The Nonprofit FAQ

Grant Writing Tools Web Sites
By Donald A. Griesmann, Esq. (NJ)

2 Galley Hill Lane

Fairport NY 14450

dgriesmann@aol.com

See also Don Griesmann’s Grant Opportunities

Published on CharityChannel.com

September 18, 2006

Where can you find sample grant application forms? This paper lists a wide variety of grant application forms, sample proposals, sample budgets and other resources from foundations and government sources. Some of the material is available in Spanish and other languages as noted below. There are also links to online grant-writing and fund-raising tutorials and courses that are free. There is a brief section to US Federal forms. There is a separate paper on U.S. Federal Grant Web Sites at http://www.idealist.org/npofaq/19/63.html.

I have two early recommendations, searching corporations’ web sites for possible funding and developing a “Dream File” and “Memory Files”.

1. Here are several hints when you look at corporate web sites for possible funding. National or international corporations in your community may have a local giving process. Corporations, banks, utility companies, large manufacturers, large development companies, national chain stores do not feature their giving policies on the opening home page. You will have to be creative in your search of the site:

  • Look for the web “Site Map” or corporate information; click on it.
  • Look for the “FAQs”; click on it.
  • Look for the “About Us”; click on it.
  • Search for words such as or similar to “community”, “foundation”, “charity” or “corporate giving” to lead you to potential funding.
  • You may have to look under the “History” section for clues to giving polices.
  • You may have to look at the “Corporate Structure” or “Corporate Officers” sections for links to giving.
  • You may have to look under “Press releases” or “Press coverage” or “Award”’ to find what you are looking for.


2. There are several files that the organization and development people should create. The first one is:

  • The Dream File – This file should contain the dreams of programs and activities leadership, staff and others present for funding ideas. They may be somewhat far fetched. They cannot be off-mission, however. The record of a dream may be simply a few lines; it may be several pages with details started. Take the time to dream and capture the dreams for potential funding opportunities.
  • The Memory Files - These files should contain material that may be requested by a potential funder: original verified copies of the Articles of Incorporation and any amendments, and copies of the bylaws and all amendments, the completed IRS Form 1023, the last three years of 990s, audits and management letters, employee and board job descriptions, current annual budget, the board minutes and fiscal reports for the most recent 12 month period, evaluations and monitoring reports by any funders, press coverage, names and short biography of board members and staff leadership, and templates of the description and brief history of the organization, its mission, goals, objectives, activities, current funding sources, business or strategic plan, needs assessment and priority studies, and any other papers you believe may be relevant to a foundation or corporation. The copies sent to a funder should be legible and presented in the best possible fashion. A copy that is crooked and the bottom cut off is not the way to do it. You are putting your best foot forward here. Show your professionalism.


New York/New Jersey Regional Association of Grantmakers Common Foundation Application form for certain foundations - http://www.nyrag.org/info-url2335/info-url_list.htm?category=For%20Grantseekers&doc_id=34417

Rochester NY Grantmakers Forum and Common Grant Application - http://www.grantmakers.org/common/logicpacket/index.html

Common Grant Application sample from the National Network for Grantmakers, http://www.nng.org/cga.html

The common grant application format has been adopted by groups of grantmakers to allow grant applicants to produce a single proposal for a specific community of funders, thereby saving time. There are links to 13 state or regional forms including New York. Before applying to any funder that accepts a common grant application form, be sure to check that your project matches the funder's stated interests, and ascertain whether the funder would prefer a letter of inquiry in advance of receiving a proposal. Also be sure to check whether the funder has a deadline for proposals and whether it requires multiple copies of your proposal. - http://foundationcenter.org/findfunders/cga.html

A list of common application forms used by certain foundations in New Jersey - http://216.7.162.38/commapp.htm

Chicago Area Grant Application forms and report forms - http://www.donorsforum.org/resource/grantapp_intro.html

See application form and report form at Associated Grant Makers (AGM) - http://www.agmconnect.org/GrantSeekers/

Nonprofit Guides, from introduction through budgets and sample proposals - http://www.npguides.org/index.html

The Foundation Center has a number of tutorials available including grant-writing, budgeting, using the 990-PF and more - http://www.fdncenter.org/learn/classroom

