A one-day Grant Writing Workshop held April 17th in Plainview was attended by thirty-four individuals from twenty-three communities. They represented a wide-variety of disciplines including economic developers, hospital staff, city administrators, community volunteers, a housing manager, a tribal representative, non-profit entities, a university scientist, and a librarian.
Jan Jorgensen, RC&D staff member, shared grant writing basics and tips on what she’s learned over twenty-one years of writing grants. Being successful takes a well-identified need, the right funder, the right project written in a clear and easily understood method, and good partners. She told the group that persistence does pay off and “You won’t die if you don’t get the grant, but you certainly won’t get it unless you submit one.”
Mike Marty and Tom McCauley with the Nebraska Arts Council told of the variety of programs and services they offer through their state agency as well as the many granting opportunities available. Mary Yager, Humanities Nebraska, updated the group on their granting programs as well as their speakers’ bureau. They too are a state agency and share similarities to the Nebraska Arts Council, but their grants do not require matching cash. Heather Hogue, Nebraska Tourism Office offered insight into their two grant programs – the Tourism Marketing grant and a newer one called the Tourism Community Impact grants.
Nebraska Environmental Trust’s grant administrator Marilyn Tabor gave participants information about how their lottery-funded grant programs work and the priorities areas in which they award grants. Justin Evertson, Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, provided a handout on their grant programs of Sustainable Schoolyard Partnership, Trees for Nebraska Towns, and the ReTree Nebraska initiative. He also demonstrated through a slide show of pictures how some of the projects funded have done a lot to create plant diversity and improve the state’s landscape. Nebraska Dept. Environmental Quality grant information was provided to the group in the form of handouts and comments from participants on how they’d accessed those programs and the assistance given by DEQ staff.
For more information about this workshop or any of the RC&D programs and services please contact the office at 402-582-4866 or email [email protected]