You are Already Grantable

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As a quick refresh on the “Grantable” series, let’s revisit what the term grantable even means. Grantable is the word that we have chosen to encompass all the components that are involved with finding grants, applying to grants, and hand-tailoring the grant process for your clients. Anyone can be grantable, it’s merely a matter of knowing the grant world and how they fit into it. It’s totally doable, you just have to see how. That’s where we come in.

Why is it Doable?

Being considered grantable really is not a complex process. The most difficult part is simply understanding the grant space. Based on the previous blogs, your clients have already learned a great deal about:

  • Eligibility
  • Grant purposes
  • Financial needs

When your clients enter into the grant search and application process having a strong grasp of their personal eligibility, the purpose behind the grant they’re viewing, and a concept of their financial need, they have all the tools you need. The last thing to fall into place is the act of them applying. The great news about grants is that there is a significant chance for there to be a grant that fits their exact criteria. RFP Match comes into the picture by making it that much easier for your clients to find grants based on their eligibility and needs. Whether they are a teacher, an individual, a corporation, or a nonprofit, being grantable is doable for you and your clients.

What Role Do I Play in This?

The role they play in this process requires two attributes:

  • Understanding
  • Action

By combining their understanding of their eligibility and needs with the action of applying to grants, they set themselves up for success. Whether it’s you or a client, the role is simple. Know yourself, what you need, and go out and get it. The grants are right at your fingertips! All you have to do is apply. 

It Can Happen for Anyone!

Searching for grants and understanding the lingo can feel overwhelming for anyone. The most important thing to remember is that your client’s needs can be represented in a grant, you just need to know where to look. Take a moment to encourage your clients by saying this simple statement:

“Being awarded a grant can happen to anyone. Why can’t it happen to you, too?”

 

What is a Logic Model and How Does it Help Your Clients?

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Logic models are a fantastic strategy when it comes to helping evaluators or practitioners determine a program’s mechanics and structure. By using a logic model as a means of evaluation a program, you can also discover areas that require improvements. Based on the structure of logic models, it is best used to determine efficiencies and improvements required for organizations to function at their greatest capability. A logic model, plainly stated, is simply a visual model to facilitate a course of action for programs. Let’s dig a little deeper into how logic models can best serve you and your clients.

How Does it Work?

In the space of education, logic models can provide a great deal of assistance to boost a program up to its fullest potential. There are several working pieces that go into making logic models a robust strategy. When it comes to your clients, it’s important to have strong grasp of what goes into a logic model. Let’s break it into four main components:

  1. Resources: think of resources as the hard materials that go into a program. This is where you’ll see curricula, facilities, funding, etc.
  2. Activities: activities largely include the processes that are necessary to carry out your idea. What is the plan, who is partnering, starting up training sessions, and much more.
  3. Short and mid-term outcomes: short-term outcomes include the ways that this program is impacting those participating. This is also the category where changes can be made based on presently observed outcomes.
  4. Long-term outcomes: like everything that is built in mind to make a difference, long-term outcomes mostly deal with the question of, “how does this program make a lasting impact, and who is it making a lasting impact on?”

Who Does it Help?

Many people benefit from logic models. Additionally, logic models are specifically required out of most grantors. That want a hard graphic that demonstrates the purposes and plans for any grant idea or funding need. Without a clearly laid out plan, grants cannot be written up or allocated effectively. Some common beneficiaries of logic models are:

  • Teachers
  • School systems
  • Non-profit organizations
  • Businesses

Not only do logic models facilitate the necessary guide for a course of action, but they are also  often required in these spaces.

Why Does it Matter?

Logic models play a huge role in the grant space. Without thoughtful logic models made by variety of contributors, so many people are affected by lack of funding. Logic models are the framework that grants are built on in order to be as positively

Are Your Clients Grantable? The Importance of Logic

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https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-sitting-in-front-of-three-computers-4974915/

Next up in the “Grantable” blog series brings us to the topic of logic. Simply stated, it is important that your clients have the basic understanding of what it is they need out of funding, and the logical implications behind what funds they are searching for. Let’s dive in.

Logic and Grant Researching

When it comes to searching for grants based on the client’s need, you want to simplify the process. This is where logical reasoning comes into play. A client’s “grantability” has little to do with being worthy, and so much more to do with narrowing down which grants are logically apply to their needs and profile. This is where you get to navigate the waters with your clients to help them understand how to logically approach the funding process. You can essentially function as a funding matchmaker.

