On May 29, the White House announced modification of a ban on oral communications by lobbyists regarding specific American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grant projects. A June 2, 2009, article in OMB Watch, “White House Announces Changes to Recovery Act Lobbying Memo,” explains the new rules, which apply only to competitive grants—i.e., to about $60 billion of the $778 billion available under ARRA. The new guidelines allow everyone to communicate orally before filing a grant application but prohibit anyone from communicating, except in writing, after filing. Federal agencies remain obligated to make public any contacts made by registered lobbyists before filing, but not those made by other parties who communicate orally. All written communications concerning a competitive grant request will be posted publicly on the Internet.

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The privately developed site, Recovery.org, tracks American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) spending by federal, state, and local agencies. Its home page features a clickable map that allows you to view all active recovery projects by state, as well as by each county within a state.

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Grantees should implement systems that will reduce their exposure to the risk of fraud or misuse of grant funds. In his article, “What Every Nonprofit Must Do to Protect Against Misuse of Grant Funds,” (The Nonprofit Quarterly, June 2, 2009), U.S. Department of Justice agent Kenneth R. Dieffenbach outlines ways to avoid (1) conflicts of interest, (2) misuse of funds, and (3) embezzlement. A grantee can avoid conflict-of-interest problems by following well-defined procedures when making procurements or drawing up consulting contracts, especially if these involve consultants who assisted in the grant process, board members, or others connected to the organization. To avoid even the appearance of misuse of funds, the grantee should implement well-designed systems to ensure funds are used as specified in the grant agreement and to document the use of all funds, particularly with regard to personnel costs. To prevent embezzlement, the grantee should establish and consistently follow internal controls that distribute responsibility, giving no single person full control over receipts and disbursements, review of bank statements and credit card bills, or any other area where fraud can be disguised.

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How can your organization be sure of making a good impression during a site visit by a prospective funder? In “Eight Tips to Prep for a Foundation Site Visit” (CharityChannel, June 3, 2009), Pamela Grow suggests the following steps:

• Make sure you understand what the foundation wants from the visit.
• Schedule the appointment for the best possible date and time for your organization.
• Arrange to have several board members and key staff present at the visit.
• Be sure the foundation knows where you are located and how to get there.
• Reconfirm the appointment the day before the visit.
• Be sure to have people from the constituency you serve available during the visit.
• Don’t share only your success stories with your visitors; discuss some of the problems you’re facing, as well.
• Relax! Don’t stress out during the visit; just be yourself.

[The complete article can be accessed only by CharityChannel subscribers.]

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Proposals inviting corporations to sponsor your organization are different from the typical grant proposal. In “Grant Writers and Corporate Sponsors—You’re pitching a product too: Your organization,” (The Nonprofit Times, June 1, 2009), Waddy Thompson explains how to construct a proposal for corporate sponsorship. His advice: Begin with a short pitch letter that describes how an association with your organization can benefit the sponsor. The letter should provide a range of fees for varying levels of exposure to your audience. Accompany the letter with attachments detailing the demographics of your constituency and the size of your audience. Follow up with a telephone call to determine your prospect’s interest in becoming a sponsor. (But before making that call, make sure you’re prepared to negotiate the terms of an agreement.)

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At many smaller nonprofits the executive director may be the sole person writing proposals. But at larger organizations, those that have a development team as well as program departments, the lead development professional must involve others, delegate responsibility, and coordinate the work.

I am the development director for a large social service organization with a development team. Once we’ve decided to respond to a Request for Proposal (RFP), my job is to:

1. draft a proposal outline, closely following the instructions in the RFP;
2. create a timeline for developing the proposal;
3. identify the other people whose help I’ll need; and
4. enlist their support.

My background is in research and evaluation; because of my experience in tracking down data and writing problem statements, I generate the first drafts of those sections. The program directors with whom I work are experts in their respective social service fields. They take on drafting the outcomes and the methods, as well as the budget.

Our finance department reviews the proposal budget to make sure it fits within the agency’s budgetary process. Because they’re familiar with federal budget guidelines, they know what items may or may not be included in the budget of a federal grant proposal, and they know current fringe and shared administrative (indirect) rates.

