Tips for the Budget Section of Your Grant Proposal

One of the key parts of a grant proposal is its budget. Some of my students have a little trouble knowing where to begin with it and knowing whether they have done it correctly. I have some ideas for you to make the process a little less intimidating.

First, here are some general rules. Be sure that your budget is:

Crank up the Tunes in Ontario

A $45 million government grant called the Ontario Music Fund has been allocated to help out the music industry in the province. As reported in the Toronto Star, the three-year government grant plan will help support the production, promotion, and distribution of Ontario-made music across the country and around the world. The proposal also aims to focus on promoting performance in the province. The project carries the slogan Music Makes Jobs.

How Do You Apply for a Government Grant?

We’re all eager to get government grants. (Hey, I’m no exception–I’ve gotten plenty of free government money for myself and my business, and always am on the lookout for more.) One of the most common questions is how to apply for it. Well, the answer is, it depends. Let me explain. You may already know that there are many, many funding programs out there, and they have their own ways of matching their available funding with deserving recipients.

Google Grants Can Help Your Non-profit or Charitable Organization

If you’re involved with a non-profit or charity, then you should be aware of Google Grants, an in-kind grant worth up to $10,000 USD monthly. An in-kind grant is a good or service that is donated, that you would otherwise have to pay money to get. Although it is not cash, it is still a free grant of something that is valuable to your organization.

Should You Include Politics in Your Government Grant Proposals?

I get a lot of questions about government grant proposals, and I’ve reviewed a fair number of them. I’ve seen some instances where people want to make a grand political statement as part of their government grant request or making the basis of their funding request kind of a pushback against some public policy that they don’t agree with.

How Canada-Proof Is Your House?

Canada dishes out some of the most extreme climate conditions on the planet, so we certainly have an incentive to get the whole housing and energy efficiency thing right. Energy efficiency grants are often available to help.

Australian Government Grants for Avoiding Scams

Don’t fall prey to a grant scam! Courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald, here are some helpful tips brought to you from the Australian government.

When searching for government grants for your business, it’s important to be careful of websites that promise that you will secure a grant in exchange for you paying a fee to release the funds.

Government Grants Help Underperforming Schools

Every public school student should have an equal opportunity to learn as much as he or she is willing and able to. Unfortunately, not all schools offer the same level of potential learning experience. This can be due to a number of factors. There may be poor curriculum, lack of teacher support, a shortage of learning materials, difficult home circumstances among some students, or other issues that may lead to subpar outcomes. Government grant funding has been allocated to help improve some of these circumstances,

10 Tips to Write Your Best Grant Application

Many people have a preconceived notion that grant writing is difficult and get intimidated at the thought of completing a grant application. With your busy life, who has time to figure it out? To save you time, here are the top ten tips for writing successful grant applications.

$450,000 in Grants and Employer Programs for Persons on the Autism Spectrum

Autism Speaks, the world’s leading autism advocacy and science organization, today announced that it has awarded $450,000 in grants for two projects focused on developing independent functioning and increased participation in community life for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Australian Small Businesses Can Get Paid to Develop New Technology

What do you do if you have a small business in Australia, big, new ideas, and no way to fund their development? The Australian Growth Partnerships (AGP) program may be just what you need! The goal of AGP is to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) overcome the technical hurdles you may be experiencing and provide you with the opportunity to move forward with technological advances and accelerate your growth.

South Africa’s Social Grant Helps Children Grow

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s system of cash grants for children in poor households shows that a little money goes a long way, resulting in bigger, healthier kids who do better in school.

But it’s not all positive. The system, one of the most extensive of its kind in the developing world, now covers 11 million recipients – which means that more than half of South Africa’s children qualify because their parents’ annual income does not exceed 74,400 rand ($7,000) and they live in extreme poverty.

Government Grant Phone Scammer

Imagine the heartache of being cheated out your life savings. An Oswego County family says they were scammed out of more than $10,000 by people who hijacked a legitimate government program.

Doug Nash and his 80-year-old mother Mildred Mantor say they lost their life savings over the promise of a free government grant. Trying to hold back his tears, Nash tells CNY Central’s Jim Kenyon, “I just thought it was legitimate…they had a very elaborate scheme.”

Going Back to School Later in Life

Picture the typical college or university student. You probably envisioned a teenage or twenty-ish kid who’s living it up at college, Animal House-style. Well, it may be time to rethink that. The average age of the college students has been rising, mostly due to adults returning to school. What are called “non-traditional” or “mature” students are becoming more the norm now.

Government Money to Help You Buy a New Car

Driving can be an expensive proposition, with fuel prices being so high. You may have thought about switching over to a more fuel-efficient vehicle, maybe even a hybrid or an electric car. The big question, though, is whether your gas savings will offset the cost of your new vehicle. Your decision may be made a little easier when there is a government grant that will help subsidize your new car.

Foundation Grants Are Wide-Ranging and Well-Funded

One of your resources for grant funding is foundation grants, so knowing a little about how they work and what gets funded can unlock a vast resource of grant money. We’re going to look at a representative sample of foundation funding. These figures are for what was given out in the United States in a recent year, but many of the categories are similar to the types of foundation grants that

Gratitude Fuels Graduates’ Fund Scholarships Creation Effort

When this year’s reunion rolls around at Vanderbilt University, alumni from Vanderbilt’s Schools of Nursing and Medicine will gather not only to renew enduring friendships, but also to celebrate the successful fundraising that many classes have undertaken to fund scholarships for deserving students who might not otherwise be able to attend the Schools of Medicine and Nursing.

Many members of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) class of 1986, for example, are not only paying for their own children to attend college or graduate school, they are also contributing to a class scholarship to help future students attend VUSM — a cause that’s vastly important to them. So far, 34 class members have contributed more than $120,000 —contributions ranging from $50 to $25,000. The Class of 2001 recently became the youngest class to reach the $25,000 mark.

Help for Women’s Businesses in the United States

If you’re a woman in America who is in business (or plans to be), then you should know about the Office of Women’s Business Ownership that is operated by the Small Business Administration. Their mission, in their own words, is “to establish and oversee a network of Women’s Business Centers throughout the United States and its territories.”

Tip: What If Your Proposal Is Rejected?

It’s unquestionably a huge disappointment to work hard on your grant proposal, only to have it not be chosen. At this point you can either become discouraged and give up, or you can use the rejection as a learning experience. Most proposals are rejected. Given the large numbers of proposals that are submitted, that is a reality of the process. However, you can try to pinpoint the reason in several ways:

New Business Grants in Canada

New business grants are provided for the purpose of helping a start-up enterprise in Canada. Often, the funding is provided in addition to the entrepreneur’s own funds and may be referred to as a “non-repayable contribution”.
The level of help offered to budding entrepreneurs can vary according to location and circumstances, and the assistance can be in a variety of forms.