Grants, general and otherwise

Citation

Maxymuk, J. (2001), "Grants, general and otherwise", The Bottom Line, Vol. 14 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/bl.2001.17014cag.001

Grants, general and otherwise

Grants, general and otherwise

In my last column, I wrote about Internet fund-raising resources for libraries and noted that there was not enough space to consider the corresponding topic of getting grants, but that I would examine the subject in a future column. The future is now. These topics are so closely related that these two columns should be considered parts one and two of the same feature. Writing about fund-raising without discussing grants is like leaving out the yeast when baking bread. The end prod uct will suffer from the missing ingredient. When we want to raise funds, grants must be pursued.

General sites

We are all familiar with the standard reference book The Foundation Directory. That directory is a product of the Foundation Centre, and they have a Web site (http://fdncenter.org) that is worth checking. Obviously the online version of the Directory itself is only available to subscribers, but the Centre's site does offer a wealth of information freely. There is a Foundation Finder search engine to allow users to find basic information about a particular foundation: address and contact information, total assets, amount of dollars given, and links both to the foundation's Web site as well as its latest IRS filing. The Centre's online FAQ is very extensive and covers a tremendous range of topics, from how to find grants for an area of interest to where to find statistical data on giving, to proposal writing advice, to non-profit guidelines, to basic tax information. Current and archival copies of the Foundation's Philanthropy News Digest are online and searchable also. Further educational materials abound: a glossary of grant terminology, topical reading lists, and audience-specific user aids. If you have exhausted all these resources and still have questions, there is an online librarian feature that allows you to e-mail your question to the Foundation's library staff. Even for nonsubscribers, this is a thorough and well-designed site not to be missed by anyone looking for grants.

The Council of Foundations (http://www.cof.org/)presents the other side of the grants transaction. It is an association of philanthropic organisations that provides resources on starting foundations and promoting their growth. There are links to online philanthropy tools, information on different types of foundations, and a glossary of foundation terminology. For those looking for grants, the Seeking a Grant? Link leads back to the Foundation Centre's page.

Another full service site is Fundsnet (http://www.fundsnetservices.com/). Fundsnet aims to provide nonprofit organisations, colleges and universities with information on financial resources available on the Internet. It is an online directory, and it is an extensive one. There is a search engine to allow for searching site resources by keywords. Users also can approach the material through a subject arrangement by such topics as Grant Resources, Grant Writing Resources, Education Funders, and Foundations Online. The section on Government Grants includes links to both federal and state government agencies. A bibliography of fund-raising books is presented as well.

The Nonprofit Resource Centre (http://www.not-for-profit.org/) gathers information and links on how to form, manage and maintain a nonprofit organisation. Part of that is a section on fund-raising that includes links to philanthropic organisations, grant writing resources, and grant writing consultants, as well as fund-raising and donor management software. Finally, Aspen Publishers has its Nonprofit Universe site (http://www.grantscape.com/) that features GrantScape, an online searchable database of roughly 15,000 community and corporate foundations. Searches of the database are free, but to retrieve full listings from the results list, you need to buy the Grantscape software.

Government sites

The federal government is a major source of potential funding for a wide variety of projects of interest to libraries. The central source for information on federal government programmes and activities is the Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance (http://www.cfda.gov/). The CFDA online is a database of federal programmes you can search to find potential sources for government grants. For example, searching for "libraries and technology" as keywords, the first entry in the results list was the Institute of Museum and Library Services National Leadership Grants programme. In the entry, details are given of the programme's objectives, its types of assistance, eligibility requirements, the application and award process, relevant regulations and guidelines, examples of funded projects, and the selection criteria. Additional key information can be gained from reading the Web pages on Applying for Federal Assistance and Developing and Writing Grant Proposals.

Although you cannot actually apply for a grant through the CFDA site, the government is mandated to develop plans for the electronic processing of grants in 2001. As a move toward this end, the Federal Commons site is being created to become a common face of the government, offering all grantees full service grants processing throughout the grant life cycle. The Federal Commons is intended to provide both information on grant programmes and funding opportunities, as well as the secure processing of e-grant transactions. Federal Commons at this time is located on the CFDA site (http://www.cfda.gov/federalcommons/) but will move eventually to the URL of its demonstration site (http://fedcommons.gov).

