Many folks believe that once they’ve logged in with their SAM username and password per the instructions in step 6 they are all set, but they’ve only created the account, they haven’t fully registered with SAM.  Failure to see SAM registration through in its entirety will result in your organization not being able to submit federal grants.

So what else do you need to do?

At this time in 2012, it was pretty clear that CMS was not thrilled with the process of, or response to, the Health Care Innovation Challenge, and it would ultimately be a one-and-done funding opportunity.  However, if you were paying close attention during the first round, the messaging from CMS has been anything but consistent.

In today’s classroom, technology has become a huge component of the curriculum for teachers and students. School districts are racing to keep up with lightning speed of changing technologies while also dealing with decreasing budgets. Over the past several years education technology funding has decreased significantly. Programs like Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) have been dismantled and other technology programs have been scaled back. Unfortunately, these grants that focus on math, science, and technology provided support to programs that are absolutely essential to a student’s education and will greatly impact their future success.

Despite the persistently slow economy and ongoing budget cuts at every level, the U.S. Federal Government awarded nearly $600 billion in grants in 2011, which represents a 20% increase over the approximately $500 billion in grants awarded in 2009. On average, only about three to five percent of grant proposals submitted to the federal government are awarded funding. With more budget cuts on the horizon, the already tough competition for federal grant dollars is poised to become even more fierce. That means that now more than ever, only the 'best of the best' proposals will get funded. The loss of just a single scoring point can make the difference between success and failure. I regularly work as a peer reviewer for a number of federal funding agencies so I see firsthand what sets winning grant proposals apart from the others. I would like to share with you several common pitfalls that I frequently run across that ruin an otherwise solid proposal's chances of getting funded.

The Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) was developed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2010 to consolidate the DOJ's existing Tribal-specific grant programs into one combined application package. Thus, the overall program is comprised of several individual programs or "Purpose Areas." CTAS is intended to foster a comprehensive approach to public safety and victimization issues by encouraging tribal governments to collaborate efforts and plan a community-wide strategy for addressing a variety of law enforcement and justice issues.
The 2012 Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation was announced on January 18, with a deadline of April 18, 2012. Over $100 million is available through this program, providing funds to support tribal public safety and justice initiatives such as community policing and tribal youth programs.

Many people submit their grant application and anticipate the end of the process: notification from the funder on whether funding is approved. Of course, those who win awards understand that the notice is not the end, but a transition to a new phase in post award administration and project deployment. Unfortunately, many who are denied funding simply accept the fate of their application as the end of the road. Being notified that an application has been denied funding may be a depressing setback, but is should never be viewed as the end of the grantseeking process. Some of the most successful organizations at pulling down grants don’t win every time they submit an application. Successful organizations are denied funding and ask themselves: How do we pick up the pieces and move forward?

The Department of Education recently announced the 23 highest rated applicants for the Investing in Innovation Fund. With over 600 applicants and $150 million in funding in 2011, this was a highly anticipated competition. Awaiting a private match that was to be fulfilled by December 9th 2011, applicants ranging from school districts to nonprofits in partnership with districts or a consortium of schools would receive funding under either Scale up, Validation or Development awards. The partnership that appeared to stand out the most to reviewers were the nonprofit partnered with an LEA. They accounted for 10 of the 23 highest rated applicants. On the other end, the smallest amount of awards went to a nonprofit partnered with a consortium of schools, with 6 of the 23 highest rated applicants.

At least once a day someone will ask me to provide them some tips and strategies to improve their grantseeking efforts. As simple as the request sounds, it actually is a very difficult one to address. Volume is not the issue, as there are reams of information that can be provided to organizations seeking to maximize the potential of grant funding. Unfortunately, this may be an instance where the right answers are being provided but the wrong question has been asked. In other words, the problem is that when folks are seeking information at such a high and unspecified level, they usually don' t know where to start. When organizations are just getting their feet wet with grants, information overload may have the reverse effect of intimidating involved staff members to the point where they become discouraged with grant funding mechanisms and throw in the towel. This article is intended for those organizations that may be asking the wrong question and really want some feedback on where to begin.