What to know before applying for your first government grant

What to Know Before Applying For Your First Government Grant

By Jonathan Weber-Mendez

“Public money ought to be touched with the most scrupulous consciousness of honor. It is not the produce of riches only, but of the hard earnings of labor and poverty.”

Thomas Paine

This quote from Thomas Paine perfectly encapsulates the most important thing to know before applying for a government grant: government grants are public dollars. Government grants do not come from only the wealthy. They do not come from the agencies that award them or the politicians that appropriate them. Government grants come from tax dollars paid by American citizens. Once an organization or individual has the privilege of spending the American public’s dollars, they are burdened with the responsibility of administering those dollars effectively, efficiently, and most importantly, with transparency. Before an organization can apply for its first government grant, it must ensure it has the infrastructure and capacity to administer the funds adequately. As the Amazing Spiderman always says:

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

Uncle Ben

Government grants require a significant amount of infrastructure and capacity during the submission process, the award process, and throughout the grant funding cycle. The submission process involves financing, program administration, and grant writing staff. The submission process also requires approximately 60 to 100 hours of staff time from the entire team (additionally, experience writing and submitting government grants is often invaluable). The award process is commonly based on a cost-reimbursement model, requiring the organization to have the funds on hand to begin programming before award dollars are received. Lastly, the grant funding cycle requires significant financial and programmatic reporting requirements on a quarterly (and often monthly) basis. In addition, government grants can require staff expansion to execute programming, which will require significant Human Resources capacity to hire and retain additional staff. None of which can be accomplished on short notice or without the pre-existing infrastructure in place.

Once all the infrastructure is in place, there are just a couple of remaining tasks to complete before an organization can successfully navigate the government grant process:

First, complete the SAM registration (The System for Award Management). Registering at SAM.gov is the first step in applying for a government grant. SAM registration is required to ensure an organization can receive government payments in any form. Once SAM.gov is accessed, click the “Get Started” button on the right-hand side of the homepage. This page will walk through registering for a DUNS number, preparing the documentation needed to complete SAM registration, setting up government login credentials (through login.gov), and finally applying for SAM registration. SAM registration can take up to 14 business days to complete, so do not wait till the last minute to complete this step in the process.

****Special Note****

Everything concerning SAM registration is always free. Once SAM registration is received, it is almost inevitable that an organization and its staff will begin to be “phished.” Phishing is the practice of sending fraudulent emails purporting to be from reputable companies to induce individuals to receive fraudulent payments or reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers. These phishing emails will often attempt to engage organizations in “special” grant opportunities or registration renewals that require payment. Disregard these emails; the government will never charge an organization for any registration or grant application. A quick way to identify a phishing email is to check the URL of the link in the email. If the emailed link does not redirect to a “.gov” web address, it is not associated with the U.S. Government. If in doubt, immediately contact the Federal Service Desk for clarification. 

Secondly, it’s time to get acclimated with Grants.gov. Grants.gov is a one-stop-shop for all thing government grants. Grants.gov is where an organization can find, apply, and receive award notifications for their government grants. Grants.gov offers an extensive section for utilizing their systems under their website’s “Learn Grants” tab. The Introduction to Grants.gov Video Series covers the complete Grants.gov application process, from registering and creating a Grants.gov account to finding funding opportunities and completing an application package. Once acclimated with Grants.gov, there is nothing left to do but go out there and win some grants! Good luck!

Government grants can be scary and intimidating. However, if an organization understands the responsibility, has the infrastructure in place, and pre-registers with the proper systems, government grants can be instrumental to the success of its missions.

Here at Write On Fundraising, there are teams of grant writers with extensive experience in writing, submitting, and winning government grants for all types of organizations and missions. The growth and success of the nonprofit sector through increased philanthropic equity is what Write On Fundraising is all about. If you find yourself in need of assistance or have a question, please do not hesitate to Contact Us.