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Observations from the Federal Grants Symposium

by Sharon Gherman, Funding Exchange, Inc. President/CEO

I attended the federal grants symposium in Anchorage, Alaska held by Alaska’s congressional staff on April 14, 2009 along with a large number of other folks interested in hearing about stimulus funding. While the information presented was geared toward Alaskans, at least a few of my observations of the event will hold true nationwide:

• ‘Way too small a room, guys – again. Even though this year’s symposium was held in twice as big a room as last year’s meeting, it was so crowded I felt like a spawning salmon in an Alaskan stream. I stepped outside the room at one point to answer my vibrating cell phone, and that was – literally - the last time I could get into the room for the rest of the day… it was shoulder to shoulder all the way out the door.
  
• I appreciated the effort shown by the federal departments to attend, create and man booths with information about federal funding, their departmental programs and to answer questions. It was invaluable to be able to ask questions of so many federal program officers in one location – I’m sure it saved us all a half-day or more of work instead of tracking each one down separately by phone. Nice job, guys.
  
  That being said, where was the Dept. of Education?? They simply weren’t there. Why? I’m sure the large number of education folks who attended noted their absence… especially with No Child Left Behind having been placed so prominently on their radar screen by the feds the last few years.
  
• Overall, the 15-20 minute presentations by department officers were helpful to get a picture of how they are operating at the moment, and to gain some insight of the programs they’re offering. Some of them, however, were pretty dry, and didn’t address stimulus funding except in the most peripheral way. And 15-20 minute presentations for hours on end can be trying in itself…
  
• Greatest Faux Pas of the Day: While the program officers were great about letting folks know what types of funds would likely become available, they couldn’t/wouldn’t recommend anyone to assist organizations to finalize plans for projects or prepare proposals. When I left brochures with program officers and told them about Funding Exchange’s services, they literally told me: “We can’t recommend anyone to help organizations.”
  
  Well, ok, but couldn’t you figure out some way to create a list of vendors licensed in the state to offer these services who have indicated they have staff available to help? I would think a caveat on the list to say that no one entity is being recommended and that success rates of the various organizations are not known or guaranteed would be sufficient to cover liability and avoid the appearance of preferential treatment. The frustration of organizational representatives attending the symposium to finding grantwriting assistance was palpable during the entire meeting. I know this was a meeting put on by bureaucrats, but I’d encourage them to start thinking creatively… there are legal ways to accomplish these things, I’m quite sure.
  
• Conclusion: Our Congressional staff and the federal department officers are doing their best, but they still didn’t know exactly what’s going on with stimulus funding. Some funding is coming directly from the feds in the form of federal RFP’s, and for the most part, those are starting to show up on www.grants.gov . The remainder of the funds will be passed through the states, and while the RFP’s are out for the states to apply for the funding, it will likely be several more months before individual companies or organizations can apply for funds through state RFP’s.
  
• The Funding Exchange is here to provide assistance to applying organizations in all states, whether you need an evaluation plan for your proposal; someone to write the entire proposal; or someone to write just the persuasive part of the narrative to be sure you’re presenting your project in the most convincing way possible. Please pass the word around – the feds sure aren’t willing to do it at this point. You can download a copy of our color brochure here if you’d like to pass it along. Thank you!