Just wanted to make you aware of an online training program that will identify 3 grant opportunities for farmers and other rural residents to apply for their on-farm projects.

The free program will be hosted by Purdue Extension and USDA Rural Development on Monday, Nov. 1, from 10 a.m. to noon (Eastern).  The URL to take part in this program is:  https://gomeet.itap.purdue.edu/sarerdgrants10/

The program will provide participants an opportunity to learn about available grants and will offer insight into eligibility and how to apply for funding.

Grants to be covered include:

* SARE Farmer/ Rancher Grants
* SARE Youth Grants and SARE Youth Educator Grants.
* USDA Rural Development Value Added Producer Grant
* USDA Rural Development Rural Energy for America Program (REAP)

When you are applying for any grant; whether it is a government grant or a foundation grant, you should know your funder. (Especially with foundation grants.) Do your homework and research, either through news releases or websites, and see what the organizations mission statement is. What are their goals? What is their strategic plan? Who sits on their board and what is their background? What type of projects have they funded in the past?

This information is important for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it will help you to gauge how your project compares to winning proposals from the past. Is the size of your project and scope of your project similar to previous grant recipients? Secondly, in some cases it may help if you mentioned in your proposal how your project compares and/or compliments previous projects they have funded. This shows the grant reviewers that you are interested in what the organization does and ways your project can expand their outreach. Lastly, if you do find out that the awarding organization is not a good fit or has a different focus than yours, it can save you the time of filling out the application.

Every organization has documents that showcase and support what they do.  This can range from a mission statement to a chart and graph showing the impact they have on the community.  These documents can sometimes be helpful with putting together a grant application, as some grants do allow for additional information that supports your proposal to be included in the application packet.  Please note not all grant applications allow for these additional attachments so it is important that you check in the program guidance/required content for your grant program.  If they do (and only if they do) then additional information can be an asset to help supporting the content of your proposal.  (If they do not then additional information may hurt your application.)

Now you may be thinking what kind of additional attachments/information are you referring to?  Think about the following list of items that you or your organization have on hand in terms of adding credit and notoriety to your proposal. 

Organizational Chart
Collaboration Chart (list of partners)
Timeline, Maps, Flow Charts
Charts and Graphs
Logic Models
Job Descriptions/Resumes/Prof. Biography
Memorandum of Understanding
Letters of Support
Operating Budget, Audits, Monthly Financial Statements

Again, only include these items if the grant proposal allows for additional attachments and if they support the overall scope your proposal. 

Over Memorial Day Weekend, my husband and I re-landscaped the front of our house. I had taken my measurements, done my math and figured out how much we needed for stone, weed barrier, edging and plants. I made my list, made my purchases, got out all my tools and supplies and we were ready to go. Now being a farm girl, I’m not afraid to push up my sleeves and do a little physical labor in order to get the job done. However, while we were digging holes we kept running into roots that were there from previous bushes and trees. This added to some frustration and extra time to stop, trim the roots then get back to digging. What could have gone so smoothly ended up taking a lot more sweat and muscle to get the job done. Luckily, us farm girls also know how to work from sun up to sun down and the landscape got finished.

No matter how well planned and organized you are, there are going to be setbacks that you didn’t plan for. And this can apply directly to the timeline you prepare in any grant application. Reviewers will want to see that you are making detailed plans to achieve the results the project requires. This section is an area to showcase the amount of thought you have put into this proposal. Be sure to list out people, supplies, and events that will take place. Then describe how those will be implemented, what tasks will be done to accomplish this. Lastly list the amount of time it will take. Don’t be unrealistic as that will not impress the viewer. It might not hurt to give yourself a little bit of extra time to ensure everything gets done, but at the same time don’t take up to much time and draw the project out.

Sometimes this section of the grant is written up as a table, sometimes in bullet points and sometimes in paragraph form. The grant RFP (request for proposal) should state how to include this in your proposal. Also, some RFP’s may refer to this section as Methods, Activities, Procedures, etc. Regardless what it is called it is an important section of your application and can show the reviewer how knowledgeable and determined you are to see this grant projects success.

Earlier this week I was in a hurry to get somewhere and the escalator I was riding wasn’t moving fast enough. So, I decided to go ahead and climb the steps instead of waiting for it to move me to the top. After just a couple of steps I realized I had just stepped out of my shoe (you know the black and gray snake skin heels that I really only wear with my black and gray hounds tooth checked teacup jacket….sorry sidetrack…anyway) but I only had two more steps to the top so I kept going. Once I reached the top I turned around and watched my high heeled shoe finish riding the escalator to the top. As I swooped down to pick it up and slip it back on my foot, (so much for saving some time and climbing the escalator) I thought to myself, this must be how a modern day Cinderella would feel: still in a hurry, still loosing her slipper, but now with technology instead of a prince.


