Texas Library Association April 12, 2011
Victoria Lynn Packard, Associate Professor & Coordinator of Instructional Services and Distance Learning Texas A&M University – Kingsville Suzanne Sears, Assistant Dean for Public Services University of North Texas Jennifer Peters Grants Administrator Texas State Library Michelle Malizia, Associate Director National Network of Libraries of Medicine, South Central Region
Foundation Center Online and Federal Grants Data to Support Grant Proposals Writing a Good Proposal The Funders’ Perspective Questions and Answers
The Place for Non-Profit Grants
Victoria Lynn Packard Texas A&M University - Kingsville
Main
Foundation Center over 90,000 donors
Grants
to Individuals around 8,000 donors
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Victoria
Lynn Packard
Associate Professor Coordinator of Instructional Services & Distance Learning Foundation Center Supervisor Texas A&M University-Kingsville
[email protected] 361-593-4153
Suzanne Sears Assistant Dean for Public Services University of North Texas
Statistics that are clear and reputable can strengthen your needs statement and help provide a sense of urgency for funding. Comparative statistics and research, citing a community that did something similar to your proposal and its beneficial results, makes a strong case for your proposed actions. Personal stories anchored with hard data create a well-supported need statement that is a winner.
Document all your data with full citations! Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
UNT Government Documents Department ◦
[email protected] or 940-565-2870
Other Depository Libraries
◦ http://catalog.gpo.gov/fdlpdir/FDLPdir.jsp ◦ Click “FDLP PUBLIC PAGE”
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
How to interpret and find relevant data
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Nation Regions Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA’s) States ◦ Counties
Census Tracts-Block Groups-Blocks
◦ Places (cities and towns) ◦ Zip Code Tabulation Areas ◦ Congressional Districts
These are the most common geographic areas. There are lots more!!!!!
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Decennial Census
◦ Summary Files 1-4 (SF 1-4) ◦ Redistricting Data
American Community Survey
◦ On Legacy American Fact Finder until Fall 2011 ◦ Replaces decennial census long form
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
American Fact Finder Glossary
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Hispanic or Latino is considered an ethnic origin not a race People of Hispanic origin may be of any race In federal statistical systems ethnic origin is a separate concept from race Changes in how the Hispanic origin question was asked can skew results when comparing them to 1990 Census
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Median Household Income
Per Capita Income
Poverty Rate
Received Public Assistance
◦ Not adjusted regionally
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Median Value and Rent
◦ Housing values become outdated quickly
Overcrowding is greater than 1 person per room ◦ People per unit/Rooms in unit (including kitchens and bathrooms)
Affordability
◦ Percent of income a household pays toward all housing expenses should not be greater than 30% of the gross household income
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
http://factfinder2.census.gov/main.html
◦ New version has 2000 and 2010 Decennial Census data
http://factfinder.census.gov
◦ Legacy version has American Community Survey
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Easiest way to get data is by inputting a(2011 street Suzanne Sears TLA) address
Sears (2011 TLA) Insert address andSuzanne hit GO
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA) Choose your geography
Choose your dataSuzanne topic Sears (2011 TLA)
DP tables are profiles that Include several popular Census tables. They include percentages.
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Advanced searching Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Choose a Topic
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Choose one or more geographies
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Remember to ADD Geographies to your selections
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
View your selections
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
You can compare areas side-by-side, modify tables, download data, bookmark results, and create maps Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
P007—Hispanic or Latino by Race Use this table to get the percentage of Hispanics with the percentage of Whites, Black, American Indian, Asian, etc.
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
P8 ◦ Sex by Age P9 ◦ Household Type (Including Living Alone) By Relationship Use for grandchildren, step-children, adult parent
P15
◦ Family Type By Presence of Own Children Under 18 Years By Age of Own Children Use for single parent families and sex of parent with custody
P18
◦ Sex By Marital Status For The Population 15 Years and Over Use for number of divorced, widowed, etc.
