broad, long-range, general
• Not measurable
• Related to mission
• May not be attained
• Example The goal of this project is to provide
  free and convenient access to library resources
  to all people in Large County.

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Large County Library Goal

• Large County Library will develop
• programs and services that meet the
• changing information and learning needs
• of all county residents.

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Objectives Must Be SMART

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Time-Specific

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• When agencies fund your project, they are
  actually buying your objectives. When evaluators
  evaluate your project, they are measuring whether
  you accomplished what you said you were going to
  do in your program objectives.
• -- Stanley Levenson, How to Get Grants and Gifts
  for the Public Schools, 2002.

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Objectives Answer Questions

• Who is going to be impacted or changed?
• What is going to happen?
• When will it happen?
• How much change will take place?
• How will change be measured?

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Standard Objective Format

• ltAction verb and statement of results and
  measurement indicatorgt
• by ltdegree of changegt
• by ltdeadlinegt
• Example Increase by at least one grade level the
  reading skills of 75 of the children who
  complete the Reading Enrichment Program.

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Verbs Used in Objectives

• increase
• decrease
• improve
• reduce
• expand
• eliminate
• enhance

• diminish
• augment
• add
• lessen
• maximize
• minimize
• access

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Large County Library Objective 1

• Increase the ability of students in 20 schools
  without school libraries to complete reading and
  homework assignments, by 30, by the end of the
  school year.
• By the end of one school year, students in 20
  schools without school libraries will improve
  reading and other homework completion rates by
  30.

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Large County Library Objective 2

• Increase the self-reported satisfaction of
  seniors in 40 senior residence homes with the
  leisure and lifelong learning options available
  to them, by 80, by June.
• Within six months of bookmobile operation, 80 of
  the surveyed seniors in residence homes will
  report increased satisfaction with their leisure
  and lifelong learning options.

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Large County Library Objective 3

• Increase usage of library materials by residents
  in the Greenwood area by 50 within one year.
• Residents of the Greenwood area will increase
  their library usage by 50 within one year, as
  measured by library cards issued and circulation
  statistics.

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Fix the Objective

• To implement a public computer training program.
• To train library staff in MS Word.
• To digitize 10,000 photographs from the local
  history collection.

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Common Problems

• Confuse methods with objective
• Write in terms of the institution instead of the
  user
• Fail to quantify
• Set unrealistic degree of change

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Exercise 3aFix the Objective
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Exercise 3bDeveloping Your Projects Goals and
Objectives
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Anatomy of a Grant Proposal

• Summary
• Introduction
• Needs assessment
• Goals and objectives
• Plan of action
• Evaluation
• Budget

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Plan of Action

• Narrative
• Often has page limits
• Includes
• Personnel
• Timeline
• Publicity

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Key Questions

• Who will be involved in the project?
• target group
• project staff
• consultants
• What activities will take place?
• connect to objective
• provide detail
• When will each step take place?
• include timeline
• Why is this approach being used?
• describe alternatives

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Graphics/Attachments

• Timeline
• Organization chart
• Resumes
• Sample materials, products
• RFPs

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Exercise 4 Steps to Success Formulating a
Plan of Action
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Anatomy of a Grant Proposal

• Summary
• Introduction
• Needs assessment
• Goals and objectives
• Plan of action
• Evaluation
• Budget

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Evaluation

• Will your project make a difference?
• Program evaluation serves two purposes
• To determine if the project has met objectives.
• To gather information to improve the project.

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Types of Evaluation

• Formative or process evaluation
• Summative evaluation
• Outcomes measurement

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Outcomes Measurement

• Outcome Impact on end user
• Impact changes in
• Behavior
• Attitude
• Skills
• Knowledge
• Condition/state
• -- Rhea Rubin, So What? Using Outcomes
  Measurement to Assess the Impact of Library
  Programs, 2005

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Evaluation Plan

• Results you expect
• Data you will collect
• Data collection techniques
• What records will be kept
• Who is responsible
• When will evaluation take place

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Large County Library

• How would you evaluate
• Reading and other homework completion
• Senior satisfaction with leisure and lifelong
  learning opportunities
• Library usage in the rural Greenwood area

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Exercise 5EvaluationHas Your Project Made a
Difference?
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Anatomy of a Grant Proposal

• Summary
• Introduction
• Needs assessment
• Goals and objectives
• Plan of action
• Evaluation
• Budget

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The Bottom Line Your Budget

• Budgeting is simply the process of translating
  the project plan into fiscal terms.
• ---Mary Hall, Getting Funded A Complete Guide to
  Proposal Writing

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Budget Basics Steps to Take

• Review funders guidelines and requirements
• Follow your organizations budget practices
• Identify every cost element in your plan of
  action
• Create a budget worksheet
• Put calculations into required format

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Basic Budget Terms

• Direct costs
• Indirect costs
• Matching funds
• In-kind contributions
• Personnel
• Non-personnel

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Exercise 6 Getting to the Bottom Line --
Your Project Budget
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Anatomy of a Grant Proposal

• Summary
• Introduction
• Needs assessment
• Goals and objectives
• Plan of action
• Evaluation
• Budget

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Finding a Funder

• Start with
• Local foundations and corporations
• State programs and state foundations
• Federal programs and national foundations
• Federal or state programs national foundations

• If your project
• Focuses on local needs
• Can be a model for other libraries in the state
• Can be a model for programs in other states
• Affects a multi-state area

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Library-Friendly Funding Sources

• State LSTA programs
• Other library-specific state programs
• IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services)
• NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities)
• ALA
• Community Foundations
• Local corporations (Target, Walmart)

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Resources for Government Grants

• Federal
• Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA)
  (available online)
• Federal Register (online)
• Grants.gov
• Agency websites
• State
• LSTA
• State agency websites and mailing lists
• State Humanities Councils
• Local
• Personal contacts

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Resources for Private Grants Foundations and
Corporations

• What the CFDA is to researching federal grants,
  the Foundation Center and its publications are to
  researching foundation grants.
• www.fdncenter.org

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Foundation Center

• Libraries
• San Francisco
• 22 Cooperating Collections in CA
• Key publications
• Foundation Directory
• also available online
• Foundation Grants Index

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Tips for Finding Foundation Funding

• Location, location, location
• Check eligibility
• 501(c)3 status
• Types of support
• Purpose/areas of interest
• Contact before submitting

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Getting Corporate Funding

• Start with corporations in your community or area
• corporations give where they live
• Make a personal connection
• Find out how the corporation handles giving
• Show how company or employees will benefit

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Exercise 7Exploring Grant Information Online
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Post-Submission

• Dont call or email the funder
• If you are funded Celebrate !
• Then
• notify appropriate officials/staff
• send out a press release
• begin preliminary activities
• Thank the funder

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If Youre Not Funded

• Ask for a copy of the reviewers comments
• Strategize a new approach
• revise and resubmit
• revise and submit to another source
• Dont give up!

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Quiz Game
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• Review your notes and other materials.
• Identify a single key point you want to remember.
  This is the answer.
• Create a question to elicit your answer.
• Write it on the index card.
• Well exchange questions, share and discuss
  answers.

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Action Plan
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Please fill out your evaluations.