Any Grant Writers here?

[mollybrown]

I'm not a grant writer by trade, but an associate asked me to help with a grant application as a favor.  I have experience evaluating grant applications, so I'm more comfortable on the other side of the table.  The application indicates that no requests for organizational support will be considered, and asks for a program budget.  She insists that the program budget and the organizational budget are the same.  My thought is that she's making a request for organizational support, and a program request requires her to list exactly what the money would be spent on for 1 (or a few) specific programs.  I don't want to waste my time doing it wrong, and applying for things they don't qualify for.  I know that if I was reviewing this application and they submitted the budget they included, I would have thrown it away.  But I've only dealt with a few specific programs, so I wanted to get some broader opinions.

So in short, is it possible to make a "program" request for all of the organizations programs, and with no specific breakdown of what the funds will be used for?

[vanillacourage]

Program budget = they want to see the budget for the specific program you're asking them to support. I.e. $10k for providing pregnancy tests to the uninsured, they would want to see how you're going to spend that $10k. Separate line items for staffing, the tests themselves, lab fees, promotion of the program, etc.

Organizational budget = budget for the entire organization.

[mollybrown]

LOL, swizz.

VC, that's what I'm thinking. But she just wants to list all of the programs they offer, and there is no budget for the individual programs. I'm thinking I need to back slowly away from this project.

[vanillacourage]

She's trying to be sneaky (or deliberately obtuse) and just get general operating support. The organization will see through it. Don't waste your time, the proposal won't get funded.

Sorry.

[Deleted]

We break ours down into the following budget categories:
1. Staffing
2. Benefits
3. Supplies
4. Travel, consultants, other services
5. Equipment

Some programs we need to have very detailed information expenditures some we don't.

She seems like she's being shady. Shady people don't generally get grants funded.

[casmgn]

The application is going in the trash folder within 30 seconds. Don't waste your time on it.