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
P19 ◦ Age By Language Spoken At Home By Ability To Speak English For The Population 5 Years And Over P20 ◦ Household Language By Linguistic Isolation P37 ◦ Sex By Educational Attainment For the Population 25 Years and Over Use for number of high school graduates & college degree information
P43 ◦ Sex By Employment Status For The Population 16 Years and Over P50 ◦ Sex by Occupation for the Employed Civilian Population 16+ Years
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
P53 ◦ Median Household Income in 1999 (Dollars) P82 ◦ Per Capita Income in 1999 (Dollars) P87 ◦ Poverty Status in 1999 By Age PCT1 ◦ Unmarried-partner Households by Sex of Partners PCT8 ◦ Grandparents Living w/own Grandchildren<18 Years by Responsibility for own Grandchildren by Length of Time Responsible…. H7 ◦ Tenure (Owner or Renter Occupied Housing Units) H40 ◦ House Heating Fuel
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
H45 ◦ Tenure by Vehicles Available by Age of Householder H 69 ◦ Gross Rent as a Percentage of Household Income in 1999 H76 ◦ Median Value (Dollars) For Specified Owner-Occupied Housing Units H80 ◦ Mortgage Status Mortgage, second mortgage, home equity loan H88 ◦ Median Price Asked (Dollars) Vacant for sale housing units H97 ◦ Household Income in 1999 by Selected Monthly Owner Costs as a Percentage of Household Income in 1999
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Census numbers for poverty not regionally adjusted
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Federal definition of “low income” set by HUD is 30%, 50%, 80% of local area median family income Income required for families to meet their basic needs without public or private assistance (Texas Family Security Index)
Comprehensive Housing Affordability Statistics http://www.huduser.org/portal/datasets/cp.html
HAMFI HUD Area Median Family Income
http://www.huduser.org/portal/datasets/il/index_il2010.html
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Making It: What it Really Takes to Live in Texas (Family Security Index) ◦ http://www.cppp.org/research.php?aid=120
Texas Poverty 101
◦ http://www.cppp.org/files/8/Pov%20101%20Sep%2 010_Final.pdf
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Statistics on Children and Teenagers
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Generational Poverty
Poor Schools
Single Parent
Drug Abuse
Large Family
Crime/Bad Neighborhood
Minority Status
Bad Grades
Inability to Speak English
Poor Parenting Skills
Negative Peer Influence
Poor Social Skills
No Phone in Household No Vehicle in Household
Available in Census Data
Harder to find data on Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
State of Texas Children
◦ http://www.cppp.org/sotc/county_select.php
Kids Count Data Center
◦ http://datacenter.kidscount.org/
Youth Online (Center for Disease Control)
◦ http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/youthonline/App/Default.aspx
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
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Compare other states
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American Health Rankings
http://www.americashealthrankings.org/
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
I have all these statistics now what?
Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
When working with Census data, stay within the same data set for comparisons
◦ You must compare sample data sets to sample data sets and complete count data sets to complete count data sets
Be careful of geographic changes over time
Be aware in differences in questions asked
Population changes should be analyzed by individual, households, & housing units to get a true picture of how a city has changed Comparing across geographies gives you some perspective Suzanne Sears (2011 TLA)
2000 first year individuals could choose more than one race—over 6 million people did
Hispanic or Latino asked before race
Asian-Pacific in 1990 broken into two separate races in 2000
7 main racial categories ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦
White alone Black or African American alone American Indian and Alaska Native alone Asian alone Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone Some Other Race Two or more races
Remember HUD income limits and Family Security Index Situational poverty ◦ Looks like a poverty area based on income, but the group quarters skews the data (ex. College campus) ◦ You can extract this data with a footnote
Who is your audience and what are you trying to communicate? Is it more effective to say 1 in 4 or 25%? Top 5 / Top 10 lists are effective ways to present data and get people to remember it
Use graphs and maps
Cite your data
Use whole percentages (32% instead of 31.5%)
Suzanne
Sears Assistant Dean for Public Services University of North Texas Libraries 1155 Union Circle #305190 Denton, Texas 76203-5017 940-565-2868
[email protected]
Jennifer Peters Grants Administrator Texas State Library and Archives
Getting Started You Need: Application Guidelines Application Form (might be completed online) Your Project Plan AND: Ability to follow instructions Attention to detail Creativity Ability to find relevant data Enthusiasm about serving your population
Jennifer Peters
So, where do I start?
Start with a PLAN.
Jennifer Peters
What is my library’s mission? What are my library’s short-term and long-term goals? What does my community need, specifically? What does my library need, specifically? What projects am I looking to fund? What are my building needs? How much will it cost? When do I need the funds? What funding do I already have in place?