The Foundation Center’s Short Course in Grant Writing, in two parts, and worksheets (Available in English, French, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish) – http://foundationcenter.org/getstarted/tutorials/shortcourse/index.html

Foundation Center’s Basics on Proposal Budgets – http://foundationcenter.org/getstarted/tutorials/prop_budgt/index.html

Foundation Center’s Prospect Worksheets for Institutional Funders and Individual Funders - http://foundationcenter.org/findfunders/wrksheet/

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting reviews hundreds of applications annually for funding. Their valuable hints for preparing a good proposal can be studied at http://www.cpb.org/grants/grantwriting.html

The White House Faith-Based and Community Initiatives has prepared a 94-page paper entitled Developing Quality Grants which is aimed at preparing Federal grant applications. It includes a sample of a successful Federal grant application - http://www.dtiassociates.com/fbci/downloads/Optimized_DevelopingQualityGrants.pdf

Nonprofit Financial Center is a membership organization. It has a number of free tools available to help you. There are pieces about a self-assessment tool, budgeting and cash flow, financial reporting, accounting rules and regulations, human resources and so much more. - http://www.nfconline.org/main/info/guides.htm

Budget - http://www.nfconline.org/main/info/guides_budget_sum.htm

Cash flow - http://www.nfconline.org/downloads/sample_cashflow.xls

How to reconcile your bank account - http://www.nfconline.org/main/info/guides_reconcile.htm

Innovation Network online planning and evaluating workstation tool helps setting goals and activities. The Point K Learning Center Workstation is a suite of online evaluation and planning tools designed specifically for nonprofit program planning. The plans allow you to build a blueprint for designing, evaluating, and developing a budget for a successful program. Each plan has a corresponding work plan - a management tool to help you get the job done. The result can be stronger programs with measurable results. There is a free registration process. http://www.innonet.org/index.php?module=workstation

Deborah Kluge’s grant writing hints and links to tutorials - http://www.proposalwriter.com/grants.html

The Non-profit Guides provides a series of articles and sample for proposals. Non-profit guides are free web-based grant-writing tools for non-profit organizations, charitable, educational, public organizations, and other community-minded groups. Samples include a letter of inquiry, over letter, cover sheet (executive summary), narrative and budget. They also feature sample RFPs from a public and a private source of funds and sample proposals. - http://www.npguides.org/index.html - Review their fair use policy and legal notices.

GuideStar has two brief articles written for grantwriters by Suzanne E. Coffman and Lauren Nicole Klapper-Lehman, and Karen Dutro and Suzanne E. Coffman, Grant Writing 101 and 102. http://www.guidestar.org/news/features/grantwriting101.jsp and http://www.guidestar.org/news/features/grantwriting102.jsp

There are two very helpful articles at the web site of http://www.funderschecklist.com/download.html. The first is The Funder's Check List, a sample Letter of Inquiry (LOI) which foundations, corporations and government are growingly asking for initially. It is presented by a former funder (the Gap Foundation) and Dynell A. Garron. This is an analysis of a Letter of Inquiry written by Social Impact Productions, Inc., a nonprofit that produces a series of public radio programs to explore political and social issues. The article presents the LOI and then commentary by Dynell about the LOI.

The second is a two-page list of eleven (11) tips by Dynell for Surviving the Funding Slump: Advice from a Grantmaker. The tips emphasize the importance of developing a relationship with funders and staying focused with the mission and how it matches a grantor.

The Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance has a significant article about proposal writing - http://12.46.245.173/pls/portal30/CATALOG.GRANT_PROPOSAL_DYN.show

For a glossary of terms in fundraising and planned giving see the information at GuideStar - http://www.guidestar.org/help/glossary.jsp

Nonprofit Good Practice Guide Glossary (A huge source) - http://www.nonprofitbasics.org/CompleteGlossary.aspx?ID=-1&curLetter=123

Nonprofit Guides with links to more glossaries - http://www.npguides.org/links.htm#3

Avoiding Jargon in Proposals from the perspective of a foundation, so it must be a serious subject - http://www.emcf.org/pub/jargon/index.htm

