Are you looking to expand your funding sources? This session will help you find information on foundations that might fund your club’s projects. You’ll also learn how to outline measurable objectives and identify some critical components of a successful grant proposal.

1. HOW TO WRITE A
SUCCESSFUL GRANT FOR
FUNDING
Presenter: JOHN DEWITT
drjohndewitt@me.com

2. FINDING RESOURCES
TO SUPPORT YOUR
PROGRAMS
1. Personal experiences-how I learned to find funding
2. Foundations
What they can or cannot do
How to find one that will support your program
Significant steps to getting funding
3. Federal and State Grants
4. Scholarships accounts
5. Endowment funding

3. Why fundraising/grant writing is
important and what I have learned
• First programs were all grant supported and then
grew
• Success stories used for expanded support
• Data to support need and expansion
New Opportunities
Children’s Home Society
School District
Director of Special Education
Director of Grants, Research
Public and Private Agencies
Federal and State Grant reviewer

4. Foundations-
• Most available for funding
• Accessing information
• Critical Steps in process
• Matching their values to your needs
• Making personal contact
• Checking what they have funded
• Checking their board listing

5. Foundations
• Data bases of all foundations and the federal
required 1099 forms
• Independent funding determined by donor or
board of Directors
• Estimated number of Foundations 86,726 in the
USA giving money in 2014 = $60,244,456,505
• Question: Why not get some for your Rotary club????

7. Process for seeking funds
• Direct contact with a person
– Both for Government and foundations
• Check out their board of directors
– Software that shows board members and their relationship to any
other organization
• DO NOT send a full proposal to foundations, unless a clear
application and guidelines are provided or required
– 2-3 pages
– 1 or 2 sentence statement of problem
– What will the proposal do about it?
– How you will manage the proposal
– Continuation plan
– Evaluation plan
– Simple budget

8. Foundation/private grants
• Review what they have funded
• Its who you know more than what you know
• Letter of inquiry
• Follow-up for either

9. Foundations
• Foundation Search-web site
• http://Foundationsearch.com
• http://www.foundationcenter.com
Find a match between your interest and that of the
foundation
Review what the foundation has funded, their
limitations, 1099 forms

10. About Us
We’re an innovative nonprofit that gathers and analyzes data, shares it worldwide, and
empowers people like you to understand and increase philanthropy’s ability to improve
the world.
OUR MISSION
To strengthen the social sector by advancing knowledge about philanthropy in the U.S.
and around the world.
LEARN MORE
Strategic Priorities
Connect
nonprofits to the resources they need to thrive
Communicate
philanthropy's contribution to making a better world
Empower
donors with knowledge tools they need to be more strategic
Encourage
greater foundation transparency
Build
the global data platform for philanthropy

12. Foundation Search.com
• FoundationSearch is the premier, fully searchable,
online database of foundations for the serious
prospect researcher, containing vital information
about the funding history, preferences and contacts
of over 100,000 US foundations. It provides the
specific information you need to approach the most
qualified prospects with compelling reasons why
your project fits their vision..

13. Foundation Search America
Data Base
• FIND FUNDERS
You can find the funders you need for your projects, all in one interface!
Search grants, using
• Grant Analyzer
• Grant Visualizer
• Global Grant Analyzer
• Global Grant Visualizer
•
Search foundations, using
Foundation Search
• Foundation Visualizer
• Foundation Profile Keyword Search
• Foundation News Search
• Foundation Deadline Search
• 990PF Keyword Search
• New Foundation Visualizer
•

14. Search tool categories
• Location
• Size
• Giving Interests
• Directors
• Geographic Scope
• Type of Foundation
•
You may also search for foundation directors by name.
Foundations not accepting unsolicited proposals may be excluded in your search.
Newly Registered Foundations are included by default in your search result. You may exclude new
foundations or restrict your search to Newly Registered Foundations.
• Granting Categories: Definitions
•
Arts & Culture
• Community Development
• Education
• Environment
• Health
• International Giving
• Religion (Faith-based)
• Social & Human Services
• Sports & Recreation
•

15. Power Search
• Here are the databases that POWER SEARCH can access in one search:
US Foundation Profiles
• US Foundation Grants
• US Foundation News
• US Foundation 990PFs
• US Corporate Profiles
• US Government Profiles
• Canadian Foundation Profiles
• Canadian Foundation Grants
• Canadian Foundation News
• Canadian Government Profiles
• Canadian Corporate Profiles
• UK Foundation Profiles
• UK Foundation News
• Australian Foundation Profiles
• Australian Foundation News
•

16. GRANTS
• Awards for specific purposes by local, state and
federal agencies
• Similarity in applications by government agencies
• Most are electronically submitted
• Follow the rules

17. Types of Grants
• Organization/Corporations
• Most major corporations , Lowes, Firehouse Subs, Home
Depot
• Go to corporations web site and look for Community
Service
• State
• Legislative action
• Entitlement
• RFP
• Specific Organization

18. Federal Grants
• Published lists and federal data base
• Legislative mandate
• Standard application

19. Federal Definition of Grant
• A grant is one of the government’s tools for funding
ideas and projects to provide public services,
stimulate the economy, and benefit the general
public. Grants can be awarded for a wide-variety of
activities, such as innovative research, recovery
initiatives, infrastructure building, or any of the
other hundreds of funding programs in the Catalog
of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA).

