We’ve all heard that “there is money out there” and all you have to do is “write a grant” to get the money you need for additional supplies, renovations, new buildings, materials, and so on. While it really isn’t as easy as that, it IS true. There ARE grants out there. Be warned, however, that more people becoming aware of these opportunities will result in more people requesting funding, which will result in those same funds being spread over a larger field. Keep in mind, too, that while these grants exist as described today, they may change (or be discontinued) tomorrow.
A couple of thoughts as you work on your alternate sources of funding:
- Develop a generic description of your organization that includes name, where you are located, your mission, and pertinent demographics about your area. Keep that information on a Word document somewhere handy, and then you can copy and paste it (and adjust as necessary, to meet the criteria of the specific grant) to the application you are working on.
- If you want to write grants and obtain funding, plan to write LOTS of grants, and don’t be too disappointed when you don’t get one.
- lllinois ResourceNet is a funding initiative designed to help bring more federal dollars into Illinois. For assistance with identifying, preparing, and writing federal grants, visit www.illinoisresource.net to submit your request for assistance.
If you’d like to peruse the web for potential opportunities yourself:
- Do a keyword search for grants and funding
- Identify a major corporation, and go to their website. Move to the bottom of their homepage and click on something like About Us or Community Relations, and follow the trail to funding opportunities.
- Or, try the links posted in the column on the right of this page.
Grants that are listed on this site are presented as posts, are either categorized as “grants” or “fundraising opportunities”, and can be searched in a number of ways–
- simply scroll through the list (including older entries)
- type the month you want to submit a grant proposal in the search box to find the options available
- enter the type of library in the search box to find the grants that you are eligible to apply for
We would also like to encourage users of this site to add comments about fundraising activities that have worked well at their facility.