By Alyson Trowbridge
Municipal governments often grapple with competing priorities when balancing community projects/needs within the limitations of their budgets. For this reason, leveraging discretionary funding programs is crucial to a local government’s ability to support vital community projects, equipment needs, and infrastructure. As we look towards the end of the year, this time offers a valuable opportunity for counties, cities, towns, boroughs, and the like to take a pause and introspective look at current needs and future ones to set themselves up for success.
A common shortfall within municipal governments, and really many organizations in general, is being reactive rather than proactive when seeking discretionary grant funding. Whether that means not forecasting upcoming end-of-life equipment needs, anticipating increased costs, or reviewing multi-year capital projects for alignment with potential grant programs, local governments can severely undercut their financial positions.
So, what can we do about that? Let’s take a deeper dive into several critical pre-application components to successfully obtain grant funding.
1. Develop a Strategic Funding Plan
Strategic planning is a critical component to developing and submitting successful grant proposals throughout the year. Municipal governments routinely engage in strategic planning in almost every other area of governing, but too often leave out grant funding plans within that process. Local governments interested in grant funding should first and foremost conduct an initial needs assessment to identify where their funding needs lie, in coordination with their community’s short- and long-term strategic goals and needs.
A great time to do this is either at year’s end or during your local government’s budget planning period if your fiscal year differs from calendar year. During this process, involve a variety of stakeholders, including department heads, your authoritative body (e.g., City Council or Board of Trustees), members of the community, local business leaders, and more. It is also helpful to review your organization’s Comprehensive Plan (“Master Plan”), Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), and other guiding documents, such as Hazard Mitigation, Public Safety, Stormwater Management, Economic Development, Transportation, Environmental/Sustainability, and so on. During this time, identify short- and long-term needs – keeping in mind that typically more substantial funding dollars are achieved through state and federal grant programs which often have lengthy cycles from the time of submission to award notifications. It is imperative to keep that timing in mind when developing your strategic funding plan to ensure there is a good fit. The last thing you want to be blindsided with is submitting a grant application in February that isn’t going to be awarded until September when needing to procure the requested equipment by June to maintain operations.
Your funding plan should also identify multi-year projects and analyze whether they can be strategically phased to maximize grant funding dollars for the overall project. For example, if you are embarking on a transportation infrastructure project, can you phase portions of roadway improvements to take place over years one, two, and three, submitting for the maximum funding award amount each year within the same grant program? If so, your organization could potentially, as an example, receive three $1M awards rather than a single $1M award at the ceiling maximum.
Ideally, your funding plan should project outwards from 12, 24, 36, and five-year timeframes in order to appropriately align those identified needs with supplementary funding.
2. Create Your Grants Team
Once your funding plan has been established, or even concurrently, you are ready to curate your personnel resources. This differs from organization to organization. Some local governments invest in a dedicated staff grant writer/manager for the municipality as a whole or multiple writers/managers that specialize within specific departments (i.e., public safety, economic development, parks and recreation), building their in-house expertise. Others contract their grant projects out to individuals or private firms with the existing expertise needed to understand both the technical aspects of writing successful proposals and the strategic needs of the community. This comes down to what works best for the municipality.
Keep in mind that if successful, your organization will be required to fulfill post-award management of that grant, typically meaning quarterly, semi-annually, or annual performance and financial reports. Make sure that your organization is aware of those requirements and has the capacity to meet them. There is a difference between a grant writer and a grant manager. A grant writer typically only handles pre-award services, i.e., everything leading up to the submission of the grant proposal. A grant manager can provide both pre- and post-award services but may only specialize in post-award services. Additionally, a grant manager may not provide project management, i.e., the day-to-day oversight of grant program activities. These variations are important to decipher when building out your municipal grants team, regardless of whether that’s developing in-house resources or via consulting assistance.
Looking to navigate the complexities of grants funding? Lexipol is your go-to resource for state-specific, fully-developed grants services that can help fund your needs. Find out more about our grants services here.
3. Build Relationships
As the above two steps are completed, your team is ready to begin leveraging existing partnerships and building new ones to support your identified project(s). As many grant programs are more programmatic in nature, meaning they provide funding to support the development, implementation, or expansion of a specific program or service rather than just standard equipment, relationship building is a central component to most successful grant proposals.
To be successful in this endeavor, think about what internal and external partnerships would best support, complement, or enhance your grant project. This may mean engaging with other municipal departments or external stakeholders like local non-profits, educational institutions, businesses, faith-based leaders, local advocacy groups, or potentially even surrounding municipalities for a more regionalized approach. If the application allows for it, take steps in advance to garner letters of support to submit with your proposal – this can help demonstrate broader support and commitment to achieving the intended deliverables.
From here, your organization is ready to begin the grant process, including researching and aligning specific grant programs with your needs assessment. Be sure to explore various funding streams, including state, federal, and foundation/corporate programs, to understand funding limits, eligibility requirements, and other application criteria. Be ready to create a detailed proposal outlining the need for your project, its objectives, anticipated outcomes and deliverables, project timeline(s), and budget expenses and justification, including your municipality’s financial need. Prepare to gather any necessary documentation, whether in support of your project (such as statistics or data sets) or to adhere to the grant’s requirements (e.g., financial statements, planning documents, etc.). Once complete, it is highly recommended to have an additional layer of review – whether that’s in the form of a fellow colleague, a project partner, or a grant consultant. This will help produce a well drafted document that is clear, concise, accurate, and complete.
The grants process can sometimes be daunting for new applicants, but by using the above steps, your municipality will be well-positioned to tackle the application process when time comes.