The Federal Register is where notices of available federal funds are published each business day. The Register is available online through GPO Access (http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html). However, if you just want to view Notices of Funding Availability (NOFAs), the Department of Agriculture's Rural Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community Programme (EZ/EC) has a page (ocd.usda.gov/nofa.htm) that allows you to generate a daily customised list of NOFAs by subject area and by agency.

If you want to zero in on specific federal agencies that are closely related to the activities of libraries, you will want to visit the following sites. The aforementioned Institute of Museum and Library Services (http://www.imls.gov/) give full information on National Leadership Grants as well as other programmes for further areas of library service. Deadlines, eligibility criteria, and applications are all accessible online. The Education Department (ED) has a couple of pages worth noting. Grants Information (http://gcs.ed.gov/grntinfo.htm) links to a Guide to ED Programmes, a Grants Forecast, ED Grant Application Announcements, an ED Electronic Grant system, and an ED Grant Awards Database. The ED Funding Opportunities page (http://www.ed.gov/funding.html) provides links to Discretionary Grant Application Packages, What Should I Know About ED Grants, a Guide to ED Programmes, ED General Administrative Regulations, and Grants and Contracts Information. The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has a page on NEH grants (http://www.neh.gov/grants/index.html). Programmes, deadlines, instructions, and funded projects are all detailed here. Finally, the Department of Health and Human Services offers a great deal of general information on managing federal grants on its GrantsNet site (http://www.hhs.gov/grantsnet/).

Libraries, education, and technology

Moving back into the non-government sphere, we can continue our focus on organisations attuned to libraries and their areas of expertise. The American Library Association (ALA) awards grants both to individuals and to libraries, and the particulars on the various ALA grants are listed on their site (http://www.ala.org/work/awards/grants.html). Public libraries, technology, and staff development are some of the areas for which grants are awarded. Additional grant opportunities from ALA divisions and roundtables are accessible from here as well.

The Michigan State University Library maintains a system of pages on grants in general. One page in that system is the Grants for Nonprofits: Libraries page (http://lib.msu.edu/harris23/grants/2lib.htm). Here you can find a moderate sized list of library-related grant programmes, some on the state level.

The most prominent grant-giving organisation for library-related projects is probably the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation is concerned with both the issues of global health and learning. One of the three prongs of their learning initiative is libraries. As stated on their site (http://www.glf.org/learning/libraries/libraryprogram/default.html), the foundation is "partnering with public libraries across the United States and Canada to provide both physical tools – such as computers with Internet access – and the technology training necessary for libraries to become gateways to the digital world for patrons in low-income communities. The foundation also supports public access computing through its International Library Initiatives". Programme guidelines, an FAQ, and a list of programme recipients are also included.

Other foundations award large amounts of money to libraries as well. Tables listing the top ten foundation grants and the top ten foundations funding libraries for 1998 were included in Janet Camarena's "A wealth of information on foundations and the grant seeking process" from the May 2000 issue of Computers in Libraries available online (http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/may00/camarena.htm).

Proposal writing

Once potential grant givers are located, though, there still is the tricky matter of writing a proposal that will be approved. Grant writing is an art in itself, and there are numerous books in print on the subject. Not surprisingly, much is available on the Web as well. One list of interesting links for grant writers is Pacific Bell's Knowledge Network Explorer's Grant Opportunity Resources page (http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/grants/write.htm). Available here are tutorials, guides, and networked resources. The University of Wisconsin's Grant Information Centre also maintains a useful Proposal Writing page (http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/grants/proposal.htm) with links drawn from foundations, government agencies, educational institutions, and individuals.

The Friends of California Libraries have posted a brief article by Judith Prebyl on "The Body, Heart and Soul of Grant Writing" (http://www.friendscalib.orf/newstand/13grant.htm). A more extensive guide designed specifically for those with little or no experience in grant writing is accessible from the University of Michigan's Research site (http://www.research.umich.edu/research/proposals/proposal_dev/pwg/pwgpage.html). There is enough detail provided in this excellent guide to get anyone started.

As demonstrated in this column there is a rich deposit of grant seeking information on the Web – both for those looking for grant givers and those needing help in drafting a successful proposal. As always, the Web gives us every opportunity to fully explore any topic.

Comments on this column are welcome and can be sent to maxymuk@crab.rutgers.edu. Or visit my Web page (http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~maxymuk/home/home.html). Links to Web sites referred to in this column can be found there.

John MaxymukReference Librarian at the Paul Robeson Library, Rutgers University, Camden, New Jersey, USA