GrantProse, Inc., Newsletter
November 4, 2009
Vol. 2, No. 20
Newsletter Editor: Rita Lewis

North Carolina's leading newsletter for information on grants.
In This Issue
Bulletin Board
In the Spotlight
Guest Column
Tips & Resources
Grant Opportunities
Quick Links
Contact Us:
GrantProse, Inc.
919-414-5861
Info@GrantProseInc.com

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 continue to add features to our website to better serve the grants community. Our Grant Alerts are now divided into two parts: opportunities with fixed deadlines, and a new webpage--Foundations--where we list foundations and other agencies that conduct their grant programs on an ongoing basis, making awards throughout the year.

If you have news or a point of view you'd like to share, please email
Rita Lewis, newsletter editor--we're always interested in items that might benefit our audience. As always, thank you for your appreciation of our work.

Bill Carruthers
GrantProse, Inc.
Bulletin Board
November 13, 2009. Conference on Philanthropy of Community, a program of NCGives and the Center for Community Action, at UNC-Wilmington. The conference will offer presentations on an inclusive approach to philanthropy; program materials include tools for assessing, demonstrating and developing the giving of time, talent and treasure in nonprofit organizations and communities, rural and urban alike. Visit the NCGives website for further information.

December 7-8, 2009.
The Grants Information Network (GIN) of NC will conduct its popular two-day grant-writing workshop in coordination with Wake Tech Community College. This workshop is designed for the novice to beginning grant writer. At $65, it's an inexpensive introduction to the essentials of writing successful grant proposals. Contact Mary Brady at Wake Tech for information.

December 10, 2009.
GIN meeting, 9-11 am. December's meeting is the annual business and networking meeting. Everyone interested in anything grant-related--management, writing, funding opportunities--is welcome to attend. Bring something to eat or drink; GrantProse will provide the coffee to fuel our discussions! Visit GIN's webpage for directions.

In the Spotlight
Comments Invited for i3
The U.S. Department of Education is inviting comments on proposed terms of competition for its Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund. The department has proposed priorities, requirements, definitions and selection criteria for grants for local educational agencies and nonprofit organizations to expand innovative educational practices that improve student achievement. Grants from the fund--established under ARRA--will allow applicants to develop their work to serve as models of best practices. See the Federal Register for directions on submitting comments, which are due November 9, 2009.

Director Sought
The University of Oklahoma is seeking a founding director for its new proposal development center at the Norman campus. The goal of the center, which is still in the creation stage, is to help researchers prepare and submit competitive grant proposals. Visit the university's website for further information; key in job requisition number 08408.
Guest Column
The Human Equation
By Michele Oros

The bigger the stakes, the more likely a grantor will require an experimental or quasi-experimental evaluation design that can compare individuals who receive a treatment with similar individuals who do not. Experimental designs assign qualified members of a target population to subgroups that receive different treatments, including no treatment, to determine the comparative effect of each treatment on the problem being studied. Quasi-experimental designs may provide the same treatment to all members of the target population and compare performance of the target group to a similar group (often called the control or comparison group) that does not directly participate in project activities. 
 
Experimental designs are considered the gold standard of project evaluation, with the potential to yield the most reliable, replicable information. While the assignment of non-human subjects to experimental and control groups is standard practice, most people will think long and hard before agreeing to participate in a randomized study in which they, or their child, may or may not receive the preferred treatment although they qualify for the intervention. For this reason, experimental designs are quite difficult to implement in many human service settings, such as schools.
 
The control group in a quasi-experimental design may be largely unaware of its participation if public data are used for comparison. Although the control group can't prohibit the use of public information, it may be unpleasantly surprised to find itself in the spotlight unless its role in the project was understood from the outset. 
 
Be sure to discuss these challenges with all participating groups before proceeding with a proposal that requires an experimental or quasi-experimental design, and strongly consider including a professional evaluator or researcher on your project team.  Grant budgets typically allow up to 10% of an award to be used for project evaluation, a worthwhile investment if the evaluation includes some type of experimental design. 

Michele Oros has written and managed grant-funded projects for Beaufort County Schools since 2003. She also helps organizations in her community find and obtain grants, and teaches grant writing workshops through NC's community college system.
Tips & Resources
Federal Resources: The U.S. Department of Labor
Searching for federal grant money takes time and patience, but the government provides tools to help. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) is an online catalog of federal programs and services that benefit the American public--state and local governments, nonprofit and for-profit organizations, institutions and individuals alike. Besides grants, assistance includes loans, scholarships and other types of aid; each program is assigned a unique CFDA number. In coming issues, we will review some of the 64 federal agencies in the catalog; please visit our newsletter archives for past issues.
 
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) identifies 10 offices in the CFDA and 42 grant programs. Among the grant programs, 13 are described as formula grants, and 29 as project grants--typically the competitive grants that appeal to grantseekers. Grant programs vary from year to year; two grants awarded in 2009 included YouthBuild grants and grants for worker training and placement in high growth industries. Both were Recovery grants offered through the Employment Training Administration (ETA), an office within DOL. Many agency offices have their own websites with additional resources and information about their grant programs. ETA's website, for example, posts an excellent guide to its competitive grants process.
Grant Opportunities
In addition to the grant opportunities below, be on the lookout for an RFP from the NC Green Business Fund in mid to late November. The fund awards competitive grants to North Carolina organizations with innovative projects to develop and commercialize promising renewable energy and green building technologies.

Deadline: 11/20/09

Program: Biogen Idec Foundation Micro-Grants in Science Education Fund
Agency: Triangle Community Foundation
Description: Funding to support science education programs and projects that might otherwise go unfunded. The foundation will consider a broad range of projects, as long as they expand and enhance science education at the middle- and high-school levels.
Award Amount: $250 to $2,500
Website: Triangle Community Foundation
Eligibility: K-12, nonprofits

Deadline: 12/10/09
Program: Summer of Service, Learn and Serve America (CFDA 94.018)
Agency: Corporation for National & Community Service
Description: Grants to support collaborative efforts implementing community-based service-learning projects during the summer months for middle school students.
Award Amount: Unspecified
Website: LearnandServe.gov
Eligibility: K-12, colleges, nonprofits, government agencies

Deadline: Ongoing
Program: Curbside Recycling Rollout Cart Grant Program
Agency: NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Description: Funding to assist local governments with implementing curbside recycling programs using roll-out carts or transitioning existing curbside recycling programs from bins to roll-out carts.
Award Amount: $100,000
Contact: Jim Hickman
Eligibility: Government agencies

Eighteen new grant alerts have been uploaded to the GrantProse website. To view these and many more opportunities, visit www.GrantProseInc.com.