Several federal agencies that post notices of grant availability on Grants.gov require that applications be submitted to a different web site. Because this is happening more and more, the article "Online Submissions Systems Beyond Grants.gov" (Local/State Funding Report, December 21, 2009) warns that you should scrutinize the RFP carefully to make sure you’re submitting your proposal on the correct site. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), for example, announces all their grant programs on Grants.gov, but while Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS applications must be submitted on Grants.gov, Continuum of Care program applications must be submitted on HUD’s e-snaps site. Even more confusing—the U.S. Department of Justice accepts some applications for new discretionary funding only through Grants.gov but continuation grants only through their Grants Management System.

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Increasingly, corporate donors are directing employee involvement toward charities whose needs match well with employee skills. And they continue to favor the nonprofit organizations most in sync with the donor’s business interests. Two articles that discuss these trends—"Corporate givers look for strategic employee engagement" and "Corporate grantwriters [sic] aligning giving with business interests" both from the January 2010 issue of Corporate Philanthropy Report—are based on presentations made last fall at the Independent Sector conference by top giving officers at American Express, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Deloitte & Touche, and the MetLife Foundation. In making grants, companies are seeking public recognition, genuine partnerships, and ways to strengthen their own employee recruitment and client relations. The Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, another conference participant, says the value of corporate employee time devoted to capacity building and other support for nonprofit organizations has reached $400 million and continues to grow.

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How do grantmakers decide which grantees they’ll continue funding and which ones they’ll drop? Their level of involvement with, and understanding of, their grantees is a major factor, says Teri S. Blandon in "Show and Tell—and Ask" (CharityChannel, January 6, 2010), and she lays out ways to steward and solidify relationships with funders: [Full article can be accessed only by CharityChannel subscribers.]

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Two key elements of successful relationships with federal funding agencies are (1) the way you prepare to apply for a grant and (2) the way you manage the finer points of the grant requirements after you’ve been funded. "Start the New Year Off Right by Covering Your Bases" (Local/State Funding Report, January 21, 2010) highlights several areas where attention to detail is crucial:

• Be specific, in your proposal, about how you will measure the success of your project.
• Make sure your estimate of potential income from the project is as accurate as possible.
• Keep originals and duplicates of all records and receipts documenting your expenses.
• Be prepared to easily produce any records the funding agency may request during site visits or in response to progress reports.
• Be sure to follow both the record-keeping requirements specific to your particular grant and the standard federal requirements.
• Be prepared for an audit by the funding agency.

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The following article, which originally appeared in the K-12 Partnership Report, focuses on proposals, not for funding, but for partnerships. And it’s aimed specifically at those working to build stronger K-12 partnerships. But the principles Brett Pawlowski lays out here can easily be adapted by those at other kinds of public agencies and not-for-profit organizations. And given the high value grantmakers place on collaborative relationships, this thoughtful little guide deserves a place in your grantsmanship tool kit.

In partnership development, like in sales, sometimes a strong proposal can make all the difference in getting your prospective partner to commit.

Proposals are certainly not required in every situation: smaller-scale initiatives rarely justify them, and they are not always needed when talking with a sole decision-maker. But in cases where you’re requesting a large commitment, or when many people are involved in the decision to partner with you, a well-written proposal is an indispensable tool in securing an agreement.

It is important to note that writing and submitting a proposal should be the last step, not the first, in the partnership development process. A proposal should only be developed after working through the following phases with your prospective partner:

• Identifying the proper point of contact; knowing that your current contact has the authority to make decisions on partnerships, or that he or she understands and can guide the decision-making process
• Learning about your partner’s interests: what they are trying to accomplish as an organization, what sorts of benefits they would like to realize from a partnership
• Learning about your partner’s organization: business characteristics, key issues, interests in K-12 education, resources they could contribute to the partnership
• Determining how your partner measures success on its social initiatives

This information is critical in creating a customized partnership plan that provides a return to your partners as they define it, and allows you to frame your proposed partnership in terms that your partner will see as relevant to his or her business or organization.

Elements of a successful proposal
The exact structure of your proposals will vary based on your audience and what you are trying to accomplish. But the elements below should be addressed in some way:

Brett Pawlowski is the president of DeHavilland Associates, publisher of the K-12 Partnership Report. This article originally appeared in their October 2009 issue. Reprinted with permission from the publisher.

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