{"id":37,"date":"2016-03-08T01:31:21","date_gmt":"2016-03-08T01:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grantwriterteam.com\/blog\/?p=37"},"modified":"2022-03-23T10:29:38","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T14:29:38","slug":"partnering-for-a-grant-application-the-downside-risk-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grantwriterteam.com\/blog\/partnering-for-a-grant-application-the-downside-risk-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Partnering for a Grant Application \u2014 The Downside and Risks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My name is Rodney L. Sutton, Sr. and I&#8217;m the community development coordinator and grant writer for Horizons of\u00a0Tuscarawas and Carroll Counties Inc. Our organization uses <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grantwatch.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">grants<\/a> to fund many of our activities. In this blog post., I want to share with you our experience applying for a grant with another organization for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grantwatch.com\/cat\/51\/farming-agriculture-grants.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hydroponic farming<\/a> project.<\/p>\n<p>Horizons of Tuscarawas and Carroll Counties, Inc. has been in operation since 1976. Our agency began in the heart of an aging parent whose concern for her adult developmentally disabled child was to keep her from being placed in an institution after the parent passed away. The parent wanted the child to live in a home-like atmosphere with 3 or 4 other individuals. This desire evolved into the residential services of Horizons of Tuscarawas and Carroll Counties, Inc. We now employ more than 270 people to provide the needed services.<\/p>\n<p>Horizons, Inc.\u00a0strives to\u00a0meet the holistic needs of individuals with developmental disabilities by providing:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Home-like\u00a0living environments<\/li>\n<li>An Adult Day Care facility with\u00a0habilitation services<\/li>\n<li>Professionally trained staff to ensure\u00a0health and safety<\/li>\n<li>Access to\u00a0recreation and work opportunities<\/li>\n<li>Transportation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The goal of our organization is to help those with disabilities become more independent and to educate the community about development disabilities.\u00a0By managing themselves they become\u00a0more independent and obtain\u00a0the skills needed\u00a0in life.\u00a0In the Day Habilitation program, individuals are given the opportunity to learn new skills and receive job training, and maintain current skills while enjoying daily social interaction and recreational activities.<\/p>\n<p>Some time ago, Horizons Inc. was approached by a partner agency with an idea for introducing hydroponics to individuals with developmental disabilities. It fit with our goals so we decided to write a grant for a familiar funder that we had used in the past. The lessons learned from this encounter are useful for grant writers and organizations looking to collaborate for specific projects.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Know\u00a0your funder and\u00a0how to develop better relationships with funders<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of the most important lessons that I learned is to understand the funder\u2019s priorities. Building relationships is key for success and one must focus on the relationship with the funder. One can&#8217;t just accept the funder\u2019s money and not understand their mission. This is particularly important when deciding to collaborate with another organization. Don\u2019t assume that the funder will accept the partner organization. There are plenty of positives to collaboration, but by not understanding relationships with funders and stakeholders, one\u00a0not only loses opportunities, but also burns bridges.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1422115151\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1422115151&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=grantnepress-20&amp;linkId=VNRTL3UDK7O4KTBY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">collaboration<\/a> can go wrong<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1422115151\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1422115151&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=grantnepress-20&amp;linkId=74KX3EK5VWPK346Q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: left; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;\" src=\"https:\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;ASIN=1422115151&amp;Format=_SL250_&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=grantnepress-20\" \/><\/a>There are factors that\u00a0inhibit organizations from receiving grants. Our funder was willing to give us the grant to build out a hydroponic program. \u00a0However, they were not familiar with our partner.\u00a0 As a result, this caused some friction because they didn&#8217;t want to give the grant to that organization.<\/p>\n<p>The lesson that I learned from this was to always consult with the funder in order to make sure that the collaborating organization is acceptable to the funders and their values. We may be united by the same cause and goals, but the funder\u2019s needs are important when it comes to establishing relationships for future projects. If both sides aren&#8217;t on the same page then there is a failure of communication between the two parties that could not only ruin a grant opportunity, but future opportunities as well.<\/p>\n<p>Making collaboration\u00a0beneficial requires\u00a0mutual agreement between the funder and the organizations receiving the grant. Effective communication between the parties can reduce the chance of miscommunication. This means understanding your audience, understanding those providing grants for that specific audience, and understanding how the funders approve organizations to which they disperse funds.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grantwatch.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>GrantWatch.com<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0has\u00a0resources for finding grants for organizations that helps those with\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grantwatch.com\/cat\/7\/disabilities-grants.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>disabilities<\/em><\/a><em>. We\u00a0also have grants for organizations that specialize in\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grantwatch.com\/cat\/51\/farming-agriculture-grants.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>farming and agriculture<\/em><\/a><em>. These are terrific opportunities for organizations to obtain grants for their organizations in order to promote their\u00a0cause. GrantWatch is an excellent database for finding thousands of grants for your organization.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Facts about hydroponics<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1439878676\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1439878676&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=grantnepress-20&amp;linkId=OICIMZ4MSWQFSXWS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;\" src=\"https:\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;ASIN=1439878676&amp;Format=_SL250_&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=grantnepress-20\" \/><\/a><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"height: 1px; margin: 0px !important; width: 1px;\" src=\"https:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=grantnepress-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=1439878676\" alt=\"\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1439878676\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1439878676&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=grantnepress-20&amp;linkId=TG4WKWR6HGFWMIKO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Hydroponics<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0is a subset of\u00a0hydroculture\u00a0and is a method of growing\u00a0plants\u00a0using mineral\u00a0nutrient\u00a0solutions, in water, without\u00a0soil. Hydroponics is believed to be a practice as old as the pyramids.\u00a0Recent surveys have indicated that there are over 1,000,000 household soil-less culture units operating in the United States for the production of food alone. Russia, France, Canada, South Africa, Holland, Japan, Australia and Germany are among other countries where hydroponics is receiving the attention it deserves.<\/p>\n<p>Below is a visual of how our process works for using hydroponics to teach those with developmental disabilities skills for the future:<\/p>\n<p><strong>About the Author<\/strong>: Rodney L. Sutton, Sr. has worked in the nonprofit sector for more than 15 years in various capacities. The last five years he has focused on grant writing, fundraising and nonprofit development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My name is Rodney L. Sutton, Sr. and I&#8217;m the community development coordinator and grant writer for Horizons of\u00a0Tuscarawas and Carroll Counties Inc. Our organization [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grant-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.grantwriterteam.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Untitled-design-2022-03-23T102534.810.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6c2tj-B","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grantwriterteam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grantwriterteam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grantwriterteam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grantwriterteam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grantwriterteam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.grantwriterteam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1328,"href":"https:\/\/www.grantwriterteam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions\/1328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grantwriterteam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grantwriterteam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grantwriterteam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grantwriterteam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}