Grant Writing

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Grant Writing
EAL 6610
A Procedural Approach
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Step Eight The Management Plan
Do You Really Know What Youre Doing?

• 5 Elements of a Successful Plan
• Describes all of the oversight activities
• Include planning implementation, oversight, and
  follow-up activities
• Present activities chronologically, usually
  monthly
• Allow enough time to complete activities
• Strengthened by a detailed Time-Line

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Time Lines
they inform when activities should take place

• Present specific details
• Target tasks chronologically
• Essentially cover a 12 month period
• Coincide with the RFP fiscal year
• Include administrative and program activities

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Time Lines Reflect All Aspects of Program
Management

• Service delivery
• Monitoring progress
• Ongoing evaluation
• Reporting to local authorities and grant source

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Step Nine Building the Budget
Budget Recommendations

• Program Activities drive the budget
• There are no surprises in the budget for the
  reader who is familiar with the program.
• Cost estimates should be credible and realistic
• Inflated budgets lose points
• Never use the term miscellaneous.

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What are the factors that influence budgets?

• Programs and services
• Spending history
• Agency needs
• Consumer needs
• Staff needs
• Agency partner needs

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Budget Categories

• Direct Costs
• Monies you are asking for from the funding source
• In-kind or Local Contributions
• Services, goods, and cash donated to the grant
  program
• Indirect Costs
• Local costs (usually administrative) associated
  with the operation of the program
• Actual payroll expenses for program employees

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Direct Costs Indirect Costs In-Kind
Contributions Real Cost of Operating the program
Direct Costs Include

• Supplies
• Contractual
• Facilities
• Curriculum

• Personnel
• Fringe Benefits
• Travel
• Equipment

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Personnel Developing Salaries

• Contact your personnel office
• Check with other, similar programs
• Determine range of salaries and allocate the
  median range
• Offer higher salaries, grant jobs are soft money,
  short term
• Use salaries as a ladder for existing employees
• If none of the above work, guess

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Calculating Salaries
Budget 10/01/05-09/30/06 Personnel Year 1
Year 2 (See Appendix C for detailed job
descriptions) 1. Project Director 35,000
annual salary with start date of 11/15/05
30,618 36,400

• Year 1 Calculation 35,000 /12 2,916 per
  month
• 10.5 months x
  2,916 30,618
• Year 2 Calculation 35,000 4 cost of living
  36,400

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Fringe Benefits

• Fringe benefits are those taxes and other
  benefits the employer pays
• Primarily based upon gross salary
• Range from 21 to 25
• Estimate 4 more than the current rate
• List them as Standard Government Fringe Benefits
  Package As Required By Law
• Some reviewers dont know what they are and can
  be distrustful of them
• Required
• FICA (Social Security and Medicare) 7.65
• FUTA (Federal Unemployment Taxes) 0.8 of first
  7,000
• SUI (State Unemployment Tax) 0.6 of first
  7,000
• Workers Compensation 300-1000 group policy

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Travel

• This is an area that receives a lot of scrutiny.
• Why?
• Travel is viewed as a luxury
• Agencies typically cut travel when funds are
  tight
• What can be done to ensure that travel gets
  funded?
• Provide detailed formulas and documentation for
  why you must travel and how you calculated line
  items
• Break travel into different categories
• Avoid rounding numbers (e.g. 2,000)
• If it costs 1,850 then put that figure on the
  line
• Use realistic but conservative numbers

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Equipment

• Funding sources are usually suspicious of
  equipment purchases
• Computers are one such area drawing concern
• Some funding sources will not purchase computers
  but allow you to lease them.
• Grant writers must document the need for the
  equipment before budget reviewers will approve
• Provide specifications on the equipment (see the
  computer lines from the budget you were given)
• Never state brand names, use compatible this
  allows you to search a wider range of equipment.
  If you use IBM or Gateway, you are limited to
  those brands.

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Supplies

• Most federal agencies define supplies as any
  purchase under 5,000
• Read the RFP carefully to determine how the
  funder defines supplies
• How does the state government define supplies

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Contracted Services

• Contractual work is any service that requires a
  contract, written agreement or verbal agreement
  to implement.
• The agency has no control over how the product is
  developed, but it does approve the end product
• The agency may or may not be able to dictate when
  the contractor works. (Depends on the contractor)
• The agency does not provide office space for the
  contractor
• No fringe benefits are paid for the contractor
• Contractual work is best defined as a service or
  a product

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Other

• What if it doesnt fit into the first 6
  categories?
• Other is a catch-all category
• Postage
• Advertising
• Printing
• Video Services
• Subscriptions

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In-Kind Contributions

• These donations prove the community cares
• Required in Matching grant applications
• Essentially called donations
• The value of them is based on their street
  value
• What would a person pay or be paid for the
  service on the street?
• They do impress the reviewer
• Examples
• Percentage of a staff persons time
• Volunteers
• Use of a building and utilities
• Janitorial supplies
• Use of existing telephone lines
• Contributions of desks and chairs
• Donation of books
• Accounting, bookkeeping and payroll services

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In-direct Costs

• Remember that these are the costs associated with
  the operation of the grant
• Typically they are administrative in nature
• The RFP will specifically state the maximum
  allowable percentage of the funding that can be
  spent on In-direct costs.
• Some applications will require a line-item for
  each In-direct cost others will allow a percentage

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Budget Appearance

• Start the budget on a new page if possible
• Use columns that are aligned (insert a table)
• Name categories when listing items
• Ex. Educational supplies
• Designate main categories with a Roman numeral,
  all caps, and bold
• Ex. I. PERSONNEL
• Fully justify text and right-justify dollar
  figures
• Subcategories should be titled and include
  descriptive text and appropriate formulas
• Budget detail should allow the budget to stand
  alone
• Even if the reviewer did not fully understand the
  program narrative, they should get a good idea of
  what you are trying to do by looking at the
  budget.
• By standing alone, we mean that it is
  self-explanatory