1. Rural Grant Writing
Teryl Eisinger, MA
Director
Stephanie Hansen
Education Coordinator
National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health

2. Why write a grant?
• There’s a lot of grant money out there – you might
as well have some too!
• You need the money to pay salaries or buy
equipment or make sure your program doesn’t shut
down!
• Only one GOOD REASON

3. “There is a
problem and you
have a passion, a
plan and some
existing capacity
to fix that
problem.”
Be a M.O.M!

4. Getting organized
• 13 Questions to ask yourself
• The concept
• Organizing your consortium/team

5. Getting organized to write a grant
• Have a concept
– What is the problem?
– What do you want to do about it?
Services to be provided
– Who will do it with?
Structure, responsibilities,expertise
– When will you do it?
Steps to be taken
– How will you track your victory?
– How much will it cost?

6. Concept paper
The job isn’t
started
until the
paperwork is done!

7. Organizing the team
• Players know the objective
• Know the rules
• Everyone has a position
– Conductor/Editor
– Writer(s)
– Support staff
– Accountant
– Evaluator
– Reader
– Sender

8. A word about consortiums
Time and commitment
Distinct roles
fiscal
service provider
target population
All participate and benefit

9. Talk to the funder
• Find the right contact
• Overview your concept
• Given this concept AND our background does this
sound like a fundable project?
• Listen

10. Building Block #1 Statement of need
• You MUST be able to
state your need …

11. Statement of need – what is the problem?
• Target population
– General demographics community description
• What is their need?
– Health status, incidence etc…
• What is the cause?
– Risk factors

12. Sources of data
Needs assesments
Federal, state and county data
Provider data
Interviews
Focus groups
Community meeting
Literature review
Steal other people’s stuff - and credit them!
data, model programs, policy briefs, bibliographies,
funded projects etc…

13. Budget
Plan for how you will spend money to address the need.
• What is a budget?
• Reviewers should be able to read the budget and
know what you plan to do and that you have the
project management capacity to do it.
• Two parts
– Budget form – rows and columns of numbers
– Narrative or justification
• What will funds be used for
• How was the cost calculated
• What is important about funding this expense

14. Basic budget components
• Personnel
– Salary and fringe
• Contractual
– What – where will you “farm out”?
– Partner deliverables?
– How will contractor be selected if not “named”?
• Travel – cite your travel policy or gsa
• Equipment – is it allowed – how is it defined?
• Supplies – things that are expendable
• Operating - routine expenses to operating the project
• Other – be cautious about catch all

15. Additional budget components
• Indirect
• “Match”
In – kind
Cash
• Administrative

16. Budget narrative
• Lead sentences
“Funds of ___ are requested to support a .50 FTE program
manager to oversee all aspects of the program including
service delivery, consortium relations and ensuring all
reporting requirements are met.”
“$___ in matching funds for personnel is provided by an in-
kind contribution from the Smith county public health
department. “

17. Budget strategy
• Check in with partners early!
• How much detail is necessary?
• Can you request equipment?
• What about indirect?
• What are your administrative costs?
• Can I/should I pad the budget?

18. Project Plan
What are you going to do to address the need?
“Goals and objectives”
“Timeline”
“Methodology”
“Logic model “

19. Writing Goals & Objectives
• Get ready – Review your problem statement
• Get set – Review your “solution”
• Go – Write what you want the results to be

20. Goals and objectives
• Goals are “General”
• Objectives tell about the
“Operation”

21. SMART objectives
Specific – Is it clear?
Measurable – What can you measure/observe?
Achievable – Is it doable?
Relevant – Will it do what we think we should
accomplish
Time frame – In what time period will the objective be
accomplished?

22. Goals, Objectives, Timelines
& Methodology
Goal: To disseminate information to policy makers,
practitioners and community leaders on key rural health
issues.
Objective: Plan and convene an annual “day at the
legislature” for state of Michigan in January 2012.
Methodology:
1. Select and convene planning committee partners by June 2011.
2. Confirm budget and other resources by July 2011.
3. Draft agenda approved by September 2011.

25. Project Evaluation
“A systemic approach of social research procedures”
“To ascertain or fix the value”
OR
SO WHAT?

26. Project evaluation – key questions
• What is required?
• What is budgeted?
• What do we want to know then that we don’t have
now?

27. 3 focus areas of a simple evaluation plan
• Did you do what you said you were going to do?
(process)
• What can you count? (outcomes)
• So what? (impact)

28. Begin with the end in mind
Goal: To disseminate information to policy makers,
practioners and community leaders on key rural
health issues.
Objectives:
Process Outcome Impact

29. Project evaluation plan narrative
• Who’s responsible – data collection, reporting,
monitoring?
• Data collection – what, how, when?
• Monitoring/correction
– Reporting
– Information dissemination
– Decision making

30. Evaluation – lead sentence
“The project will be evaluated by systematically
examining and collecting data on process, outcomes
and impacts of the project activities.”

31. Project narrative – pulling all the pieces
together for success!
• Write for the reviewers
• Writing – right
• Important pieces

32. Project narrative – write for the reviewers!
• What is an “ORC”
• Reviewers are people
with history, background,
personalities and
opinions
• Don’t make your
reviewer work too hard to
read your grant!

33. Writing – right!
• Write fast – revise later
• Use their outline
• Lead sentences to every paragraph
• Transitions from one paragraph to the next
• Use the same tense throughout
• Use their language
• Not just the facts – rationale, benefits, models
• Format to use white space
• Format to put your application at the top of the pile

34. How to find grants - Types of grants
• Challenge grants
• Demonstration grants
• Planning grants
• Program development grants
• General purpose or operational grants
• Capital grants

35. How to find grant funds
• Read - periodicals and the news
• Network - with other organizations
• Search and re-search
- Federal Office of Rural Health Policy
- Rural Assistance Center
- Guidestar

36. What to do after you write the application
• Write thank you notes!
• Look for other sources of funds.
• Build your grant library.

37. Next steps
• What will you do when you get home?
• Consider the NOSORH Grant Writing Institute
• Stay in touch!

38. Teryl Eisinger, MA Director
teryle@nosorh.org
Stephanie Hansen, Education Coordinator
steph@nosorh.org