Matching Grants to Clients, Logically

One of the easiest ways to simply the funding process for your clients is by matching up the basic profile of a client to the framework of a grant. The last thing you want to do is send your client in a direction that doesn’t even logically apply to who they are or what they need.

Here’s what needs to logically line up:

  • Client’s eligibility and the grant’s eligibility criteria
  • Your client’s funding needs and the purpose of the grant
  • The financial amount in the grant must match the financial need of the client, or at least be significantly helpful
  • Access and timeline: the given timeline of the grant award should be within a window that serves your client best

You Have the Logic

Funding doesn’t have to be a daunting process. There is a lot of common logical reasoning used when you embark into the grant funding universe. Serve your clients well with the logical reasoning that already exists within you. Apply what you’ve learned to help your clients apply to the grants they need.

Are Your Clients Grantable? A Deep Dive into Eligibility

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One of the biggest questions that one might have with the quest for finding a grant is pertaining to eligibility. As the business or professional, you may wonder what it takes to know how a client can be eligible or what that even means. Let’s take a deep dive into what eligibility means and how you can help your clients understand their own eligibility.

Understanding Eligibility

The basics of what eligibility means as it relates to grants can be confusing. So, let’s break it down. Eligibility essentially means that who you are, where you work, age, and several other factors determine whether you meet the criteria to receive funding. Some questions to ask your client to determine their eligibility:

  • What is the need that requires funding?
  • Who is the funding for and how much?
  • Where is the funding going?
  • What is the level of education that needs funding?

Once you and your client can collaborate on the answers to these questions, you will be able to narrow down the search for grants.

How to Guide Your Clients Through the Eligibility Process

When it comes to assisting your clients through the eligibility process, the most important thing to lay down as the foundation of this grant search are through the questions above. Once those are answered, you can walk with your client through the language of the grant itself.

In every grant, you will find a section dedicated to eligibility. On RFPMatch.com, you and your clients will have the ability to view the eligibility criteria attached to the specific grant. Within this section there will be more narrowed descriptions of who is eligible for the grant.

For example:

  • What school district the grant is for
  • The specific category the grant intends to fund (i.e. STEM coursework)
  • Whether the grant is for students, educators, or any other category

Helping your clients understand who they are, what they represent, and where they want to take the funding is a critical component in helping them navigate their own eligibility.

Match Your Clients With Grants That Make Sense

By finding grants that match the level of your clients’ eligibility, you can streamline the grant searching process for them. Your client will be overjoyed that they found a grant that applies to them and their needs, and you will be content with a job well down. Understanding eligibility has never been easier for your clients than it is now.

Are Your Clients Grantable?

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Working with clients and discovering their need for funding can feel like a daunting task. However, it does not have to be as impossible as it feels. There are many routes to take, facets to examine, and solutions to these funding needs. One of the most popular avenues to meet funding is through grants. There are several ways to determine whether a client is “grantable.” Let’s explore some of them!

Eligibility Requirements

Many clients can be grantable. The key in determining this is their eligibility. Finding the right grants that match their profile, location, need, and status is what narrows down their eligibility for that grant. Grants explain within their text body what eligibility requirements need to be met in order to be awarded the funding. When speaking with clients to determine if grants are accessible for them, determine their eligibility.

Logical Solutions

Another aspect to understand when determining if your client is “grantable” is by assessing their needs. If there is a clearly displayed need, odds are in their favor that there is funding that will provide the solution. Assessing the need, the severity of the need, and the scope of the need is critical in understanding what level of funding is necessary.

Solutions that need funding must be logical solutions. Stating the need is a foundational step in assessing whether your client is grantable. The next step is clearly describing the logical solution for the problem.

Practicality of Funding

The next step to work with your client toward is the practicality of finding funding to meet their needs. It is likely that your client is working with a grand idea that will provide aid and relief for a worthy cause or person. It is critical to communicate with your client the grants that are currently available. It is incredibly practical to find the funding your client needs when their need is clearly stated, their eligibility is known, and their solution is solid. Funding is practical for your client, and it is also practical for it to exist.

It is Achievable?

Saving the best for last, it is imperative that both you and your client walkaway knowing that grants are achievable. Whether you have an idea for a grant that is yet to be written or you are in search of a grant, there are ways to access funding. You just have to know where to begin. The money is out there. It is achievable.

Is Your Company Featuring Funding?

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RFPMatch offers an award winning funding resource and productivity tool for all members in an education community. Featured in the 2021 highlights for Education Associates, RFPMatch was noted for their funding intelligence tool that identifies available grants (show me the money), previous grant awards (targets the money), and grant trends (predicts the money). With the purchase of a subscription, you too can have all things funding for sales and marketing at your fingertips. In addition, you gain access to funding news and application links to share with your clients. Applying funding knowledge has never been easier and more profitable for your education company.

