“Seeking the Funding to
Expand Your Horizons”
Part II
Fall 2014 Flex Day Workshop
Deidre Sullivan, MATE Center Director
Beccie Michael, MPC Foundation Executive Director
Presentation Outline
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Getting Started
Pre-proposal Planning
Starting a Proposal Outline
The Anatomy of an RFP (Request for Proposals)
Grants.gov
Sample RFP
Grant Project Ideas
What’s Next…
Questions & Answers
How do you get started?
 What do you do well in education?
 What would you improve if you could?
 Add new activities into existing programs to improve
student access (diversity), improve student success,
improve pedagogy, improve the program (new
courses, certificates, equipment, alignment with
workforce needs, etc.)
 Develop new programs…
 What existing resources and programs can you
leverage?
What needs to happen before the
proposal is written?
 Needs Analysis - Identify strengths and weaknesses.
 Define the problem.
 Develop a strategy to improve the situation.
 Build institutional support for the idea: talk to colleagues,
department chairs, and especially the administration.
 Improve the strategy based upon broad support from
colleagues and administration ( it takes a village).
 Learn from successful projects at other colleges. Reach out
and talk to people!!!! (learn from successes and failures)
What needs to happen before the
proposal is written?
 What existing resources can be leveraged? (models,
expertise, resources) Don’t reinvent the wheel.
 What are the needs of the people whose resources you want
to use?? (Create a win-win situation).
 Read education literature relevant to the problem.
 Research funding opportunities and find a good match.
 Read already funded abstracts and proposals.
 Read every word of the solicitation or RFP (request for
proposals).
 Have a plan for how these efforts will be sustained after
funding ends.
How to start a proposal outline
 Compelling Rationale
Project Description
 Problem 1, Problem 2, Problem 3…
 Solution 1, Solution, 2, Solution 3…
 Goals and Objectives
 A goal is something you strive for, generally it is never fully attained.
 An objective is the actual work that will be done in support of the goal.
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Deliverables (Anticipated Impacts)
Project Management and Timeline (who will do the work & when)
Evaluation Plan (How will success be measured?)
Sustainability (How will these efforts be continued?)
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Writing and implementing successful
grants is a scholarly endeavor
Know the literature and the grants already funded
related to your area of interest:
 www.nsf.gov/awardsearch
 Contact grant recipients and collaborate – dissemination
 Read education literature in your area/discipline
 Attend grant-funded professional development workshops
and conferences
 Attend grant writing workshops
 Serve on a proposal review panel
The Anatomy of an RFP
 Most RFP’s follow a basic structure:
 Overview/Background (where the funding is coming from, deadlines/dates,
purpose/goals of the program, etc.)
 Award information (how many and how much)
 Eligibility information (types of organizations that can apply)
 Proposal Requirements – typically includes:
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Statement of Need/Project Justification
Project Description
Goals/Objectives
Evaluation Plan
Budget (sometimes includes a Budget Narrative)
Standard forms/appendices (sometimes letters from partners)
 Selection Process & Criteria (how your proposal will be scored)
 Submission Requirements (how and when to submit)
 Award Administration (what happens after you get the grant, if funded)
www.Grants.gov
 THE website for finding and applying for Federal grants.
 Organizations must be registered to apply; need to work
through appropriate channels to submit.
 Search by eligibility, keyword, categories, funding agencies.
 Browsing RFP’s can be a good tool to “see what’s out there”
and get familiar with what is required to write a grant proposal.
 Remember: Finding a grant opportunity is pointless unless we
are prepared to apply. It takes a LOT of work to write a grant,
and even more to implement one!
 We cannot overstate the importance of going through a planning
process before you write a grant proposal.
Sample RFP:
Bridging Cultures at Community Colleges
http://www.neh.gov/files/grants/bridgingcultures-communitycollegesaug-21-2014.pdf
 NEH Bridging Cultures at Community Colleges grants are intended to
strengthen and enrich humanities education and scholarship at
community colleges. Grants are used to enhance the humanities
content of existing programs, develop new programs, or lay the
foundation for more extensive endeavors in the future.
 NEH Bridging Cultures at Community Colleges grants:
 create opportunities for community college faculty members to study
together while improving their capacity to teach the humanities;
 enhance or develop areas of need in an institution’s humanities
programs; and
 give community college faculty access to humanities resources through
partnerships with other institutions with appropriate resources.
Grant Project Ideas
 During our initial grants network meetings, the following
needs/ideas were identified:
 Increasing the number of paid internships in both CTE and
academic disciplines
 Flipped classrooms/technology integration
 Computer/technology labs
 Expanded wifi access on campus
 Increased/updated articulation agreements
 New programs for healthcare careers
 Extended library hours
 CTE specific academic advising/counseling
 STEM Center
What’s Next?
 Based on a high degree of interest from faculty and staff during
our initial grants network meetings, Beccie & Deidre will be
facilitating a STEM Center Workgroup starting in the fall.
 First meeting will be October 17th at 8:30am in LTC 216; open to
everybody on campus.
 We will be implementing the process we’ve discussed today –
building a strong foundation through research, analysis, and
collaboration that will position us to apply for grants in the
future.
 This will be a launching point for building a grant-seeking culture
at MPC. Other needs/areas on campus can follow the same
model.
Questions & Answers
Thank you for coming today!
Beccie Michael
rmichael@mpc.edu
831.655.5506
Deidre Sullivan
dsullivan@mpc.edu
831.646.3081