When Words Fail: How the Public Interest Becomes Neither Public nor Interesting by Tony Proscio for the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation
- http://www.emcf.org/pdf/whenwordsfail.pdf

Dictionaries, thesaurus, rhyming dictionary, encyclopedias, biographical dictionary, quotations and more all in one place –

http://www.press-release-writing.com/resources/writers.htm

Proof Reader’s Marks -
http://www.press-release-writing.com/resources/proofreadersmarks.pdf

Creating citations for a paper where the citation is from a magazine or other source. Which comes first, the author, the last name of the author the book title? And where do you put the year of publication? If you do not know or are not certain this is for you - http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/works_cited

Dr. Grammar (who is a former English teacher, now deceased) allows you use of the information contained on the Dr. Grammar website free of charge if a) you are a student, faculty member or staff member of an educational institution (K-12, junior college, college or university); b) you are a United States Federal, state or local government employee; or c) your use of the information is exclusively at home for non-commercial purposes. This is the cure for writing ills. - http://www.drgrammar.org/

Library Spot has information about foundations and grant writing and more. Pay no attention to the stuff at the top of the page – they are commercials. - http://www.libraryspot.com/features/grantsfeature.htm

Every grant writer has some statistics she/he wants to use in the proposal. How should that be done? The article here offers ideas about using statistics in a press release that are valuable lessons for a proposal. And be certain to balance the stats with a story or two and passion somewhere –
http://www.press-release-writing.com/newsletters/t98-stats.htm

If you feel that your application may be strengthened by using quotations from an expert or leaders who will be supporting the grant, see the helpful material at
http://www.press-release-writing.com/newsletters/t119-powerful-quotes.htm

and

http://www.press-release-writing.com/newsletters/t183-famous-quotes.htm

Carter McNamara’s nonprofit fundraising and grant writing material - http://www.mapnp.org/library/fndrsng/np_raise/np_raise.htm

Grant Proposal.com is an excellent and free outline and appraisal of each section of a proposal with pages of great hints - http://www.grantproposal.com/

NonProfitExpert.com is a commercial web site but has great information for nonprofit leaders. See the extensive list on the left side - http://www.nonprofitexpert.com/Default.htm

The NonProfit FAQ by Idealist.Org and Putnam Barber is a massive compilation of material for nonprofit organizations. The Home page features titles of topics that lead to articles and discussions - http://www.idealist.org/if/idealist/en/FAQ/NonprofitHome/default

At Mickey's-Place-in-the-Sun you will find more material on a variety of topics including funding and community resources - http://mickeys-place-in-the-sun.com/index.html

National Institutes of Health application course with some sections in Spanish and in French is aimed at science grants - http://www.niaid.nih.gov/ncn/grants/

Nonprofit Fundraising Web Resources (516 Listings) - http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/grants/4fcelec.htm

The 10 Most Common Reasons Grants Are Declined - http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/grants/ten.htm

The 10 Steps for Obtaining Major Gifts http://nonprofit.about.com/od/fundraising/a/major_gift_faq.htm

15 Point Plan For Standard Grant Funding Proposal http://www.npguides.org/guide/index.html

The 10 Tips for Grantwriting http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/grants/zim41011.htm and http://www.zimmerman-lehman.com/granttips.htm

Top 10 Reasons to Hold an Annual Campaign http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/grants/talklet1.htm

10 Common Elements that are found in winning proposals for educators - http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/grants/WinningProposals.htm

Grants and Opportunities for K-12 - http://www.schoolgrants.org/ and school grants writing assistance http://www.schoolgrants.org/tips.htm

Online Technical Writing course including proposals, business plans and more - http://www.io.com/~hcexres/textbook/

The Internet Techniques Series is a collection of free learning topics published by Groundspring.org to assist nonprofit organizations in making effective use of the Internet for fundraising, communications, advocacy and mission fulfillment. - http://www.groundspring.org/techniques/series.cfm

Strategic grant-writing for technology at TechSoup - http://www.techsoup.org/articlepage.cfm?articleid=498&topicid=10&btcfile=articlepage498 or http://ga0.org/ct/81qby-41ou-L/

TechSoup’s web site with articles and other material about grant writing for technology - http://www.techsoup.org/adopting_tech.cfm?cg=home&sg=content_adopting