Jennifer Peters
Application Guidelines Important Questions to Ask: Is my library or Friends group eligible to apply? Does my project “fit” with the funder’s goals/funding priorities? What is the proposal deadline? Do I understand the funding cycle? Is the amount I’m seeking within the funder’s giving range? Who do I call if I have Am I clear on what parts of my budget the questions? How responsive funder funds and what it doesn’t fund? are they? Do I understand where to find all the application components? Is there a word or character limit for the proposal? Do I have all required attachments? Jennifer Peters
Application Form Executive Summary/Abstract/LOI
Organization Description/Mission
Project Impact
Timeline
Staffing
Budget
Project Evaluation
Sustainability
Needs Assessment
Project Plan
Attachments Jennifer Peters
Executive Summary/Abstract/LOI Brief introduction of the Project 1 sentence – 1 page Usually first thing read by the reviewers Possibly only thing read by highers-up “Snapshot” of proposal Includes amount of ask Usually written last Avoid: Cutting and pasting from actual proposal Too much detail
Jennifer Peters
Organization Description/Mission Boiler-plate who, what, why, when, and how Include your mission statement, vision, organizational values, strategic plan Programming Accomplishments/Awards Ties to community Description of the community your library serves http://www.census.gov/ Avoid: Assuming that the grant reviewer is familiar with your community Not tying your organization description/mission to your Project Describing yourself as so pitiful that funder will wonder if you have the capacity to support the Project Jennifer Peters
Needs Assessment
Describe the community problem you are trying to address
Use up-to-date qualitative and quantitative data to support your description of the problem Census, surveys, data from local sources, anecdotes, quotes Other efforts in the community to address this problem (or not) Be able to fully describe your target audience Demographics, numbers, geography Why you?
Avoid: Use of the words “many” or “some” Not relating the need to the Project you are proposing Making the issue seem hopeless Jennifer Peters
Project Plan
Describe precisely what you plan to do to address the community issue you have identified, AKA nuts and bolts Start at the very beginning and describe every activity through to the very end of the Project Who, what, where, when, why Describe how you will target and attract the target audience Be able to describe why you chose this methodology over others Is this approach is innovative or new? If so, make sure to point this out Identify planned collaborations Avoid: Assuming that the grant reviewers will make connections that aren’t explicitly stated Not tying the plan to the community needs you identified Jennifer Peters
Project Impact
What do you hope to accomplish with this Project Sometimes called Goals and Objectives Goals: broad statements of what you will accomplish (AKA Outcomes) Objectives: operational, specific things that can be measured (AKA Outputs) What benefit will this have on your target population? Must be SMART Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timelines Is this a model program? Avoid: Generalities on numbers served Losing the specifics in narrative—use bullet points, etc. for clarity Over-promising results—be realistic!
Jennifer Peters
Timeline
A different summary of the Project, based on when events will occur Describe all activities and map out against a monthly timeline Timeline must cover entire funding period, may include activities pre and post-award Avoid: Lack of specificity on description of Project activities Not building in enough time to ramp up Project activities, if new Hiring, Developing curricula, etc.
Jennifer Peters
Staffing
Who will be responsible for the project? What piece of staff time will be funded by this proposal? Include name, full title, qualifications, experience Will you be hiring new staff for this Project? What are the job duties of staff persons working on this Project? What is the time commitment for each staff person on this Project? Avoid: Lack of specificity Assumptions that you’ve covered this elsewhere
Jennifer Peters
Budget
How to Start? Go through entire list of planned activities and list expenses Total Project Budget vs. Ask Ask for what you need
Remember this is an cost projection
Use a spreadsheet—so you can remember what you’ve done Be able to justify how you arrived at an estimate Use budget forms if provided Level of detail required can vary enormously Review funding guidelines on allowable costs Avoid: Inflation of costs; underestimation of costs Jennifer Peters
Budget
Possible expenses/categories to consider: Personnel (current staff, new staff) Benefits Contractual Services
Project Equipment
Project Materials
Supplies
Communication
Travel
Facilities
Evaluation
Overhead/Indirect
Jennifer Peters
Sample Total Project Budget, with narrative
Jennifer Peters
Project Evaluation How are you going to document whether or not your Project has been successful? How are you going to measure the success of the Project? Management tool, not necessarily scientific review What was the impact of this Project? Derived from Project goals and objectives Build into Plan how you will evaluate Outputs (numbers attending Project activities) Surveys (Changes in attitude, knowledge, beliefs, etc.) Consider: Logic Model Outcomes-Based Evaluation
Jennifer Peters
Short-Term
ESOL learners gain ability to read directions and instructions in English. ESOL learners gain confidence in their ability to communicate in English.