This tool benefits companies who need to ensure they are addressing school district needs and demonstrating their ability to be a trusted partner with the schools.

RFPMatch Highlights and Exciting Updates 

Throughout 2020 and 2021 there were some historical moves in the funding world. By passing three different recovery bills, the biggest financial investment opportunities have occurred in education.

Funds can be utilized for wide range of activities that align with current legislation, such as Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

Additionally, you’re going to want to help your clients maximize the use of these funds for your products and services. This is where RFPMatch enables you to “match” up!

What An Honor

RFPMatch is delighted and honored to be considered a worthy asset for professionals and other education companies in the funding space. Choose RFPMatch as your go-to funding tool and streamline the process for all your sales and marketing needs!

Give the Gift of Funding

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Read more

New Upgrades for 2021

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With many streets quiet this holiday season,

RFPMatchOnDemand and GrantsAlert are shouting 

Merry Christmas and the Happiest Holiday Greetings

to all our Funding Family.

We are closing out 2020 with some upgrades to our tools: RFPMatchOnDemand.com and GrantsAlert.com

Starting on December 29th, 2020, there will be:

  • New, Improved Dashboards
  • Ability to Monitor Your Account
  • Better Notifications

On December 29th, you will need to login in using your EMAIL address, not your user name. Your password will remain the same.

Remember December 29th use your email address to gain access the best funding intelligence for education! Thank you for trusting your funding needs to us. 

Together we bring the 2021 New Year 

The Premier Funding Resources to Make a Difference in Education.

Text…SNS

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A catchy article about SNS – Supplement Not Supplant, Sorry Not Sorry written by Marguerite Roza, a research professor at Georgetown University, appeared in early 2019[1]. As many of you are aware, the education field is often dominated and defined by acronyms: NCLB, ESSA, ESSERF, ESEA, RFP, and on and on. Dr. Roza described the SNS text as an appropriate fit for Supplement Not Supplant. Text messages by our youth may contain SNS connoting “sorry not sorry.” Young people may use this phrase when they know they might upset another person with their actions but aren’t actually sorry enough to change their plan. When we examine the changes of Supplement Not Supplant, we might also think of SNS: Sorry Not Sorry.

Definitions and Explanations

Let’s examine SNS: Supplement Not Supplant. It is a regulation requiring school districts receiving federal funds from replacing state, local, or agency funds with federal dollars. Consider the definition of supplement, which means something that completes or makes an addition. Supplant means to supersede and replace. When using funds for an educational project, existing funds may not be displaced (supplanted) by federal funds and reallocated for other organizational expenses. Rather federal agencies encourage adding federal funds to what is available in state, local or agency funds (supplementing). An example might be an educator paid by local sources. That position salary could not be transferred to federal grant funds. In that case, it would be supplanting. To illustrate the concept of supplementing, think about an existing program that has received federal funds. Perhaps the program needs enhancements by updating print or software materials to improve the quality of the student achievement. The school district has clearly articulated how federal funding “builds upon” these materials for the program.

History of SNS

For years, state and local decision makers followed the requirement that grantees may not use Title I funds to replace state and local investments. Then the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) happened and conversations emerged about a change to the SNS requirement. Some school administrators remain in a holding pattern while others continued to apply the technical and methodological way they have always used to ensure compliance. In January 2019, a significant modification in a clarifying document was released by the U.S. Department of Education[2]. Later in June 2019, the U.S. Department of again issued a statement about guidance on supplementing, not supplanting[3]. This guidance promoted effective spending and flexibility.

Federal Program Directors Call to Action

David DeSchryver, a senior Vice President and Director of Research at Whiteboard Advisors, issues a call to action for “grant managers and school leaders to tell better stories about how they are using Title I, along with state and local funds, to improve educational opportunity for at-risk students.”

