It might sound obvious, but an organization must be the right fit for a grant. In other words, just because the organization could use the money doesn’t mean they are going to get it. There are three primary funders for grants: Government, Foundations, and Corporations.
Government grants are easily the most significant source of funding. The Small Business Administration (SBA) generally administers these grants. SBA.gov is an excellent source to search for available grants for your organization’s needs.
A subset of SBA is the SBIR and STTR grants which appeal to small businesses in technology and innovation. Various government agencies offer these grants from the Department of Energy (DOE) to the National Science Foundation (NSF). The SBA also provides assistance for veterans, women, and COViD-19 relief. Like the COViD-19 relief, some of these are relatively easy to apply for, requiring only general accounting information and an EIN. Others are far more in-depth, like an NSF grant, with many reporting requirements along the way.
Foundations are generally a nonprofit corporation or a charitable trust that makes grants to organizations, institutions, or individuals for charitable purposes. The purposes can range from science, culture, education, religion, or specific support for causes. There are a few sites that can let you research foundational grants, like candid.org. These sites help research what grants are available and what most align with your organization or the work you are doing. Either way, these foundations are a distributor for funds.
Last but not least are corporations. Several corporations donate money for nonprofit and even start-up costs for minorities and women. Most of these corporations have specific areas of focus that they will support. Pepsico focuses on nutrition, water, waste, and women, while Norstrom provides support for nonprofits and families in communities where they do business.
No matter who is providing the grant, the grantee must meet the requirements. Each grant has specific requirements on their submissions, and sometimes, only a window of time they accept a proposal. These requirements can make or break a grant submission, and they must be completed precisely. Often, the reviewer has so many grant submissions they will discard any grants that do not meet their requirements. In case your organization is wondering how strict these grant applications can be, here is a link to NFS’s 185-page guide. The NSF is one of twelve participating agencies for SBIR and STTR, meaning this only one process for one type of grant.
How does an organization sort through all the grants and the process? They can, of course, do it themselves, and often many organizations pay a full-time writer on staff. Or they can hire a grant writer, like Modern Quill, to assist with researching, matching, and writing grants on their behalf. If you’re interested in learning more about how we can help you, contact us at inquiry@modernquill.co.
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