20. • How do I check the eligibility requirements?
• First, narrow your search based on your applicant type. On the
Search Grants page, select the appropriate eligibility filter. This will
not guarantee you are eligible for all the grants that appear in the
search results, but it makes it more likely.
• Second, read the Eligibility section of the grant synopsis to
confirm your type of organization is eligible. To do so, click the
Opportunity Number link in the search results. This still will not a
guarantee you are eligible.
• Third and final, read the detailed eligibility section of the official
funding opportunity announcement (FOA) document created by
the federal grant-making agency. Thanks to the OMB Uniform
Guidance for Federal Awards, the federal agencies are required to
provide clear information about the specific types of entities that
are eligible and ineligible in the FOA.

21. Grants.gov (USA)
• ABOUT GRANTS.GOV (FREE)
• Grants.gov was established as a governmental resource named the E-Grants
Initiative, part of the President's 2002 Fiscal Year Management Agenda to
improve government services to the public.
• The concept has its origins in the Federal Financial Assistance Management
Improvement Act of 1999, also known as Public Law 106-107. Public Law 106-
107 has since sunset and is now known as the Grants Policy Committee (GPC).
For more information on the Grants Policy Committee, click here.
• Today, Grants.gov is a central storehouse for information on over 1,000 grant
programs and provides access to approximately $500 billion in annual awards.
• What agency is providing the grant?
• Who is Eligible for a Grant?
• Program legislative background-federal register
• Funding availablitiy, and dates for completion.

22. GRANT WRITING for ALL
APPLICATIONS
• Know what you want to do
• Read the application
• What are the requirements
• Contact the funding source
• Draw out a timeline and process
• Would a cooperative venture be better

23. General requirements
• Clearly define the problem and why you have a
solution-data about your area
• List goal(s) and SMART objectives
• Method-describe activities to be used to achieve
desired results
• Evaluation-how will you measure the results of
your objectives
• Budget-objectives, personnel

24. What are objectives?
• Specific measurable results of the initiative
• They explain how much of what will be
accomplished by when

25. What Are SMART Objectives?
S Specific
M Measurable
A Achievable
R Realistic/Relevant
T Time Bound

26. What Are SMART Objectives?
S Specific
What exactly are we going to do for whom?
Use specific, action verbs

27. Specific: Use strong verbs
Strong Verbs
• Disseminate
• Train
• Provide
• Publish
• Increase
• Decrease
• Schedule
Weak Verbs
 Coordinate
 Partner
 Support
 Facilitate
 Enhance

28. What Are SMART Objectives?
M Measurable
Direction
Resources
Time
Amount
Information can be collected, detected or obtained

29. Evaluation tools
• Flyers
• Letters to editor
• Newspaper clips
• Documented changes
• Change in data trends
• Surveys/questionnaires
• Pre/post tests
• Meeting notes
• Attendance records
• Pictures/videos

30. What Are SMART Objectives?
A Achievable
13
Can we get it done with these resources?
(time, money, personnel, community climate, …)

31. What Are SMART Objectives?
R Relevant
Is related to the overall program goal?Is related to the overall program goal?
Is there an obvious link?

32. What Are SMART Objectives?
T Time Bound
Is there a specific and reasonable time frame?

33. Evaluation and dissemination
• How are we doing?
• How will you measure?
• How will you disseminate?

34. Budget
• Relates back to goals and objectives
• Be realistic
• Recheck your math
• Multi-year projects and increased costs
• Cash match or cost matching
• Indirect Costs figure

35. Fund Raising is not easy!
• “Fund raising is not a simple exercise, nor should it ever be. Fund raising is the complex
• process of seeking to involve people in a cause that is responsive to human needs and that
• is worthy of gift support. Through people involvement, the organization creates an
• advocacy force that constitutes the core of its strength and assures its advancement into
• the future.” – Henry A. Rosso, founder and director emeritus of The Fund Raising
• School, a program of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University
For more information or assistance:
drjohndewitt@me.com

36. Questions?
Email: DRJOHNDEWITT@ME.COM

37. This presentation and others
from throughout the convention
are available through the
convention mobile app and on
SlideShare at
www.SlideShare.net/Rotary_International.

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