While this one doesn’t exactly meet the mark I think it would become a rabbit hole linking Dallas innovates to us along with starting to look at other opportunities. I’ve heard grant arguments go both ways as to responsibility and alignment of goals - I’m not starting to do all that I’m just posting this.
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We don’t fit the grant, it requires us to have a youth STEM program. We stay far away from the youth.
Not exactly. It says that
Eligible organizations must … fall under ONE OF Project Innovation’s grant categories:
- Igniting Civic Engagement…
- Skills for Digital Economy…
- STEM/STEAM Youth Programming…
@uglyknees … this sparks a related thought. While this might or might not be the right grant for us to pursue, we would need metrics if we were to pursue this or any other grant. Should we start tracking something in order to enable us to pursue any future grants?
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I’ve written grants for my classroom and for my own teacher travel. The grants I apply for are simple and (not bragging) I’ve been really successful at winning them (but this has more to do with the type of things I apply for over) and I’m always sticking my toe in the pond of free money for students.
The one kicker (especially for this type of facility) is the documentation of expected results. If people choose to go after a grant they will need to have a tight control over the entire journey start to finish.
Grants are really intoxicating and I think many of them should be looked at but sometimes they come with a wicked hangover. I would suggest a team approach no matter what with a strong lead and expectations of duty. Sounds a bunch of work - the money can really push people into trying new things and offering new possibilities which is awesome.
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I am not against grants, or grant-seeking, or tuning DMS to better position itself to receive grants, but I think we really, really have to ask/answer Kenny’s very good & relevant question from a different thread first:
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Thanks for the correction,
I miss read and then saw the always infamous Youth STEM requirement.
I’ve been a part of grant programs in the past also, it is incredible as to how many of the Grants out there are never awarded because no one makes the request. Also, some grants do come with a wicked hangover. I have a business associate win a grant for $2.5 million, this was the break his business needed and he made a huge investment into equipment, materials and labor. 1.5 years later, they pointed out the clause in the grant that required him to manufacture 35% of is product in New York state. Ended up one of the large investors in the grant was New York Municipal Providers. He managed to move his business to New York, but that cost him about $150K, all of his local connections, and his Dallas life style. But, was much cheaper than paying back the grant with penalties.
Personally, I’m concerned about buy in on the follow through with grants. Where I would 100% trust Nicole or you (Chris) with the follow through, I don’t carry that trust for the rest of the space. Grants should probably have BOD approval, unless they are just money dumps without follow up needed. I know Blacksmithing grabbed a grant for I think $30K. They made a lot of purchases, but then the committee nearly died after. I don’t know if we had any requirements after the fact for that grant as I never saw the verbiage of the grant. But, it is food for thought.
I would like to know more about this history, if we could get anyone in the know to divulge.
‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’- (George Santayana-1905)
‘Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.’ - (Winston Chruchill-1948)
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They didn’t get a grant. They got matching funds from an employer and it was closer to $10k.
As far as grants go, I am all for them if they are something we can actually attain without too much sacrifice. I also agree that the board should be informed of anything that pulls money into the space.
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Thanks for Clarifying, I have the knowledge correct in my mind now.
+1
One of the things about grants is that much of the paperwork is the same.
If we get a grant writing SIG going, there is some initial heavy lifting to get a set of documentation completed, after that though, most grants need individual fine tuning around the block of standard data.
Wow! Scary thought. Absolutely concur!
Since only an “officer of the corporation” would have the legal ability to commit us, I just assumed grants would have BOD approval. But I guess we all know about that verb, assume …
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Agreed BOD needs to be involved and all up in it.
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I try hard not to ASSuME at DMS. Our group enjoys being the outlier in to much. 
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There is a big different between some or all events must be kid friendly.
My rocket builds and Arduino classes welcome kids if a parent or guardian is present.
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I am on the Board of a local conservation non-profit in north Texas. We’ve used local, state, and federal grants in the past to develop, maintain, and preserve a local hiking and equestrian trail. I can speak from experience that writing the grant proposal is only about 10% of the work.
Doing the work of the grant is perhaps 70% of the effort.
The remaining 20% is administering the grant: capturing signatures/hours worked for workers, tracking receipts,writing up required documentation (often in a specific required format), submitting reimbursements, tracking those reimbursement requests, etc. eats a tremendous amount of effort, and requires some continuity in the administration to ensure that all the I’s are dotted and all the T’s are crossed throughout the process.
I’m not saying the DMS shouldn’t get involved in grant applications, but that we should go into the process with eyes open, and consider setting up some infrastructure to position ourselves for success post-approval.
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