Today I am sharing some websites you might find useful while searching for grant funding on your own. These are great pages to bookmark and revisit on a monthly or even weekly basis to see what kinds of funding is available. As always I like to exercise a word of caution and only trust those websites that offer federal or state grants that end in .gov as there are some scams out there in the grant world so it best to be wise and use safe sites.

http://www.grants.gov/
This is a great site and offers you the ability to search by keyword or by federal agency. It also allows you to sign up to RSS feeds so you can have all the latest grant opportunities e-mail right to you.

http://www.cfda.gov/
The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance is a site that offers both a broad overview of federal funding and allocations as well as offering some advanced search options for looking for particular grant topics.

You can also go directly to various Federal Agencies websites to search for grants they offer. Of course all the grants listed on individual federal agencies websites will also be listed on the website above, but sometimes additional information is listed on the agencies sites. Some of these agencies may also offer RSS feeds allowing you to sign up for e-mail grant alerts. Some federal agencies that may be of interest to Agricultural related projects are:
USDA- http://www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/funding.cfm  
US EPA - http://www.epa.gov/ogd/
US DOE - http://science.doe.gov/grants/index.asp
National Science Foundation - http://www.nsf.gov/funding/
US Department of Health and Human Services - http://www.hhs.gov/grants/

FREE & Interactive Webinar for USDA's Specialty Crop Block Grant


Thursday, December 16, 2 p.m. ET

This is a unique opportunity for members of the Specialty Crop Industry to take advantage of.  On Thursday, Deceber 16th, you can find out what the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program is and how you can apply for grant funds to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops. For additional information please view the webinar’s invitation.

Program Description:  The purpose of the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) is to solely enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops. Specialty crops are defined as “fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops (including floriculture).”

The focus of the webinar will be to generate interest in the program. The webinar will cover eligible projects, some of the federal restrictions and limitations on grant funds, how to apply through your local state department of agriculture, very general grant application information, and success stories.


The webinar will be recorded and afterwards posted on the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program for viewing at any time.

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.

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.