If the proposed activity involves contributions from more than one agency, each partner agency must also be included in the proposal development process.

The process described below works well when a team is involved; however, I would use the same strategies if I were working on my own.

• Identify funding opportunities. This is a shared responsibility and results in shared successes. As development director, I research funding data bases, monitor federal grant opportunities, and maintain relationships with private foundations from which we may request funds. The program people who are responsible for doing the work once we get the funds must be experts in all aspects of their field. They need to be aware of other programs and organizations doing similar work, and they need to know who’s funding these efforts. They attend professional conferences to learn not only about successful programs but also about funding opportunities.
• Set a calendar for each proposal. When I’m working on a proposal, I first set a calendar so that everyone is aware of the deadlines for drafts and for assembling critical proposal elements.
  • Be aware of competing demands on your team members’ time.
  • Never give anyone up to the last possible minute to complete a section of the proposal or to provide a necessary attachment.
  • If you’re working with partner agencies, take their schedules into account. Request any information you will need from partners (data, support letters, budgetary needs) right away, so you won’t have to press for a crucial document when you’re down to the wire.
  • Ideally, you should have the complete proposal, including all forms, the narrative, the budget justification, all attachments, and all letters of support at least four or five days before the proposal has to be submitted. (Is this my ultimate objective? Yes. Is it what usually happens? Well, once in a blue moon, yes!)
• Keep your administrative support staff in the loop. An organization’s administrative staff is vital to the proposal development process and must be kept informed.
  • For example, a letter of support may arrive addressed to the executive director or to the board chair. But if you’re the person who urgently needs to include that letter with the proposal, always let the person who monitors incoming mail know you’re expecting it.
  • If you know you’ll need to make an electronic submission on a particular date, give your information technology department advance notice. You don’t want them shutting the system down for maintenance and repairs just when you’re going to need it.
  • If you’ll need to have ten photocopies of a 100-page proposal made at the end of the workday, give your support staff advance warning.
• Play to your team members’ strengths. Members of a seasoned team tend to develop different areas of expertise. Some really like numbers and are good at budgeting. Others are skilled at building relationships. Still others are picky about punctuation. Good proofreaders— people who care where commas belong—should be among your final readers. They may be more helpful if they haven’t been involved earlier; if they’re confused by what you’ve written, a reviewer probably won’t understand it either.
• Relationships are the key. When you know what other members of your team—from the director of finance to the person who does the photocopying—are facing on a daily basis, you can avoid making unreasonable demands on them. Program staff provide a critical link to the beneficiaries of your grant-funded activities. Good relationships with program staff will help you stay on top of what’s going on in the field and in the community. Their experience—and the perspective, needs, and experiences of the people and communities you serve—should inform every element of your proposal, from identifying the problem to establishing objectives and developing effective methods.
• Pulling it all together. As each section of the proposal is completed, pass it on to another team member for review and comment. (Here’s where software that allows you to track changes is invaluable.) As team leader, your job is to review and incorporate all edits, so you should reserve control over the final product.
  • Make sure the tone of the proposal and its terminology are consistent throughout all sections, especially those that have been written by others.
  • Watch out for other inconsistencies. For example, if the person who wrote the staffing section decided to add a new position, both the program design and the budget justification must reflect this change.
• Review the final product against the proposal instructions (one more time). Take the time to double-check each section of the final proposal against the funder’s instructions and review criteria. Have you answered all questions asked? Are your margins, font size, and line spacing correct throughout? This one last review may catch a costly omission or an erroneous formatting instruction that snuck through.
• Unleash your inner control freak. Reserving control over the final product means reserving control over the assembly of the final package, with all attachments and all forms. (I’ve seen someone who wasn’t all that engaged in the process keep right on photocopying a proposal after a page folded over.) I watch every page go through the copy machine on the first round. So should you.

Kevin Wiberg, a consultant trainer for The Grantsmanship Center, is also Program Development Director for the Central Vermont Community Action Council. He has had 17 years of experience as a grants development professional for educational institutions and human services agencies.

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