President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which passed in early 2009, increased many federal, state and local governmental grant making opportunities, and my office was on the forefront of drafting funding opportunities, writing applications, reviewing applications, and overseeing compliance.
So what are grants? Most simply, a grant is a gift, or as the man in the ugly jacket yells, ‘Free Money!” But, as you might imagine, it’s quite a bit more complicated than that.
Generally, grants are opportunities where organizations receive support from a governmental source for a specific purpose (there are grants available for individuals, usually for education or research, and non-governmental grant making entities, such as the Gates Foundation, but that’s beyond the scope of these posts).
The purpose usually depends on the grant-making agency: the Department of Energy is going to fund research grants, while the EPA might fund a wetlands clean-up. A good rule of thumb is that an agency is going to want to fund a grant that furthers that agency’s mission. Grants are a good way for an agency to explore a new way of doing business, or allow an entity who has close ties to a community to solve a given problem (for example, the Federal Department of Justice doesn’t want to open a woman’s shelter in Durham, but they’ll be happy to help fund one).
With that in mind, here are a few things that are generally universal to all governmental grants.
The purpose usually depends on the grant-making agency: the Department of Energy is going to fund research grants, while the EPA might fund a wetlands clean-up. A good rule of thumb is that an agency is going to want to fund a grant that furthers that agency’s mission. Grants are a good way for an agency to explore a new way of doing business, or allow an entity who has close ties to a community to solve a given problem (for example, the Federal Department of Justice doesn’t want to open a woman’s shelter in Durham, but they’ll be happy to help fund one).
With that in mind, here are a few things that are generally universal to all governmental grants.
Grants don’t give money up-front, because almost all grants work on a reimbursement basis. You’ll have to submit various documents during the reimbursement process, a process that can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.
Grants go to organizations, not to people. In almost all non-educational settings your group will have to be a corporation of some kind in order to apply. You’ll have to set up your corporation with the North Carolina Secretary of State, and you’ll have to have a valid tax ID and DUNS and/or CCR (that’s Central Contractor Registration, not Credence Clearwater Revival, although that would be much cooler) number to apply.
Grants come with rules. All grants will have some sort of laws, rules, regulations, and policies attached to them. The more hands the money passes through, the more of those there will be. So a state agency making a grant with money from the federal government will have more rules than a grant from a federal agency. The statutes/rules/regulations/directives will be referenced in the application and the grant agreement, if you’re lucky enough to receive a grant. Read them. Know them. Love them.
Grants come with strings. Remember, someone is giving you money to do something, that someone wants something in return. Usually, that’s the good work that someone granted you the money for, but there are always other requirements. Reporting is a big one, compliance with the rules issued for the grant is another one, and transparency is important. You’ll also be prohibited from doing some things, most notably political advocacy as a grant recipient with grant funding. Always remember, grants are public funds, your behavior will be public.
So that’s it for our grant overview, in the next episode, your grant, and where to find it!
Grants go to organizations, not to people. In almost all non-educational settings your group will have to be a corporation of some kind in order to apply. You’ll have to set up your corporation with the North Carolina Secretary of State, and you’ll have to have a valid tax ID and DUNS and/or CCR (that’s Central Contractor Registration, not Credence Clearwater Revival, although that would be much cooler) number to apply.
Grants come with rules. All grants will have some sort of laws, rules, regulations, and policies attached to them. The more hands the money passes through, the more of those there will be. So a state agency making a grant with money from the federal government will have more rules than a grant from a federal agency. The statutes/rules/regulations/directives will be referenced in the application and the grant agreement, if you’re lucky enough to receive a grant. Read them. Know them. Love them.
Grants come with strings. Remember, someone is giving you money to do something, that someone wants something in return. Usually, that’s the good work that someone granted you the money for, but there are always other requirements. Reporting is a big one, compliance with the rules issued for the grant is another one, and transparency is important. You’ll also be prohibited from doing some things, most notably political advocacy as a grant recipient with grant funding. Always remember, grants are public funds, your behavior will be public.
So that’s it for our grant overview, in the next episode, your grant, and where to find it!
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