Fundraising material and library from Tony Poderis –
http://www.raise-funds.com/library.html

University of Wisconsin, List of grant writing web sites - http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/Memorial/grants/proposal.htm

Sample Proposals



Community Center - http://www.coloradogrants.org//gcrc.html

Health Care Center, Clinic, Case Management for the Homeless - http://www.coloradogrants.org/sfc.html

Job Placement for the Homeless - http://www.coloradogrants.org/sfc2.html

A useful toolkit from the Environmental Protection Agency with sample budget pages and indirect cost proposal - http://www.epa.gov/ogd/recipient/tips.htm

Fire and Safety Proposal - http://theideabank.com/onlinecourse/samplegrant.html

School and Education Proposals - http://www.k12grants.org/samples/samples_index.htm

U.S. Department of Education Successful Proposals - http://www.ed.gov/about/inits/list/fbci/grants2.html

Sample Fundraising Appeals Introductions - http://www.aherncomm.com/fundraising/appeal_letters/appeal_letter_openings.htm

Data Bank



Finally, you may need a data bank to keep track of potential sources of funds. I suggest this basic outline as a start:

Nonprofit Foundation or Corporation or Government Agency Profile Sample Outline

Foundation/Corporation/Government Agency Name:
  • Address
  • Telephone
  • Fax
  • E-mail
  • Web sites, RSS Feed


Foundation/Corporation/Government Agency Contact Person:
  • Name
  • Address
  • Telephone
  • Fax
  • E-mail
  • Web site, blog


Foundation/Corporation/Government Agency Financial Data:

Your Organization’s Grant Ranges/Amount to be Requested:

Foundation/Corporation/Government Agency’s Period of Funding/Project:

Recent Recipients:

Amount From Foundation/Corporation/Government Agency /For What purpose(s)?

Foundation/Corporation/Government Agency’s Most Recent Year’s Grants:

Foundation/Corporation/Government Agency’s Subject Focus:

Foundation/Corporation/Government Agency’s Geographic Limits:

Type(s) of Support from Foundation/Corporation/Government Agency:

Foundation/Corporation/Government Agency’s Interest in Population(s) Served:

Type(s) of Recipients of Funds from Foundation/Corporation/Government Agency:

Foundation/Corporation/Government Agency’s People (Officers, Donors, Trustees, Staff, Partners):

Program Description:

Is the Foundation/Corporation/Government Agency a Good Match? Why?

Does the Foundation/Corporation/Government Agency Have Printed Guidelines/Application Forms it uses?

Initial Approach (letter of inquiry, formal proposal, telephone inquiry):

Deadline(s):

Foundation Board Meeting Date(s):

When Is the Final Notification from Foundation/Corporation/Government Agency?

What Are Our Sources for the Above Information?

Follow Up:

Notes:




CAVEATS

The web services and the web sites that are contained in this article may have information, facts and opinions from a variety of individuals and organizations. These services and sites are provided on an "As Is" basis. The services and sites may include bulletin boards, chat rooms and other user and member created pages which allow the reader and others to post information, provide feedback and interact in real-time. The reader uses the services and the sites entirely at the reader's own risk. The author has reviewed the sites listed in this article but there are linkages at those sites that he has not reviewed. Readers link to web sites at her/his own risk. Neither sites nor companies listed in this article have paid or offered payment to the author for the inclusion in this article. Many of the sites have User Agreements that should be reviewed. The speed at which sites become obsolete is only exceeded by the speed of light. By the time you read this, several sites may no longer be in existence.

The author is an attorney in New Jersey. The purpose of this article is not to provide legal advice to anyone in any state or country. The material contained in this article is for information purposes only. End of lawyer-speak...almost

© Copyright and all rights reserved by Donald A. Griesmann, Esq. 2004 - 2006. However, not-for-profit organizations, community-based and faith-based organizations, educators and government agencies may reproduce this document without my permission. Just give me credit for it. For-profit persons and businesses are asked to request my permission to reproduce this article and material in writing in advance. I ask that any one intending to make money reproducing this article and/or material receive my permission in writing in advance and be prepared to include me in the process.




Posted 12/1/05; revised and reposted 9/18/06 -- PB