Pursuing Available Grant Funds

The City of Newton presently pursues various grants offered by governments and nonprofit organizations. However, there are opportunities to obtain more grant money by improving the City's approach to grant writing.

The City has not optimized its approach to obtaining grant money. For example, the Fire Department recently received a grant of $266,000 from the Department of Homeland Security after having been rejected by Homeland Security over several prior years because the grant writing approach was incorrect. Only, after the approach was modified was the grant was obtained. Other obstacles to getting and using grants include:

• Grants are not made on a timeline that matches the City’s budgeting cycle;
• Grants may not be recurring;
• When grants do recur, they may require a “reapplication,” including analysis and evaluation of existing progress;
• Grants are often program-based, spanning multiple departments, making the current city organization inefficient for requesting and managing grants;
• Often, grants require local matching funds;
• Some grants are limited to funding new or innovative programs; and
• Grants are often tied to particular demographics, potentially making it difficult for Newton to access the grant money.

To receive Massachusetts open space grants, a municipality must have an approved Open Space and Recreation Plan. Newton had such a plan, but it expired at the end of 2007, so we are no longer eligible for these grants.

Summary of Proposed Solution

Newton should develop a comprehensive strategy for identifying, prioritizing, and pursuing available grants. This strategy should include:

i) Hiring an outside grant writing firm;

ii) Researching available grants;

iii) Establishing procedures for prioritizing and applying for grants;

iv) Taking action to meet grant requirements; and

v) Tracking success at obtaining grants.

Discussion and Implementation Plan

i) Hire an outside grant-writing firm

Outside grant-writing firms have information about relevant grants, allowing the City to more effectively target grants that are relevant to Newton. These firms have expertise on how best to organize grant writing to be successful in applying for grants. As is demonstrated by the Fire Department example, improvements in grant writing will increase our effectiveness in obtaining grants. Grant-writing firms also have benchmarks from other municipalities that will be helpful in the process.

ii) Researching available grants

Our department heads should research available grants through professional publications, networks, and associations. These potential grants should be combined with information from our grants-writing firm;

iii) Prioritizing grant opportunities

Relevant city staff will meet on a regular basis to prioritize available grant opportunities on the basis of relevance to Newton, amount of available funds, requirements for matching funds, likelihood of receiving the grant, and conditions attached to the grant. This group will work with the grants-writing firm to assemble information needed for grant applications;

iv) Meeting grant requirements

In cases where Newton is not currently eligible for desired grants, we should take appropriate action to meet the requirements, where it is cost-effective to do so. For example, we should update our Open Space and Recreation Plan.

v) Tracking Success at Obtaining Grants

The total and net amounts of grant funds received will be tracked in NewtonStat, along with the programs and services supported by those grant funds that would not otherwise have been funded, as well as the functions that would have taken place regardless of whether grant funding was available.