How to Use Data to Get Grants Mark Goldstein, CFRE October 9, 2013 Twitter Hashtag - #4Glearn Part Of: Sponsored by: How This Webinar Works •  A link to the slides/materials will be sent in an email after the webinar •  If you’d like to ask a question during the webinar, you can type it in the question box of your control panel on the right side of your screen •  Chat with us on twitter using the hashtag - #npweb Part Of: Sponsored by: Upcoming Webinars Dates Topic 10/15 Practical Strategies for Writing the Annual Appeal 10/16 The Budget Primer: Building and Using Budgets Better 10/16 Have You Been Sequestered?—Developing Diverse Sources of Revenue 10/22 Affordable Special Events Data Tracking – Rescheduled 10/23 Mission and Leadership: Work Motivation That Strikes a Chord 10/23 On Today’s Menu: Your Successful Grant Proposal Register at NonprofitWebinars.com Part Of: Sponsored by: How to Use Data to Get Grants Mark Goldstein, CFRE October 9, 2013 Twitter Hashtag - #4Glearn Part Of: Sponsored by: INTEGRATED PLANNING www.synthesispartnership.com (617) 969-1881 info@synthesispartnership.com Advising nonprofits in: •  Strategy •  Planning •  Organizational Development Part Of: Sponsored by: Coming Soon Part Of: Sponsored by: Today’s Speaker Mark Goldstein, CFRE CEO Communication Mark Assisting with chat questions: Jamie Maloney, 4Good Part Of: Founding Director of Nonprofit Webinars and Host: Sam Frank, Synthesis Partnership Sponsored by: How to Use Data to Get Grants Mark Goldstein, CFRE Nonproﬁt Webinars October 9, 2013 www.communica+onmark.com/usedata.php What, Precisely, Is “Data”? •  “Factual informa+on used as a basis for reasoning, discussion or calcula+on” —(Merriam-‐Webster) –  Note to Grammar Police: Source also says that it is OK to use ‘data’ as an ‘abstract mass noun’ now, not just as the plural of datum). •  Note that data is not just numbers. •  Observe that data is factual by its very nature. Source: ETQ Blog: hQp://bit.ly/17cb12o What Data Should I Gather? Most of the data your organiza+on gathers for a proposal will be to show that (1) a great need exists (external to your organiza+on) and (2) the strategy you propose to solve the problem is sound, ﬁts with your mission and addresses the grantmaker’s priori+es. Which Measurements Am I Taking? With grant proposals, you are usually gathering demographic informa+on (sta+s+cal characteris+cs of a popula+on) or other baseline data (to show past results, measure a current situa+on or calculate future results). The data is usually either required by the funder or desired to objec+vely demonstrate the need for funding. What Your Grant Proposal’s Data Should Provide to Grantmakers Clear understanding of the problem that funds will address. Strong impression that the problem is criScal. Firm belief that the problem really does exist. Ra+onale that your organizaSon and the grantmaker are the ones to work together to solve the problem. •  Evidence that you grasp all key facets of the problem. •  Details showing your organizaSon is well equipped to implement a soluSon (not in “need statement” sec+on). •  Conﬁdence that a measurable improvement will be achieved if the project is funded. •  •  •  •  Tell the Story of the Need/Problem Be an invesSgaSve journalist: Use data to answer the “Who, What, Why, Where, When, How” ques+ons that any reader would ask. These ques+ons will vary, but here are some common ones, along with examples of responses taken from actual needs statements. What is the problem and its root cause? Many new mothers with low incomes in Jeﬀerson County, TN, lack the necessiSes to properly care for an infant upon leaving the hospital. According to the obstetric nursing staﬀ at Jeﬀerson County Hospital (JCH), more than 50% of JCH’s homeward-‐bound new mothers do not have adequate infant care supplies at home. During the past year, JCH nurses have contributed more than $500 of their own pay so that new mothers go home with the items that they and their babies need. Who is aﬀected by the problem you will address? According to the American Community Survey (ACS) 2010 es+mates 154,075 Veterans live in the 10-‐county area served by the proposed project (3-‐year sample). Since the 2010 VA Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) indicates that 1 out of every 150 Veterans are homeless, ABC Organiza+on es+mates that there are 1,027 homeless Veterans in the area. Mahe Shoreland, the coordinator of the Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) program at the VA Medical Center in Lincolnbury, NC, reports that more Veterans services are needed in Cleveland, Lincoln, Gaston, and Catawba Coun+es. Where is this problem occurring? Poverty and negaSve health outcomes are widespread in Leland County. The Leland County Board of Educa+on reports that 66.43% of students at the four elementary schools receive free or reduced lunch and 67.44% are on Medicaid. Due to growing drug problems and other negaSve inﬂuences by high school students, all 8th grade students will be moved from the high schools to the elementary schools. This will increase the need for medical supplies provided by DEF Organiza+on and staﬀ +me for purchasing supplies and coordina+ng services. How does this problem present itself for various popula+ons? Approximately 45% of HealthyTime pa+ents are minori+es, primarily African-‐ American and La+no, compared to a combined presence in the county at less than 20%. According to the County’s 2003 Community Health Assessment, Ireland County death rates for minori+es are higher than for Anglo-‐ Americans for heart disease (1.2 X), stroke (1.5 X), breast cancer (1.9 X), pancrea+c cancer (1.2 X), prostate cancer (4.7 X), diabetes (2.2 X), liver disease (2.0 X), sep+cemia (1.7 X), kidney disease (2.0 X), and HIV (11.3 X). When does this problem present itself, or are there +me-‐sensi+ve issues? Jeﬀerson