[excerpt from preliminary draft of Libraries Unlimited book, Successful Grantsmanship for School Library Media Centers and Small Public Libraries; scheduled for publication in late 1998]

 
Few educators or librarians have been able to carry out their professional responsibilities without being introduced to the grantseeking process. It may have started with a slowly building curiosity that was further fed by attendance at conferences or site-based workshops. On the other hand, it could have begun as a tentative involvement stimulated by the desire of administrators to tap this motherlode of funding possibilities.

 
While the larger libraries have generally been the most involved grantseekers in the past, the current financial picture-- i.e., a leveling off of local, tax-based support, an increasing number of corporate and private donors available to fund worthy projects--combined with new educational challenges related to areas such as distance learning, the role of technology in the dissemination of information, etc., has made it imperative that smaller institutions, most notably public libraries and school media centers, also become actively committed to the process. However, small libraries are frequently unprepared to make a smooth transition into grantsmanship, lacking both the resources and staff expertise to effectively compete with their larger brethren. Recognizing that any grantseeker must go after funding one step at a time, Successful Grantsmanship for School Library Media Centers and Small Public Libraries focuses on the fundamentals of the process. Presuming little or no background knowledge on the part of the reader, the book will guide through the primary stages comprising the grant development process:

1. Planning
2. Project Design
3. Project Narrative
4. Project Personnel
5. Budget Development
6. Project Evaluation
7. Supplementary Materials

Challenge Grant: money used as a magnet to attract additional funds. The Memorial Public Library receives $100,000 as a challenge grant to expand its collection.

Conference Grant: money to cover the expenses of holding a conference or seminar. The Keystone Center for Continuing Education receives $5,000 to support its Keystone Workshop Series.

Construction Grant: money for building construction. The Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp receives $65,000 for construction of a rehearsal hall.

Consulting Grant: money to hire consultants for an organization or project. The Unity Church receives $50,000 to hire a financial consultant to develop a long-term financial plan.

Demonstration Grant: money to demonstrate or prove that a particular project or idea actually works. The National Council on the Aging receives $70,000 for a demonstration program in student-provided services for the elderly.

Dissemination Grant: money to spread the results or funding of a successful project. The Project on Helping receives $23,000 to examine various aspects of volunteerism and to disseminate findings to local nonprofit organizations.

Endowment Grant: money to be kept permanently and invested to provide continued income to an organization. Harvard University receives $90,000 to support a permanent endowment for the Center for Hellenic Studies; the income will be used toward stipends for Junior Fellows and library and publication costs.

Equipment Grant: money to purchase new or replacement equipment. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes receives $75,000 toward the purchase and installation of computer equipment.

General Purpose Grant: money to further the general purpose or work of an organization rather than for a specific purpose. The Chicago Theatre Group receives $30,000 for general purpose support of the Goodman Theatre.

Land Acquisition Grant: money to purchase real estate property. Beloit College receives $75,000 toward the purchase of land to expand campus parking facilities.

Matching Grant: money to match funds provided by another donor. The Texas Panhandle Heritage Foundation receives $50,000 for matching support toward operating reserve fund.

Operating Grant: money to cover the daily costs of running an existing program or organization. The Mount Sinai Medical Center receives $10,000 for operating support.

Planning Grant: money to assess the neeed for and develop plans to implement a project. Montgomery County receives $25,000 to assess the feasibility of developing a rural health care delivery system.

Publication Grant: money to publish a report, book, magazine, or other publication. The New York Public Library receives $200,000 to support the publication costs of a new catalog describing its fine arts collection.

Renovation Grant: money to renovate, remodel, or rehabilitate propoerty. Babson College receives $300,000 for the renovation of the Sir Isaac Newton Library.

Research Grant: money to cover costs of investigations or clinical trials. The Salk Institute for Biological Studies receives $10,000 for biological and medical research.

Seed Grant: money to start up or establish a new product or organization. Marquette University receives $15,000 to develop pilot data on causes of hypothermia.

Special Project Grant: money to support specific projects or programs as opposed to general purpose grants. Planned Parenthood receives $20,000 to survey teen attitudes towards adoption counseling.

Training Grant: money to train or instruct others in a methods, technique, or procedure. The American Red Cross receives $25,000 for training programs in life-saving techniques geared to volunteers.

An understanding of these grant types can assist in either describing or redefining a proposed project. This categorization process facilitates efforts at matching your organization's strengths with the priorities of potential funders. Such comparisons, in turn, led to the identification of marketing strategies for the proposal.

Given the fact that funders generally choose to work with known commodities, organizations new to the grants arena are readily apt to become discouraged. In order to circumvent the "catch-22" situation of needing to establish a record as a successful grant getter before obtaining a grant, the following strategies should be considered:

1. Include individuals in the proposal who already have a significant degree of experience with your targeted sponsor. If you lack credibility with the sponsor, borrow credibility from those known to the sponsor by having them serve as project co-directors or consultants.
2. Apply to sponsors with which you or members of your organization have established contacts and relationships. Use existing networks to help establish credibility.
3. Concentrate funding efforts on sponsors that have a history of taking on the uninitiated and the inexperienced. Some sponsors pride themselves on funding "high-risk, high-return" projects and organizations. They are willing to fund the "organizational underdog." Your prospect research, particularly a review of prior funding history, will help reveal such sponsors.
4. Demonstrate any crossover experience you might have had with programs of similar magnitude and complexity. Often you can cite experience managing other projects or personnel that will help successfully administer your proposed project.
5. Provide independent certifications and endorsements of qualifications from known authorities. This represents another means of borrowing credibility; i.e., respected experts can testify to your integrity.
6. Invite sponsors for an on-site visit or offer to visit them to discuss and demonstrate capability. This will provide you a first-hand opportunity to show the crispness of your organizational management skills.
7. Begin by requesting nonfiscal support. Sponsors often provide grants for other things than money; e.g., technical assistance, equipment donations, executive loan programs. This gives you a "foot in the door" of your target sponsor. If the experience is a positive one for both parties, the likelihood of receiving subsequent fiscal support from the sponsor increases notably.
8. Piggyback on the coattails of another organization or consortium with successful grant experience. In other words, join forces with others to build your credibility in subsequent proposals.

1. An improved image.
2. Enhanced corporate environs, covering areas such as ecology, transportation, communication, etc.
3. A upgraded benefits package, relating to new or better health programs, cultural activities, recreational facilities, etc.
4. A better pathway to attaining organizational goals; e.g., the provision of previously unavailable resources, the implementation of more effective training techniques, the development of new services.

Inexperienced grantseekers are likely to find grantsmanship a confusing, sometimes intimidating, process. Every effort has been made to cover the full spectrum of grantsmanship in a lucid, straightforward manner. In short, this book is devoted to providing the information necessary for librarians and educators become effective members of grant development teams. The insights included in its eight chapters and five appendices are based upon experiences of professional grantseekers whose occupational background encompasses school districts, state-supported region service centers, public libraries, higher education, private consulting, and entreprenuerial information services. The book's authors reiterate that ultimate success in grantsmanship, however, comes only with practice-based effort, combined with the commitment to turning temporary setbacks (i.e., proposal rejections) into eventual grant awards.