Start Your Research at The San Diego Foundation
by Pat Fitzmorris
UPDATE 9/19/204:  The San Diego Foundation no longer houses the Foundation Library.  It is now housed at Nonprofit Management Solutions. Please click here for hours and location.
In our Grant Development classes we recommend that grant seekers do Research, Research, & more Research to find the foundation that will fund your program.  One of the best places to do research on potential funding sources is the San Diego Foundation.  The San Diego Foundation is located in Liberty Station at 2508 Historic Decatur Rd., Ste. 200 San Diego, CA 92106.    The hours are M-F 8AM to 5PM. 

According to the Foundation’s web page, “The San Diego Foundation is proud to stand as San Diego's leading resource for information about charitable giving and community needs. We encourage, support and facilitate meaningful dialogue on issues affecting each of our communities, and work with philanthropists to develop creative solutions to meet critical community needs. The Foundation proudly grants out more than $60 million each year to outstanding nonprofits throughout the county, in areas such as the environment, arts and culture, science and technology, civil society, health and human services, and disaster relief.”  As you can see the foundation itself is a great place to start looking for a match. Go to the web to review the guidelines, application forms and deadlines.  www.sdfoundation.org.   

The Foundation also has a library and several computer stations open to the public to do research on other foundations that may be interested in funding programs. The database is amazing and it can cut your research time by hours just because of the sorting system. Be sure to sort by geography, target population, deadlines and areas of interest (art, science, etc).  Please call to determine the librarian’s hours so she/he can show you how the system works. Then you can go on your own any time.  They also offer leadership training and scholarships. 

By Pat Fitzmorris

Collaboration is one of the keys to success in business. Collaboration is key to a winning sports team. In fact, collaboration can be the key to success in all aspects of life.  Collaboration is also the key to creating the successful grant writing team.  Teamwork and collaboration go hand-in-hand.

Collaboration means that your team will be there during the grant development process and many times will be part of the implementation group to manage the program once it is funded. A long-term goal of collaboration is to develop a sustainable program into the future by building on success. Collaborative work brings out the positive aspects of your grant development team, each individual and agency brings something special to the table. Building on the strength of each team member or agency partner makes sense.  By using a collaborative approach you can create the grant writing “dream” team.        

 The following quotes and narrative focus on the concept that collaboration is the key to success in all aspects of life and in concept in all aspects of the grant development process. That process includes researching potential grants, creating the grant development team, writing the grant and providing grand management once funding is secured.  Use your team to make the process fun, practical and successful.

As can be seen from the wide range of great philosophers, great coaches, great people and even nature agree that the team, the group is bigger and better then one individual alone.  After you read these quotes, take these collaborative words to heart and research, write and succeed together.

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” —Helen Keller

“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success. “—Henry Ford

“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”. —Isaac Newton

“I never did anything alone. Whatever was accomplished in this country was accomplished collectively.” —Golda Meir  

“The secret is to gang up on the problem, rather than each other.” —Thomas Stallkamp

“Gettin' good players is easy. Gettin' 'em to play together is the hard part.” —Casey Stengel

“It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.” —Napoleon HillBottom of Form

“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.”—Phil Jackson

“Individual commitment to a group effort—that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” —Vince Lombardi

“It is the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” —Charles Darwin

Government funders and some foundations may request a logic model as the evaluation component cornerstone of your grant application.  The logic model is designed to show a logical or linear path to success for your program or grant proposal. 

The logic model is a tool used to demonstrate how and why your program will work.  It illustrates what will be accomplished and how your grant proposal will reach the goals and objectives designed in your program.  The logic model must communicate specific resources, measurable action oriented outcomes with a realistic timeline.

Logic models may be created in several ways. A template can be downloaded and used as a guide to create the logic model for the evaluation section ofyour proposal.    A Google search of Logic Model Templates provides several models to review.  Beautiful charts of all shapes and forms give a full picture of the wide range of options to design the logic model itself.

Several sites also include detailed guidelines for development of the logic model. Samples are provided in chart form.  If the grant development team includes a professional evaluator or university research staff as part of the evaluation team they will develop the logic model and incorporate all of the elements to show success. The evaluator may take the lead in writing the evaluation/logic model section of the grant.

You've spent hours researching possible funding sources for your program, and you've found a few that seem to be a match.  You look up the deadlines and find one of these situations: either the due date has passed, is a week away, or is six months from now.   Should  you jam and go for the short deadline or take your time and wait for six months?

If you've taken the time to develop your goals and objectives, need statements, organizational history statement, and budget, you might just be able to turn the grant application around in a week.  Otherwise you may have to wait until the next funding cycle.

How can you determine the foundation's funding cycle?  You may have to do a bit of investigation to find out what a foundation's cycle is--look at their IRS Form 990, annual reports, and past grants awarded.  You can call the foundation and ask for its funding cycle.  It's a great question to get a conversation started and begin developing a relationship. 

It's pretty obvious why deadlines are important.  Deadlines mitigate procrastination. They motivate us to get something done.  They promote focus and  productivity. Deadlines and funding cycles are your friend.  They help you stay on task and plan for the future.