I tell you that story, to remind you when you are preparing grant applications to not wait until the last minute to send in your application. Don’t be in a rush and overlook or leave out a piece of the application. Some applications require more than just the proposal, in some case there are separate budget forms that will need filled out. Federal grant applications may also require additional forms such as lobbying, non-construction, or budget justification forms. If any of the required forms are not included in your application package the grantor will throw it out and not review it.


Also, grantors are very strict on deadlines and due dates. Some grants may call for a “Letter of Interest” prior to the full application being due. These simply give the funder an idea of how many applications they will be receiving so they can plan and prepare accordingly. But you should also note that receiving that letter by the due date could be critical to them accepting your full proposal by the application due date.


Another tip is that if you use grants.gov to submit applications, please be aware that on busier days the system can get bogged down and run slower. It may take too long for your application to upload and if you miss the cut off (time wise) you will be out of luck and they will not accept your application. It is wise to submit your application a couple of days early just in case something goes wrong. I usually suggest trying to get online and send it early in the morning or later in the evening as there are fewer users on and the system runs quicker. It will save you time and frustration to plan ahead, and not to wait till the last minute.

Being a newlywed I received wedding gifts like a pressure cooker, food mill and food processor that I wanted to get out of the box and put to good use. So one day last fall I went to a local apple orchard and bought 2 Pecks of apples to use for canning apple butter, apple sauce and apple pie filling. Now, you might be thinking, what’s a peck? Well it’s a unit of measurement equivalent to ¼ a bushel. So…. what’s a bushel, is now the question you have.

Webster’s defines bushel as;
“the volume of a cylinder 18.5 in (47 cm) in diameter and 8 in (20 cm) high.”

Regardless what you call it I came home with a couple bags of apple and started peeling, slicing and dicing and getting my apples all prepped to be canned. When I was finished I ended up with 10 pints of applesauce, 6 quarts of apple pie filling and about a dozen little jelly jars of apple butter.

Now, don’t get me started on the difference between a pint and quart.

I use this story to point out that when writing up your grant proposal you need to be sure and label each section of your write up the same as is listed in the Request for Proposals (RFQ). If, in the first section they want you to write about is called an Abstract, make sure you title the heading as Abstract. Do not call it Overview, Background, Justification, Goals, or anything else. This is the same with every other topic area they want you to write on. If they ask for the sections in an certain order: Abstract, Outcomes, Timelines, Budget, and Conclusion; then make sure your proposal is set in the same manner, same flow, same heading, same verbiage.

Why is this important? Chances are the person reviewing your grant has a score sheet and there is a certain number of points set aside for each section. Chances are they are going to read your abstract and score your abstract before moving on to the next section. Chances are they are reading a lot of applications and are in a repetitive flow of reading and scoring and moving on. If they can’t find the next section to score, or are confused as to what exact section your write up relates to, they may score you low or not score you at all. Don’t take that chance. The grantor takes the time to write up the RFQ, you as an applicant should take the time to follow the outline they put in place. Use the same titles, same order and give your application every chance it has to be successful.

Growing up in rural Indiana I noticed people talked about the weather a lot. Did it rain, or not, and how much. One farmer might have gotten half an inch while another got seven tenths. And, depending on how dry it had been; lead to how much boasting the farmer who got a little bit more rain would become. And, obviously when your crops are dependent on the weather to grow and you are dependent on your crops for an income, then yes; the weather is an important aspect of daily conversation.

So one time this past summer my husband came inside from checking the rain gauge and seemed a bit puzzled because although he knew it had rained, there wasn’t any water in his gauge. My response back to him was, “Well it rained enough to lay the dust.” Disappointedly he said, “yes, but no one knows how much that is.” I smiled thinking of the many farmers back home who would have gladly accepted this answer and said, “The people who need to know…..would know.”

I tell you this quaint story of assumptions so that when you sit down to write a grant application you will do the exact opposite. I am sure that there are acronyms, slang and jargon that you use to call the processes or tools you work with daily. And while you and others in your industry or area of expertise may know exactly what you are referring to, a person reviewing your grant may not. Not always are grant review panels experts in the subject matter they review. Therefore, you need to make certain when putting together your grant narratives/summaries that you call items by the proper name and in some cases explain or go into more detail. This will ensure that the grant reviewer will understand what you are talking about and can fairly score your application.