Grants are Rarely "Free" Money

I hate to rain on the enthusiastic notion that grants are basically free money. Free money, whoo hoo! Matthew Lesko and a host of other "Free Grant Money" websites will assure you that you've been missing out on all sorts of dough for doing exactly what you've been doing. And they're wrong.

Grants refer to a variety of funding mechanisms, but are usually funds supplied for programs, research, investigations, or pilot projects. Someone wants something done and they'll fund you or your organization to do it. Grants for students or non-repayable scholarships usually stipulate that you graduate or at least maintain a certain GPA. Government grants require deliverables of some sort, and foundation grants require proof that you accomplished what you said you would. So why aren't they free?

Few funders will pay for 100% of any project's costs. You can do your best budget work, calculate indirect costs, and plan for all contingencies and still come up short in the final analysis, and this is to be expected because funders assume that you will take a small portion of the responsibility for the successful completion of your grant project. Responsibility for things like writing progress reports, keeping careful accounting of expenditures, writing publicity for the project, and making sure the project doesn't die by raising more funds.

Don't be swindled into thinking there's buckets of moolah just waiting for you. Grants are a serious business, and funders are looking for project commitment, not someone looking for free money. Now where's the link to that unclaimed property website?

Book Review

Everything You Need to Know About Grants: How To Write The Grant--How To Get The Grant--Where To Get The Grant
Well, Mr. Hollis, not everything one needs to know about grants. After brushing aside the Christian references in every chapter, I found OK advice about starting a non-profit organization, writing grants, and general fundraising. There are lots of references, a few templates, and over 114 pages listing potential funder contact info, of which a large portion is bound to be out-of-date. But my main gripe with the author is that he does not explain the importance of the distinction between grants and gifts (or contributions). This book is appropriate for some faith-based programs and services, but can’t stand alone as the “ultimate” grant guide. Sorry Mr. Hollis.

Zotero Extension for Firefox

If you do a lot of online research using Mozilla Firefox as your browser, check out the Zotero extension. Developed by the Center for History and New Media of George Mason University, it's a blend of old-school research notes and web-savvy organization. Developed by scholars used to organizing reference notes via index cards, this handy tool allows the capture of information from libraries, databases, blogs, and other web pages. Once captured, the user can add notes, associate items, and link files and images. Plus, Zotero allows you to annotate sources with highlighting and sticky notes. Best of all, you can organize and export references in a variety of styles into Word or OpenOffice and do not need to be online.