By: Barbara Floersch
Funders want to hear your story–the narrative of what your organization does and how that work improves lives and strengthens the community. The story may be the hook, but unless you can back-up feel-good anecdotes with cold hard numbers your case for support won’t result in a grant.
Put yourself in the funder’s shoes—who would you choose to fund? These tough decisions are complex and include assessing an organization’s ability to deliver on the promises made in the grant proposal.
For many nonprofits, the term “grants management” conjures up visions of navigating an ever-changing labyrinth of rules and regulations. While there is a learning curve when managing regulation-heavy grants from various levels of government, it’s nothing diligence and determination can’t conquer.
Before you can manage government grants successfully, you’ve got to untangle a snarl of red tape.
The ubiquitous use of “we will” in grant proposals paves the way for grant-management nightmares. When the grant proposal does not assign tasks to specific positions, those tasks usually fall by the wayside when the intense work of program start-up gets underway. Here are a few examples of important tasks that often end up unassigned.
To manage grant awards effectively, you’ve got to know the rules. With private funders, the regulations and requirements can usually be adequately handled through good business and accounting practices.
But it’s different with government grants, especially federal grants. Uniform Guidance issued by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), along with agency-specific and program-specific requirements, demand that someone within your organization develop an understanding of the rules and regulations.
