We are now officially in the midst of the grant writing season, and there are some exciting opportunities for schools and youth programs. Here are a few that I think you should review closely:
Improving Literacy Through School Libraries - This program allows LEAs (predominantly school districts) to compete for up to $600,000 for a 12 month period, specifically to acquire up-to-date school library resources, including media resources, books, advanced technology, etc. You can also use the funds to provide professional development for school library media specialists and for expanding school library hours. To be eligible, at least 20% of a district's families must be below the poverty line. Check out the official eligibility list. Due: April 20, 2010.
Grants to Reduce Alcohol Abuse - This program allows LEAs to apply for grants up to $450,000 per year for up to 3 years to prevent and reduce alcohol abuse among secondary school students. There will only be nine of these awarded nationally, so the competition will be severe, but don't let that scare you! Due date: April 16, 2010.
Strategic Enhancement to Mentoring - This opportunity is for public or private agencies to enhance a current mentoring program using one of three identified strategies. Applicants are eligible to receive between $200,000 and $500,000 to be spent over 18 to 36 months. While public agencies (including LEAs and other local government units) are eligible to apply, the list of previously funded grantees shows that the funding source prefers non-profit organizations. Due date: April 14, 2010.
Investing in Innovation (i3) - It seems like we have been waiting for this release for a long, long time, and it is finally here! The i3 grants provide the opportunity to expand the implementation of innovative practices that have been shown to increase student achievement, close the achievement gap, and increase graduation rates. There are three different types of grants - Scale-Up, Validation, and Development. Applications are due in May, and some big money is available. If you're interested, I strongly recommend that you attend one of the information sessions or webinars to be held on March 19, March 24 or March 30.
There are many more grant opportunities available right now with even more due to be released soon. For more information, visit our website or call (530-669-3600).
Grant Writing Tips
We are all about providing the support you need to be successful. Just about every day, we put grant writing tools and tips online for you (see the article on resources, below).
Here are some of our recent blog posts targeting excellent grant tips that can make the difference between success and failure:
Every now and then we like to share about the amazing grant writing tools we have to help you be successful. Most are totally FREE.
Those that aren't free are very inexpensive. Please feel free to share
these tools with your friends and colleagues. Grant writers need all
the help they can get.
New Text Message Tips. This is really new for us. We're sending
out grant writing tips and grant sources via text message. There are
four different groups you can join - you can join them all or jusd the
one or two that interest you the most. The tips are totally free, but
if you don't have an unlimited text plan with your mobile provider,
standard text message rates apply. We're sending out 2-3 messages per
week for each group, so you won't be inundated with texts and we do not
sell third party advertising so you won't be flooded with ads, either.
Here's how you sign up:
Text GRANTS to 313131 for grant writing tips.
Text EDGRANTS to 313131 for grant sources relating to education.
Text KIDGRANTS to 313131 for grant sources for youth programs.
Text NONPROFIT to 313131 for non-profit development and fund raising tips.
Free online webinars. Right now, we offer free recorded webinars on the following grant writing topics:
Top 10 Tips for Grant Writing
Collaborating with School Districts on Grants
Writing Good Letters of Support
Grant Research: The Basics
Effective Grant Research
In addition to these topics, we have other webinars on various
program evaluation and non-profit development topics. All are between
20 and 40 minutes long (most are about 30 minutes) and all are
available for viewing on demand, and did I mention they are FREE?
BlogTalk Radio Tips from the Grant Goddess. Every Friday at 3:00 p.m. (Pacific) we air our 30 minute online radio show, Tips from the Grant Goddess,
on BlogTalkRadio. If you miss the live show, you can listen to the
recordings on demand at any time. There are currently over 35 shows
archived for listening at your leisure. Some of the many grant writing
topics covered in these shows include:
The Art and the Science of Grant Writing
Tips for Effective Collaboration
Budget Development
Writing Good Letters of Support
Grant Writing: The Basics
Grant Seeking
Developing a Logic Model
Selecting Evidence-Based Programs and Practices
Grant Writing Resources Page. This page has quite a selection of great FREE grant writing resources and tools, including articles and links to other sites with good grant writing resources.
Grant Tips iPhone App.
We took the time to put together an iPhone application with 101+ grant
tips to help you succeed with your grant writing. Currently, the app
is available for 99 cents in the App Store. You can get more
information here.
Pretty soon, the FREE version of the app (Grant Tips Lite) will be
available. It will have only 50 tips, rather than over a hundred, but
the other features will all be the same. Stay tuned for more
information as we release the new app.
Membership at GrantGoddess.com.
Everything I've told you about so far has been free (or very
inexpensive). A membership at GrantGoddess.com costs only $9.95/month
(or you can save some money and get an annual membership for $99/year).
On the member site, you'll have access to the largest collection of
grant seeking, grant writing, program evaluation, and non-profit
development resources available on the web! The content is not
duplicated from the free site; it's all developed just for members.
We launched the member site in January 2010 and it's growing every
day. But here's the rub --- the early bird rate of $9.95/mo is only
good until the end of May. On June 1, the price will go up to
$19.95/month. Lock in your lower membership rate now!
Do you need help with a grant project? If you would like our help with a grant or evaluation project, please call (530-669-3600) or send an email. We'd love to hear from you!
We are now officially in the midst of the grant writing season, and there are some exciting opportunities for schools and youth programs. Here are a few that I think you should review closely:
We are all about providing the support you need to be successful. Just about every day, we put grant writing tools and tips online for you (see the article on resources, below). 