Intermediate
Employers report increased interest in hiring non-native English speakers. ESOL learners become fully fluent in English.
Long-Term
Non-English speakers are fully integrated into the community. The education rate for the children of nonnative English speakers increases. The unemployment rate among non-English speakers drops.
Jennifer Peters
Students gain an understanding of basic navigation and how to locate a web page. Library patrons become aware of the resources available on online databases. Students show increased critical thinking skills. ESOL learners gain ability to read directions and instructions in English. Students demonstrate an appreciation of regional authors. Participants understand the value of voting in local, state and national elections. Program attendees recognize and are sensitive to cultural differences in the clinical setting. Pre-school children recognize that the value of books for learning and for fun.
Jennifer Peters
Sustainability
Answers the question: what’s going to happen to this Project when these funds go away? Is the Project viable long-term? Are you developing other funding streams to support this Project long-term? If leveraging funding to support a Project cost that exceeds your ask, be prepared to delineate all potential funding sources. If you plan to integrate into your regular operations, how will you justify this? Why do you need the grant funds then? Who is supporting this program locally? Avoid: “We plan to approach several foundations during the Project year to gain second-year funding.” Who? Why? When? Assuming once funded, always funded. Jennifer Peters
Attachments
Agency Operating Budget Board of Directors List
YTD Financials
IRS Form 990
Annual Audit
Annual Report
Staff Resumes
Job Descriptions
Logic Model
Letters of Support
MOUs
501(c)(3) letter
Jennifer Peters
REMEMBER!!!
–Follow instructions precisely –Be careful about tone –Complete everything they ask for –Include every attachment they ask for –Sell your organization –Eschew obfuscation –Be clear, concise, and stick to word limitations –Avoid library jargon Jennifer Peters
REMEMBER!!!
–Use the funder’s language –Under-write: Less is More –Use active verbs –Avoid acronyms –Does the proposal hold together from start to finish? –Does it have an internal logic? –Do you need prior authorization from your governing agency before you can submit? Jennifer Peters
REMEMBER!!!
–Plan to submit BEFORE the deadline –Double and triple-check the final draft for typos, misspellings, incorrect budgets, etc. –Ask a colleague or friend read the final draft
Jennifer Peters
Additional Selected Resources Pamela H. MacKeller Gerding, Stephanie K. Winning Grants: A How-To-
Do-It Manual for Librarians with Multimedia Tutorials and Grant Development Tools (How-to-Do-It Manuals). New York: Neal-Schuman,
2010. The Grantseeker’s Guide to Winning Proposals. Foundation Center, 2008. The Foundation Center’s Guide to Winning Proposals, vols. 1-2. Foundation Center, 2005. Geever, Jane C. Guide to Proposal Writing. The Foundation Center, 2004. Foundation Center. http://foundationcenter.org/getstarted/learnabout/proposalwriting.html. Free online guides and tutorials to proposal writing.
Jennifer Peters
Jennifer
Peters Grants Administrator Library Development Division Texas State Library and Archives Commission 512-463-5527
[email protected]
aka “Now they tell me!”
Michelle Malizia National Network of Libraries of Medicine-SCR
Funding Process
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This project will improve reading comprehension
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Articulate the problem Develop a solid need statement Write a descriptive abstract/summary Ensure that your figures add up correctly Set a realistic budget
Don’t be afraid to apply Contact your funder with questions Obtain letters of support from partners
Reread your proposal Gather your staff and discuss the plan Review reporting and funding requirements
Learn from rejection Ask for review scores/comments Resubmit
© svilen001: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1139529
Michelle
Malizia
Associate Director National Network of Libraries South Central Region HAM-TMC Library
[email protected]
713-799-7880