Community Hospital es+mates that its pa+ents with low incomes miss 2,800 medical appointments and diagnos+c tests annually due to a lack of transporta+on. Approximately 40% of the residents in JCH’s service area are Medicaid-‐eligible and over 80% of the hospital’s pa+ents cannot pay for the care that they receive. Addi+onally, in the past two years, 40,000 people in the JCH service area lost health insurance when the State of Tennessee implemented drama+c budget cuts to TennCare, its public insurance program. Why does this problem exist? The Size and Need of the Local Elderly Popula@on Is Growing Rapidly. The growth of the older adult popula+on in Thompson County is the greatest challenge facing our hospice, as the needs of this primary hospice cons+tuency has exacerbated all of the other challenges faced by Thompson Hospice. The combined total of paSents served in the last four (4) years is greater than the total in our previous 20 years of operaSon. Pa+ents Served ! Where To Get the Data The source of your data should be well-‐documented. A poten+al source is your organiza+on’s internal ﬁles or databases. Your data should be gathered from established, objec+ve authori+es, such as a government agency, creden+aled expert or established nonproﬁt en+ty. Some common data sources and aides: •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  Online sources (Census, Fedstats.gov, etc.) Search Engines (Google, Bing, etc.) Local experts (University, Health Dept.) Non-‐local experts (Known experts) Published studies Na+onal associa+ons Other agencies People aﬀected by the problem Where in the Proposal Does Data Go? Anywhere it is needed, really. Most commonly in the needs statement, but here are some examples of how I’ve used data in other parts of the proposal. •  Summary: Avoid going into great detail in the summary, but reinforce key data that drives home the extent of the problem. “McDawson County lacks safe, aﬀordable housing, and substandard housing is common. There are only 225 SecFon 8 housing units available in the county; 100% are occupied and there is a waiFng list of about 60 people.” •  IntroducSon: Data ci+ng organiza+onal accomplishments: “Since our organizaFon was founded in 2005, we’ve served 1,026 homeless individuals in Oak County, and 90% have succeeded in maintaining permanent housing aSer receiving services.” •  ObjecSves: I don’t osen present new data in this sec+on, but I osen use data on area needs and organiza+onal accomplishments in order to create objec+ves that are realis+c yet somewhat ambi+ous. “Based on past experience, these funds will enable MHC to perform repairs on 15 houses in 2012, serving 40 elderly people.” Where Should the Data Go? (Cont.) •  Project Methods: This sec+on can be a good place to use data to explain the ra+onale for your project methods. For instance, “We considered Approach A, but since Study X has found that this is an ineﬀec+ve strategy in a rural area like ours, we decided to pursue the proposed Approach B.” •  Budget: The budget narra+ve might explain line items using data. For example: “Our organiza+on u+lizes many volunteers. According to Independent Sector, which sets annual values for volunteer +me, the value of a volunteer's +me was $22.14 per hour in 2012. This ﬁgure is derived by taking the average hourly earnings of all produc+on and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls (as released by the Bureau of Labor Sta+s+cs) and increasing it by 12 percent to es+mate fringe beneﬁts. We u+lize this standard for ﬁguring the value of volunteer +me.” PresentaSon of Data •  Informal citaSons are generally OK, unless full citaSons are speciﬁcally requested. My standard is to provide enough source informa+on to enable the grantmaker to easily verify the facts (e.g., “State of Kentucky, Kentucky Health Facts, 2013”). •  Only present data that is perSnent to your request (use local data, for instance) and that backs up your request. It is unethical to distort or mislead by using data out of context, but it is not necessary to cite informa+on that does not support your cause. •  Use graphics to make the case if that helps, especially when the data is poten+ally confusing or complex for the reader to follow. It doesn’t have to be fancy – a simple graph, image or table will osen do the trick. Other Tips and Comments •  Compiling good data takes Sme and ohen dictates the content of the rest of the proposal, since it deﬁnes the problem you will propose to solve. •  Share the data with others aher you drah your need statement. Ask them what impression they have from the data to listen to whether they get the sense that you want the grantmakers to get, and see if there are areas that they feel need further explana+on or documenta+on. •  Bold key need statements so that it is clear on what you think the problem is. •  Many grantwriters skip too quickly to the soluSon and leave the reader lost and wondering what is being accomplished by the proposal. •  You can use the data again and again in other proposals, requests to donors, press releases, on your web site, etc., etc. Thank You for Listening! Mark Goldstein, CFRE (828) 650-‐0902 mark@communica+onmark.com www.communicaSonmark.com/usedata.php Upcoming Webinars Dates Topic 10/15 Practical Strategies for Writing the Annual Appeal 10/16 The Budget Primer: Building and Using Budgets Better 10/16 Have You Been Sequestered?—Developing Diverse Sources of Revenue 10/22 Affordable Special Events Data Tracking – Rescheduled 10/23 Mission and Leadership: Work Motivation That Strikes a Chord 10/23 On Today’s Menu: Your Successful Grant Proposal Register at NonprofitWebinars.com Part Of: Sponsored by: Thank you! Please complete the survey that will show up as you leave the webinar. You will be receiving an email with links to the materials shortly after the webinar. Part Of: Sponsored by: