Friday, February 5, 2010

Why Grants.gov made me cry.

I am really not much of a crier. More of a yeller and a stewer than a crier. But my first time through Grants.gov I cried.

Many small organizations are understandably put off by the scariness of grants.gov but if you can get past the initial fear it is so worth conquering. Compared to the old days of 35 collated copies of 65 page documents. Grants.gov is a godsend.

Many government agencies have special grants programs especially for small organizations. I'm most familiar with the National Endowment for the Humanities and the IMLS' programs for small museums. The grants start at around $5,000 and are perfect entry into the world of Federal Grants.

The tricks to surviving grants.gov?

1. Start very early your first time through. Three weeks before the deadline. You need to apply for a DUNS number and fill out a variety of forms that were designed for multi-million dollar contractors. It takes time. All of these preliminary steps are carefully explained on the grants.gov website.

2. Read the guidelines all the way through before you begin. That way you eliminate surprises and can determine well ahead of time if you are going to need anyone else to get involved.

3. Follow the directions religiously. Pretend you are building a shelf from IKEA. Follow each step in order. Miss one and you're doomed. Not really doomed but you will have to go back and start again.

4. Have all of your supporting documents - a good solid budget, resumes etc. all ready to go as documents on your computer. You will have to upload them all to the main grants.gov file. This is not as hard as it may sound. Just follow the directions.

5. Save - Save - Save. Save the file to your computer and work from your computer not the internet. If you are just working on-line your work will not be saved.

6. Call the program officer for your area and try to make friends. Describe your project. Ask for advice. They are real people just like you and me and most of them are very nice.

7. It should go without saying, but sometimes it doesn't - have a very clearly defined project ready to go before you begin. The more clearly you understand exactly what you want to accomplish the easier it will be to write about it in a way that convinces other people it really is a great idea.

8. Call and ask for help if you need it. Again, there are real people on the other end of the phone.

So why did Grants.gov make me cry?

After two weeks of laboring over my first application and a slow but steady climb up the learning curve I was feeling pretty proud of myself. It wasn't easy but I was doing it. About an hour before the deadline I was at home putting the finishing touches on the application and finally felt ready to press "Submit."

The darn thing wouldn't go through. And the crying began.

I tried everything I could think of. Re-sumbitting. Re-loading. You name it - I tried it. Rejected. Rejected and rejected again. Until time ran out. Midnight.

All that work for nothing. I missed the deadline. The first missed deadline in 20 years. Our wonderful project was in jeopardy.

The next morning I picked up the phone and called. A very nice, real person, picked up the phone and listened to my sad story. In just a few minutes she was able to point out that I had one number wrong in my EIN (Employer Identification Number) number and that if I just fixed it and resubmitted the application she would accept it. After the deadline. Because she was a real, reasonable, person and had the ability to change a giant government's deadline for a poor little museum director who made a mistake.

We got the grant. And I don't cry any more when I apply to grants.gov.




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