Instead of examining every item purchased with Title I to ensure compliance, districts now need to “demonstrate that the methodology used to allocate State and local funds to each school receiving Title I ensures that such school receives all of the State and local funds it would otherwise receive if it were not receiving [Title I, Part A funds].” In other words, the new rule, unlike the old one, ensures that districts cannot “backfill” state and local money with Title I dollars in a Title I school. The particular investments that school leaders make with Title I are not critical so long as the costs support the intents and purpose of Title I, Part A for eligible students…Now, all Title I schools, both schoolwide and targeted assistance, benefit from the flexibility. Under NCLB, most schools parsed out core instructional investments from supplemental investments because that’s what Title I has encouraged. That’s no longer necessary. Eligible schools can more easily use Title I to support strategic school-wide investments so long as the Title I contribution benefits eligible students. Should a school want to invest in personalized learning programs that are adaptive to the unique needs of each student, Title I is now part of the conversation, not a barrier to it.[4]

With increased flexibility and effective spending, we are in a time where the days of regulatory uncertainty are, and should be, behind us. There are no traps to navigate. This should signal our leaders of school districts that we are in a new era to improve educational opportunity for at-risk students. Sadly, many good ideas for student services and programs still suffer under bureaucratic decisions. So even with the call to action to move forward, some view these sources as not legally binding and may still be stuck in, “sorry, not sorry.” As educational solution providers, you can be part of the meaningful and effective programming. Encourage and move school leaders forward to spend their funds effectively and flexibility to better meet the needs of our students.

Next Funding Wave: SNS and CARES Funding

As we enter this new era of SNS, suddenly comes COVID-19 and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of March 2020 follow it. Congress set aside approximately $13.2 billion of the $30.75 billion allotted to the Education Stabilization Fund through the CARES Act for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSERF). These grants are awarded ­to State educational agencies (SEAs) for the purpose of providing local educational agencies (LEAs), including charter schools that are LEAs, with emergency relief funds to address the impact of COVID-19 on elementary and secondary schools. ESSER funds are allocated in the same proportion as each State received funds under Part A of Title I in fiscal year 2019. Although these funds are being distributed within states according to existing district Title I allocations, do not confuse them with Title I. They are not Title I.

A major difference between these funds and Title I is no supplement not supplant provision. ESSERF does have a maintenance-of-effort requirement, but it also has a waiver option for this for places where state and district revenue for schools cannot remain at prior levels.

A statement from the U. S. Department of Education’s Frequently Asked Questions clearly underlines SNS for the ESSERF.

Are ESSER funds subject to a supplanting prohibition? No. The ESSER Fund does not contain a supplanting prohibition. As a result, ESSER funds may take the place of State or local funds for allowable activities. However, the program does contain a Maintenance of Effort (MOE) requirement, which is designed to keep States from substantially reducing their support for K-12 education[5]

Since the CARES Act grant has no SNS clause, it becomes an Unrestricted Federal Grant. Once again, the message for the use of these funds is flexibility. Always remember when thinking about using federal funds, prudent cost principles should be applied. Costs should be:

  1. Reasonable: consistent with business practice and comparable current market value
  2. Necessary: required to carry out the intent and purposes of the program
  3. Allocable: costs should benefit the program.

[1] https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2019/02/20/new-education-department-guidance-on-supplement-not-supplant-sorry-not-sorry/

[2]https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-devos-supplement-not-supplant-proposal-helps-promote-effective-spending-flexibility

[3] https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-devos-final-supplement-not-supplant-guidance-helps-promote-effective-spending-flexibility#:~:text=Under%20ESSA%2C%20the%20supplement%20not,be%20used%20to%20replace%20them.

[4] https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/new-era-title-supplement-not-supplant-requirement-begins

[5] https://oese.ed.gov/files/2020/05/ESSER-Fund-Frequently-Asked-Questions.pdf

 

Sweeten the Peel

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It’s Citrus Season at RFPMatch.com – the perfect time to discover new funding sources in education. Many education decision makers are contemplating and conducting comprehensive needs assessments for another school year. This often involves consideration of evidence-based solutions, evaluation of current end of the year spending, and preparation for fresh new spending in the 2020-21 school year. How will you help your customers meet their identified needs?  Funding is the right snack to add to your customer’s recipe for their students’ and school’s success.

Just like this symmetrical orange, funding involves teamwork to make grants meaningful and obtainable. As solution providers, you are in perfect position to work in unity with the schools by offering fresh ideas and some juicy funding sources to turn their needs into attainable and doable solutions.

Right now, your schools may be struggling financially. With school plans underway for the 2020-21 school year, they may feel the squeeze.  Consider the U.S. State of Technology Report 2019 from Promethean World. Administrators report one of the biggest barriers to student success is restriction around budgets.(https://www.prometheanworld.com/microsites/state-of-technology-report/)

Ellen DeGeneres says, “When life gives you lemons…they could really be oranges.” An orange boost your immune system and we want to boost your opportunities to sell better, by addressing the barrier related to funding.

We are pulped to bring you a financial means to support your customers.  Orange you glad you are here?  At RFPMatch.com, we got bushels full of money. We were created to help you succeed and bring the best learning solutions to our nation’s children.