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Live United by Erin Haag

United Way announced their Community Impact Grants in July. For the past six weeks, we have advertised the grant cycle on our website, here in my articles, on the radio and on our social media. We’ve emailed out those that had applied in the past, as well as reached out to nonprofits that might be interested and had never applied before. It’s something we do every year, actively work to make sure that our area nonprofits are aware. The grant application period officially closed on Tuesday. We have 13 applications, 16 if you include the ones who started a draft. Out of those 16 applications (I’m including the drafts), six of them were new to us.

This is important to me. When I first started, I asked questions about the grant cycle. One board member asked about a local organization, and I realized that they had never applied for a grant before. So we reached out to the organization and asked why. They responded that they didn’t bother applying because United Way funded the same programs every year, and they didn’t think they had any chance at being able to get funding. We encouraged them to apply, and began to proactively look at who we were funding and how we could foster a competitive grant process. We have the unique position of being both a funder and an applicant for funding. I sit on both sides of the coin on a regular basis, and I work hard to ease the process on both sides.

That’s a tough one. Competition has negative connotations around it, because we talk about lifting each other up, supporting our nonprofit partners and collaboration. All this talk of collaboration but suddenly we have to compete for funds? That seems counterintuitive. As a funder to our local community organizations, we’ve looked long and hard about how to improve the grant process. See, there’s grants out there that I will never apply for — because there’s just not enough return on investment. If I have to spend hours and hours writing a grant, and then spend more hours and hours reporting on the grant, and set specific stipulations into place, and so forth, then I look at the amount of funding I’m eligible or likely to receive. Does that amount offset the time? Is $500 worth an eight-hour application? Nope. Is $50,000 worth an eight-hour application? Absolutely.

This year, we provided support in a variety of ways. We hosted office hours for technical support each Friday. We had a process for submitting questions — and then we posted those questions and answers on the website so that everyone could take advantage of those questions and answers. There were three rounds of questions and answers. This was a new change this year — and it was implemented for a number of reasons. First — we wanted to ensure equity. When there’s someone who sees me daily, and they can ask me a quick question about a grant — is that really fair to the person who doesn’t live in the area and rarely has contact with me? Or to the new executive director who doesn’t have a gazillion small town ties to me? For full transparency, it was also a buffer. In years past, when the grant cycle opened up, I was bombarded with requests to meet, to discuss the grant, to brainstorm ideas. While I’m open to that — it should be happening throughout the year, not in the last minute ditch effort to build a relationship. So the decision was made that once the grant cycle opened, I did not discuss the grant with anyone. I wouldn’t comment on, “yeah that sounds like a reasonable thing to do.” I have the advantage of institutional knowledge. In some programs, I have the advantage of working for similar programs, and understanding the nuances of the challenges there. I use this information in my daily work, and I’m happy to share knowledge or bounce ideas back and forth, or just imagine with someone. I’ve provided grant editing, listened to an elevator speech and offered insights. Just not for six weeks. The power can and should lie with the organization. We’re asking organizations to showcase their programs to the best of their ability. We’re asking them to build a relationship, invest in knowledge and training and networking year-round.

It’s not just about us. It’s also about following a process in a smaller setting, that aligns with bigger grant processes, so it’s familiar. A good percentage of our questions are standard boilerplate information — the kind of information you should be able to reel off the top of your head when you meet that VIP in the elevator and they want to chat. It’s surprising how many leaders don’t have that memorized, so we’re encouraging them to develop that conversational gambit. Want to go after a grant through the state? You attend a formal meeting, watch a recording and submit your questions online. We’re the baby version of that, preparing you for the big leagues, because we encourage our nonprofits to be successful. Let’s go after that big grant! We’ll cheer you on every step of the way. Keep in mind that there’s room for mistakes. Have a typo in an email? We can correct that. Submit the application and then realize you didn’t upload the correct document? Email it to us before the deadline and we’ll take care of it. Technical glitch or barriers? No problem. We’ll print off the application and drop it off to you. We’ll confirm we received it, and all looks well.

I haven’t read the applications yet, just looked at the names. I’m on the precipice of possibilities. It’s a competitive process this year, and already my heart is dreading the decision-making process. The decision to fund or not to fund doesn’t always mean that it is a reflection of the value and worth of the program. Sometimes it means there’s not enough money. Sometimes there’s too many similar programs, and we need to spread the money raised across different areas. Sometimes it is a reflection of the program, and there are concerns about the operations. After all, we’re asking our organizations to uphold to a standard, to have the greatest impact.

So here’s to the grant cycle being halfway through. In a few weeks, we’ll be able to announce the programs funded and we’ll work on building those relationships. For questions, please call my office at 507-373-8670. I’m happy to take the time to sit down and discuss and dream together.

Erin Haag is the executive director of the United Way of Freeborn County.