GRANTS INTRODUCTION LESSON #4
Lesson 4:
Needs Documentation
| Needs documentation is
the process of finding evidence of the need of your client population
for grant funds. As we saw in the previous section, one of the prime
ways that you can fail as a grant writer is to provide inadequate
documentation of the need. Needs documentation is at the core of grant
writing.
Broadly speaking, there are two categories of information that you can provide to a funding agency. There is the information that is required to complete the grant application. Everyone submitting a grant will be providing the same basic statistics just to fill out the application form. Then there is the supplemental information that you have supplied to further your case. It is easy to go overboard and give the agency extraneous statistics. There are essentially seven types of needs documentation approaches. You can mix and match among the choices to select the method that is best suited to your problem. The approaches are as follows:
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Stories from the Field :I know of a federal official who was sent a jar of water from a community seeking grant funds for a water treatment plant. The community challenged the official to drink the water. That didn’t further their case for a water treatment upgrade. That community was not funded. I worked in a town that was seeking the same funds for a similar project. We took water samples of the water in the creeks as the passed through town. Fecal coliform concentrations jumped as much as 3,650%. We combined those results with letters from people in town that described the symptoms of giardia, a disease you can contract from exposure to fecal matter. We got funded! |
Elected officials are easy. Most will supply a generic
letter of support for projects in their district. It takes more
savvy (and more time) to develop the level of rapport with an
elected official necessary to generate truly enthusiastic support
for your project. Don’t wait until the grant application is
underway to seek the support of your legislators. You should invite
them to your functions, put them on your mailing list, and generally
keep them informed. It is also important to share credit with them
for your successes if you want to garner their support.
Experts that deal with your client population can hold tremendous sway with people reviewing your request. The unbiased opinion of a doctor, psychologist, speech therapist or other authority lends credibility to your needs documentation. Letters from people in your client population add an intangible quality to your application. They paint a picture of the problems in a way that dry statistics cannot. If a parent of a child in your program, for example, tells you how helpful your efforts have been, ask him or her to write you a letter. Don’t wait for a grant application to ask for a letter. The parent won’t be as enthusiastic and you might forget who gave you the compliment. Public Hearing: Like individual letters of support, a public hearing can paint a picture of the needs of your client population. With a public hearing you also can show a broad base of support for your efforts. For this reason, many government sector grants require that you seek community input through a public hearing. The testimony gathered during these meeting are used to show that your agency and your program are in demand. |
Case Studies:
A case study is an in-depth profile of one person in your client population. The case study looks at indices like family history, health concerns, and job performance to better understand the individual. A series of case studies of different individuals can be woven together to tell the story of your client population.
Review of Public Records:
Countless public agencies gather and disseminate information. Often the agency that has gathered the information will prepare an analysis that you can use to support your grant application. Other times, the information is merely collected and made available for researchers.
Literature Search
: Professors, professional researchers, journalists and students all prepare and publish reports on every aspect of the human condition. A search of the published literature in your field may yield a gold mine of information regarding the issues that your needs population faces. The Internet is a boon to this type of research, giving you instant worldwide access to studies, papers, and journals.
Survey:
A survey is an analysis of your client population based upon a statistically significant random selection. Using very carefully worded questions and a rigorously executed methodology, a survey can yield surprising results. A properly designed survey is beyond the scope of this class, but we would direct you to:
The Survey Research Handbook:
Guidelines for Conducting a Survey
by Pamela L. Alreck and
Robert B. Settle (Contributor)
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Evidence of Demand: Your own files may hold an important piece of evidence. Long waiting lists for your programs are evidence of demand.
This is just an overview of the research process. Try this book for a much more in-depth look:
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The goal of all of this work is to develop a library of information regarding the people that you serve. From this library, you can cut-and-paste data from one grant to the next or from one year to the next.
The result is a ready arsenal of information enabling you to respond to grant opportunities quickly. From this stockpile of data, a clear picture of your target area should emerge. You should use this data to develop programs. Any program that hopes to find funding must be based upon the needs of your community.
Now that you have documented the needs of your community, its time to find the resources to address those needs. Lesson 5 will show you where to find the money.
