Transcript Funding - Home MITS - Technology assistance for students

Turning Ideas into Reality: Tips
for Writing Grants
Maryann Jones, MATR
Lorinda Tait, Lansing Public Schools
Lorinda Tait
Objectives
Increase your knowledge
about grants - how to
successfully write a grant,
what to include in each
part of a grant.
Learn about things you
need to know about your
district.
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Increase knowledge of
sources of funding.
Increase
understanding of
Medicaid funding
Find out what grants
are available now.
How do you find out about
grants?
• Join listservs: michigan grant writers group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/michigangrantwrite
rs.
• Subscribe to school technology news: send a blank
email to “[email protected]
• Get on listservs i.e.phonic ear, ablenet, kurzweil,
MACUL, etc.
• Foundation center collections (Jon Harrison)
• Google Web Directory. Grant Making Foundations.
• Michigan Department of Education. www.mde.gov
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Available Grants
• Starfish Grants .Mitsubishi Foundation. Deadline
July 1, 2003. http://www.meaf.org Benefit young
people with disabilities through the use of
technology. Grants range between $6,000 and
$75,000.
• Oracle’s Help Us Help Grants. Oracle Corp
http://www.helpushelp.org/index.html
• Beaumont Foundation of America.
http://www.bmtfoundation.com/grants/
• Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.
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Available Grants
• Meemic Foundation
http://www.meemic.com
• Michigan Department of Education. 200203 Title II, Part D - Enhancing Education
Through Technology (E3T2) (517) 373-1806
http://meis.mde.state.mi.us/megs
• SMARTer Kids Foundation.
www.smarterkids.org
• Jim Mullen Foundation
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You’ve found a grant!
• Reading the guidelines is much more
important than writing the proposal.
• 99.9% of what you need to know is in the
grant guidelines when looking at eligibility.
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Tips
• You may not succeed in getting your first or second
grant, but be persistent!
• Find out what went wrong!
• Remember that funding is a process of exchange:
you’re not asking for money, you are offering a
service or product of value and presenting it to
potential buyers in the best possible light.
• Keep a folder of related information, i.e. newspaper
clippings about your district.
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More Tips
• Always follow the
guidelines, no matter
how silly they may
seem!
• Do’s and don’ts
handout.
• Ten Steps to Success
handout.
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• When all is written,
have someone not
involved with the
project read it with an
objective mind.
Resources
• The First Time Grantwriter’s Guide to Success.
Cynthia Knowles. Corwin Press.$24.95.
• Simplified Grantwiting. Mary Ann Burke. Corwin
Press. $24.95 www.corwinpress.com
• Information for Seeking Foundation and
Corporate Grants. Council of Michigan
Foundations. www.cmif.org
• Foundation report.
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Know your district’s policy for
grant applications.
• Do you have to get board approval if over a
certain amount?
• Does the superintendent need to approve it?
• What are the necessary steps that have to
be taken before submitting a grant?
• Touch base with the accounting department.
• Are others in your district writing for the
same grant?
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Research your topic
• Know the funding source.
• Do you need letters of support?
• State the essence of your idea in one simple
sentence.
• Give yourself time, know the deadline.
• Checklist-Criterion/Consideration.
• Obtaining Grant funding handout.
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The Introduction
• Private funding:Your
qualifications or
credibility may have more
to do with your being
funded than anything else.
• Government funding:you
may be asked for a
description of the
applicant or background
of the applicant.
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• Clearly establish who is
applying for funds
• Describe purpose and
goals of the department
• Describe programs
• Describe students
• Provide evidence of
accomplishment
• Offer statistics to support
credibility
Introduction, continued
•
•
•
•
•
Lead logically to problem statement
Interesting
Free of jargon
Brief - may limit the number of words.
Constructing a Competitive Proposal handout.
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The Problem Statement or Needs
Assessment
• This focuses on the conditions in the lives of your
students that you wish to change.
• This area should lead the reader from knowing little
or nothing about the problem to an informed state.
• Use research to substantiate the need or the
problem.
• Use data and published literature to support the
problem or need.
• Discuss how your proposal will help that need.
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Checklist for problem statement
•
•
•
•
•
•
Relate to purposes and goals of organization
Is of reasonable dimensions
Is supported by statistical evidence
Is supported by statements from authorities
Is stated in terms of clients or beneficiaries
Is developed with input from clients and
beneficiaries
• Is not the lack of a method
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Program Objectives
• Program objectives
that are measurable
become the criteria by
which you judge the
effectiveness of your
program.
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• 1.Tell who
• 2. Is going to be
doing what
• 3. When
• 4. How Much
• 5. How we will
measure it?
Checklist for objectives
• Describes problem related
outcomes of your program
• Does not describe your
methods
• Describes the population
served
• States the time when the
objectives will be met
• Describes the objectives in
numerical terms if
possible.
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Methods
•
•
•
•
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State reasons for selection of activities
Describe sequence of activities
Describe staffing of program
Describe clients and client selection
Presents a reasonable scope of activities that can
be accomplished within the time allotted for
program and within the resources of the applicant
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Developing the evaluation
component of a proposal:
• Objectives should be clear and measurable.
• Who will conduct the evaluation?
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Sharpen your skills by reading
grants
• Learn what type of projects capture people’s
attention and how people look at proposals.
• Discussing proposals’ strengths and
weaknesses with other reviewers can give
you better insight into project design and
proposal development.
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Become a reviewer
• The department of ed’s listserv notifies subscribers about
grant programs that are looking for reviewers: send an
email to [email protected] “subscribe edinfo- your
name” leave the subject line blank.
• Check the website for specific grant programs to see if
they have info. to become a reviewer.
• Contact the local united way or community foundation to
see if they use a citizen review review process to make
funding decisions.
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Medicaid Funding
• For AAC Assessment must be done by a qualified
provider (Type 80). Mary Fee Bed Outpatient.
Phone 616-242-0366. Book 3 mo. ahead.
• Dr. must certify medical necessity. Need a
physician’s prescription.
• AAC -Meet definition of durable medical
equipment, prosthetic device;or reasonable and
necessary to overcome inability to speak.
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AAC Funding
• Need a copy of the
IEP, MET, as well as
the OT, PT, Psych. and
Speech and Language
reports.
• Speech report should
show the difference
between receptive and
expressive
vocabularies.
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• Letters of support.
• In Michigan:
Dynavox, Words Plus,
PrenkeRomich, Zygo,
Mayer Johnson
(AMDI Tech Talk,
Tech Scan)
• Takes from 3 months
to 2 years.
Guidelines
• Medicaid guidelines can be found at:
www.aac-rerc.com
• Some private companies are beginning to
follow their guidelines.
• Other private companies feel speech is a
luxury and will not fund AAC: Priority
Health and Physicians Health Plan (PHP)
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Medicaid
• AT decisions based on both expected
outcomes and durability of the AT.
• Recommend device to improve, maintain or
prevent functional decline.
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Certificate of Medical Necessity
• Diagnosis (es) ICD-9-CM code (s)
• Functional limitation
• Person’s status - Due to the patient’s (functional
limitation), he/she is not able to -perform:
activities of daily living (specify); “the use of
equipment will… allow the person to ..function
independently with this device …communicate
verbally, in writing, independently over phone? Be
required as a lifetime medical need (if not, explain
duration)
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Sources of Information
• Kelly Fonner, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. Closing The Gap.
• American Speech and Hearing Association.
• Medicaid. Sister Kathryn McGillicutty.
Mary Free Bed.
• The world wide web.
• Michigan Department of Education.
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Lorinda Tait