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Dear Colleagues,
The GrantProse vision is to provide high quality, personalized services and resources that are reasonably priced and widely accessible. Toward this end, we provide this newsletter free and hope you will forward it to your colleagues. We welcome your suggestions--please email ideas to Rita Lewis, newsletter editor.
We have launched a new design for the GrantProse website. Please be patient with us if you encounter problems . . . we are our own webmasters! We will continue to support favorite links such as Grant Alerts and Web Resources in a more user-friendly environment that provides you the latest and best information on grant development resources.
Also, we are in the process of developing webinars to provide training over the Internet. We anticipate hosting our first webinars in the next couple of months. As always, thanks for your appreciation of our work.
Bill CarruthersGrantProse, Inc.
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ARRA and NC |
News on stimulus funding in North Carolina
Strategic Energy Planning Workshops
The State Energy Office is conducting free workshops to help North Carolina officials gain access to more than $58.3 million in federal recovery funds to create jobs and conserve energy. Representatives from state agencies, public universities, community colleges, public school systems and local governments will receive detailed information on completing a strategic energy plan, which MUST be submitted when applying for ARRA block grant funds. Day-long workshops are scheduled for the following locations:
June 17: Hickory - Catawba Valley Community College, Hickory
June 18: Fayetteville - Fayetteville Tech Community College, Spring Lake
June 19: Wilmington - New Hanover Library, Wilmington
June 29: Raleigh - Wake Tech Community College, Raleigh
Check the Energy Office website for details, or call Jeanette Martin at 919.733.2230. The Energy Office has also posted the workshop's PowerPoint presentation on its website, and will offer an online version (webinar) in the near future.
Economic Recovery Workshops
The NC Office of Economic Recovery & Investment (OERI) is holding its last Economic Recovery Workshop in Charlotte on June 18. The workshops, led by OERI director Dempsey Benton in various locations around the state, feature representatives from state and federal agencies administering recovery funds in North Carolina, and provide information and guidance to local municipalities, businesses and interested citizens on how recovery funds will be administered. Check OERI's website for highlights from past presentations and details on the Charlotte workshop.
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Bulletin Board
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July 7-October 15, 2009. GrantProse is conducting a series of two-day grant-writing workshops at the Western Wake campus of Wake Tech Community College. These fast-paced, individualized workshops are designed for those with beginning to intermediate grant-writing skills and experience. Participants will create text in response to common proposal sections (e.g., problem statement, project design, evaluation plan) and practice budgeting. Rather than "sitting and getting," you will be writing and budgeting...bring your laptop and be prepared to have your work critiqued. Visit the GrantProse website for more information and to register for any of the following dates: July 7-8, August 18-19, September 15-16 or October 13-14.
August 13, 2009. Grants Information Network (GIN) of NC meeting, 9-11 am. Speaker TBA.
August-September, 2009. The Council on Entrepreneurial Development, in partnership with the Small Business Technology Development Center, will offer a three-part training program focused on starting and growing a company via local and federal grant funding. The first session is focused on connecting with local and federal granting sources. The second session will provide an entrepreneur's perspective on grants and tips on preparing a grant proposal and identifying funding sources. The third session will offer one-on-one counseling sessions with expert grant writers and specialists. Visit CED's website for more information on the workshops, which will be held August 20, September 10 and September 24.
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In the Spotlight
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GIN News
The June 11 meeting of the Grants Information Network (GIN) of North Carolina addressed reorganizing GIN as a legal entity (e.g., nonprofit organization). Those attending and participating in the discussion were Karen Barlow, Bill Carruthers, Bryan Chadwick, Linda Hatcher, Angela Hicks, Robert Johnson, Laurie Kovens, Martha Lowrance, Sally Wade and RV Rikard, who led the discussion. A working group was organized to study the options and produce a recommendation for GIN members by the next meeting on August 13. Most of those attending the meeting signed up for the working group, but there is opportunity for others to join. In particular, the group needs representation from the eastern and western parts of the state. Most, if not all, of this work will be done via email, the Internet and possibly teleconferencing. If you are interested in helping craft a proposal to reorganize GIN, please contact RV Rikard at 919.995.2721 or rvrikard@ncsu.edu.
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Tips & Resources
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Foundation Center Cooperating Collections
The Foundation Center has increased its number of cooperating collections in North Carolina, enabling more grantseekers to access its publications and such services as the Foundation Directory Online, a subscription database of more than 95,000 grantmakers. Cooperating collections, housed in libraries and other resource centers, are free to users. Visit the Foundation Center's website for directions to North Carolina's cooperating collections, located in Asheville, Brevard, Charlotte, Durham, Greensboro, Jacksonville, Kinston, Raleigh, Spruce Pine, Wilmington and Winston-Salem. To help carry out its initiative of reaching underserved populations, the Foundation Center also seeks proposals to house new cooperating collections in regions the need additional grantseeking resources.
Get LinkedIn with GIN
The Grants Information Network (GIN) of North Carolina has established a professional networking group with LinkedIn, affording you more opportunities to network and share information about developing grant proposals and managing grant programs. If you already have a LinkedIn account, search for "Grants Information Network (GIN) of North Carolina" using the "Search Groups" query and then request to join the group. If you do not have an account, sign up for one for free on LinkedIn, and then search for the GIN group and request to join. If you have questions about GIN on LinkedIn, please email RV Rikard.
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Grant Opportunities
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Deadline: 8/04/09
Program: Innovative Strategies in Community Colleges for Working Adults and Displaced Workers
Agency: US Dept. of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education
Description: Supports innovative grants and cooperative agreements to improve postsecondary education, including projects that improve academic remediation, tutoring, student support services and other activities that meet the unique needs of community college students and adult learners.
Award Amount: $300,000-$750,000 (3-year project period)
Website: ED.gov (CFDA #84.116)
Eligibility: Colleges
Deadline: 10/07/09
Program: Picturing America: School Collaboration Projects
Agency: National Endowment for the Humanities
Description: Funding for local and regional projects that foster collaboration between K-12 educators and humanities scholars to encourage engagement with the rich resources of American art to tell America's story.
Award Amount: Up to $75,000
Website: NEH (CFDA #45.163)
Eligibility: Nonprofits, government agencies
Sixteen new grant alerts have recently been uploaded to the GrantProse website. To view these and many more opportunities, visit www.GrantProseInc.com.
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Writing (Grant) Prose
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Do You Have References?
By Rita Lewis
Reference citations give pause to many a grant writer. Should I capitalize everything? Underline titles? Italicize anything?
Help is out there in the form of style guides, or manuals. The most commonly used include the Chicago Manual of Style (University of Chicago Press), Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the MLA (Modern Language Association) Handbook. A typical citation according to APA (often used to cite sources for the social sciences) might look like this:
Smith, W. L., & Doe, R. (2009). Good ideas and bad: Hunting and gathering (11th ed.). Bayside, VA: Southern Association for Historians.
Chicago has an online style guide available by subscription. On July 1, APA will launch the Sixth Edition of its style manual as well as a revamped website that will provide tutorials, samples and a style blog. Citation Machine is a free online tool that translates source information into correctly formatted citations. And Googling "reference citation format" yields numerous hits for websites that offer advice on how to format citations.
If the RFP tells you to use a style guide, do it. But whether you use one or not, aim for consistency. Make a style sheet documenting your decisions (e.g., on formatting, capitalization, specific terms), and your proposal will be more polished.
Questions about writing? Email Rita Lewis, newsletter editor, and we'll address your concerns in future issues. | |
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