Discussion 1: Funding through Grants

Budgeting in human services organizations brings about many challenges. Human services agencies must be creative in managing their budget due to the increased demands on the agency and the needs of the clients and stakeholders. There are many legal, contractual, and other requirements under the concept of financial management, as such agency administrators need to be creative to obtain funding. Applying for grants in both the private and public sectors is one access to funding resources. Most grants will require that you present a proposed budget for use of the funds. Thus, grants and budgeting often go hand in hand.

For this Discussion, think about grant writing and the elements needed to write a successful grant. Then, review sample grants at https://grantspace.org/resources/sample-documents/. Identify one grant to discuss.

By Day 3

Post the following:

• Describe the key elements to grant writing.
• Provide a brief description of the grant proposal you selected and explain the strengths of the proposal and any areas where it could be improved.
• Explain how you would improve on the grant proposal to convince the funder that funding this program would have a positive and measurable effect on the community.

Support your post with specific references to the resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references.

Required Readings

Lauffer, A. (2011). Understanding your social agency (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: Sage.
Chapter 9, “Fundraising and Development” (pp. 285–320)

Bowman, W. (2011). Financial capacity and sustainability of ordinary nonprofits. Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 22(1), 37–51.

LeRoux, K. (2009). Managing stakeholder demands: Balancing responsiveness to clients and funding agents in nonprofit social service organizations. Administration & Society, 41(2), 158–184.

Barasa, E. W., Cleary, S., Molyneux, S., & English, M. (2017). Setting healthcare priorities: a description and evaluation of the budgeting and planning process in county hospitals in Kenya. Health policy and planning, 32(3), 329-337.

Nelson, D., & Ruffalo, L. (2017). Grant writing: Moving from generating ideas to applying to grants that matter. The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 52(3), 236-244.

Foundation Center. (2018). GrantSpace: Sample documents. Retrieved from https://grantspace.org/resources/sample-documents/
Note: You will need to create a log-in to the website to access and download the documents. This is a free service.

Required Media

Foundation Center. (2015, September 10). Introduction to project budgets [Video file]. Retrieved from https://grantspace.org/training/introduction-to-project-budgets/

Foundation Center. (2015, April 21). Introduction to proposal writing [Video file]. Retrieved from https://grantspace.org/training/introduction-to-proposal-writing-3/

Foundation Center. (2015, September 10). Introduction to fundraising planning [Video file]. Retrieved from https://grantspace.org/training/introduction-to-fundraising-planning/

Optional Resources

Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA). (2012). Retrieved from http://www.arnova.org/

Walden University. (2014). Master of Social Work home page. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Visit the Master of Social Work interactive home page to explore resources available to students in the program.