February 8, 2013
Amy Russell
Gloria Martinez-Ramos
Joe Kotarba
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Grant writing tips
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Multi-level impact and sustainability
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Collecting outcomes to strengthen your
application
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Help with your application
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Examples and Help Terms
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Consider using words in your grant
application that reflect:
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Competence/ Expertise
Sustainability
Outcome Measures/ Efficiency
Essential needs
Individualized services
Adjustment and modification
Community engagement/ Grant team/ Partnerships
Fidelity
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Ensure application complete, add appendices
Clarity in goals and objectives
Clarity in why you’re a good fit and what
you’ll be doing with the money
Make sure to address:
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Project purpose
Feasibility
Community need
Funds needed
Accountability
Competence
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Grant Application Criteria and Ranking with
Formula Suggestions
The primary suggestion for increasing ease,
precision, and objectivity is to create a HSABspecific ranking system of grant applications.
Suggestions for the ranking items are listed
below, based on the current applications and
grantees’ social services funded by the HSAB.
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Essential services provided by the agency.
These would be services that include basic
needs to help lift residents out of poverty,
such as cash assistance, housing, food, etc.
Multi-level impact. This would include
agencies that perform outreach in volunteer
services that provide services at low cost or
for free. This would include mentorship,
which not only assists the mentee, but the
mentor.
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Outcomes measurement and accountability to
HSAB after annual funding cycles. This would
include program evaluation and service
delivery statistics to ensure HSAB monies are
spent as agreed.
Quality of the application. This would include
any expansion, improvement, and
enhancements as noted by the applying
agency.
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Sustainability. Agencies revealing sustainability
would reveal increases in volunteer services,
external and varied funding applications or grant
writing endeavors that seek monies beyond those
received by the HSAB.
Targeting demographic populations that are
living in poverty or have high-risk need in the
city, such as single mothers, disabled children,
seniors, persons and families living in poverty,
Spanish-speakers, persons receiving government
assistance (SSI), immigrants, etc.
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Accountability. Agencies that have a funding
history with the HSAB would show quality
improvements and accountability to the HSAB
in their annual reports in outcomes measures
and improvements in their programming.
They would also be specific and unique in
their reporting of service delivery, including
budgeting.
Expansion of Services. This would include
capacity to increase client service delivery and
innovation in times of limited funding.
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Feasibility. Agencies applying for funding would
consider increases in cost, living wages if
requesting salary, and the potential of serving
their client population. This item ranking is best
described by capacity an agency has to deliver
what they are proposing. This includes
conducting outcome evaluation when it is the
least disruptive.
Utility. Agencies would show the social service
they are proposing to deliver, or do deliver, is
serving the needs of those most at risk in the
City of San Marcos. This includes providing
useful data when reporting evaluation outcomes.
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Many funders require grant recipients to
show outcomes prior to funding
This can be in the form of pilot data, or data
collection and analysis that is developmental
The great thing is that all agencies have data
‘lying’ around, it is just getting to it to
organize and analyze it that is the challenge
Outcomes reveal agency accountability and
efficiency for funders to first grant then
continue awarding social services
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Show how you measure your outcomes and evaluate
your service
Provide examples of data-driven change
Demonstrate how you are making it work efficiently
and how much greater it would be with more funding!
Promote your social service and the essential need it
delivers to a medically underserved community
Use and explain trending terms like sustainability,
accountability, and fidelity
Use the list of words at the end of this presentation
BELIEVE YOU WILL RECEIVE THE FUNDING!!!
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Center for Social Inquiry, Texas State University: Dr.
Joseph Kotarba, for city needs assessment
information
Richter Research Institute, School of Social Work,
Texas State University: Dr. Amy Russell, for grant
writing and program evaluation, liaison with
partnerships
Program Evaluation graduate research class, Fall
semester, for secondary data analysis and outcome
measurement, scale development
School of Social Work Faculty, for community
engagement, grant writing, partnerships, and
scholarship