Writing a winning grant proposal.

At a time when many communities, through their elected officials, are asking law enforcement agencies to do more with less, using grant funds to supplement departmental budgets provides a perfect route toward achieving their goals. Policing is an expensive endeavor, sometimes accounting for as much as 20 to 30 percent of a city's entire budget, with the police department often dedicating 90 to 97 percent of its budget to salaries and benefits. That leaves very few dollars for equipment or overtime to embark upon new initiatives. Grant programs, however, can provide a source of relief for fiscally strapped cities and towns. Whether their law enforcement agencies are large or small, all communities can benefit from using grants. (1)

During the 1970s, the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) began establishing grant programs. The LEAA program sought to improve the infrastructure and to bring about change within law enforcement agencies. Purchasing equipment, sharing technology, hiring personnel, and increasing training were the themes. Although much has changed since the 1970s, much has not. These same themes continue to dominate most program strategies.

Improvement and change represent the key considerations of most grants. Whether a department's current methods and operations need improvement or its practices need to change to conform to contemporary standards, grants serve to bridge the gap between imagination and practice.

Receiving grant funds can prove advantageous. A combination of hiring initiatives and equipment purchases will improve service delivery while bolstering a department's image and reputation. Moreover, the public is the indirect recipient of the grant award. A department's grantsmanship can have a profound effect on crime, the fear of crime, correctional measures and alternatives, juvenile delinquency, and the overall quality of life for every citizen the agency serves.

Conversely, disadvantages also can occur when applying for funding. The process can be labor intensive and involve conducting research, designing charts, obtaining letters of support, gathering endorsements, and forming partnerships. Then, should funding be awarded, the department must adhere to special conditions set by the funding source. Finally, the funding source monitors and tracks the grant. Did the department meet its intended goals? Did the department supplant? (2) Is the department at risk for an audit? The funding source also requires a myriad of different forms and reports--usually on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis--all due amid the department's regular work, of course.

All too frequently, criminal justice agencies find themselves separated from the grant process because of inexperience. Where do we find the funds? How do we apply? What's expected of us? These questions come from all agency executives seeking grant funds for the first few times. The assumption is that when the chief says to the deputy chief, "I want you to apply for this grant. Just write it up and get it done," miraculously, the funding source will select that proposal over the 2,000 other proposals it receives. Not so, grants are both competitive and often discretionary. To the uninitiated, writing competitive discretionary grants is intimidating. The entire research and writing process often appears to require a creative genius and may not result in an award. However, if departments follow some basic principles, they can learn not only where to seek funding but how to write a winning grant proposal and improve their prospects for obtaining some much-needed funds.

FUNDING SOURCES

Departments can contact a variety of funding sources, from federal and state agencies to private corporations. The most overlooked source is the private sector. Many companies have a philanthropic extension willing to fund projects and programs that represent their company's interests. (3) Another source is the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), a federally sponsored information clearinghouse for people around the country and the world involved with research, policy, and practice related to criminal and juvenile justice and drug control. (4)

When contacting the funding source, the department should ask for an RFP (request for proposal), the official announcement from the source indicating the availability of grant funds. The funding source may have many RFPs available. If so, a department should specify which RFPs it needs, such as ones for hiring personnel, purchasing equipment, or creating a special initiative for a target population. If the funding source states that it does not have an RFP that fits a specific program, then the department should request all available REPs. Sometimes, the person receiving the call may not have sufficient training to interpret the request, possess a criminal justice background, or fully understand what the caller actually means. Once the department receives the RFPs, it can digest the individual programs and determine whether funding is applicable.

LIFE OF A GRANT

The life of a grant begins with the decision to apply for funding. Usually, a member of the command staff or the chief executive first creates the interest (e.g., the desire to form a new anticrime task force, to enhance services for domestic violence victims, or to implement an overtime program for DWI). Once officials determine that their current operating budget is insufficient to harness the idea, the grant process begins.

Because the funding process can prove labor intensive and intimidating and depending on the jurisdiction's form of government and the level of bureaucracy, the grant development team may face a very cumbersome application process or, instead, one that flows rather easily. The typical grant application process involves about 15 steps that represent approximately 4 to 6 months of effort. In most situations, a department spends approximately 30 to 50 percent of the time waiting for the funding source to review the proposal. Departments must remember that if the funding source is a government entity, it receives hundreds, possibly thousands, of applications from agencies around the country. The source must account for each proposal, assign each one to a reviewer, and ensure that each proposal completes the review process (i.e., gets accepted or rejected for funding) before, finally, making the award announcement.

Whatever the process, the grant development team should not become discouraged. The rewards, both personal and organizational, are tremendous. A great sense of accomplishment occurs when the team submits the final draft request and receives the award letter congratulating the department.

INFORMATION COLLECTION

Before beginning the writing process, the department should gather sources of information and conduct a literature review on the topic. An excellent starting place is the grant writer's own knowledge and experience. Life experience (particularly within a person's profession) provides riches from which to draw information. The various assignments grant writers may have held throughout their careers, along with their educational pursuits or other jobs, all contribute to their personal libraries of information.

In addition, a natural corollary flows from using personal experiences to using the knowledge of others. Therefore, grant writers should consider conducting interviews. First, they should define the purpose of the interview. After preliminarily researching the topic, they should select potential interviewees, targeting those at the top (e.g., executives, administrators, division heads, section chiefs, and directors). Such individuals likely will have a broad understanding of the policies, issues, and procedures on the topic in question. Often, they can provide grant writers with specific information necessary to the proposal, and, if not, they at least can identify the correct person to contact.

Probably, the most convenient and extensive way to gather materials is via the Internet, using meta search engines (5) to reduce the amount of time spent researching the topic. Moreover, every accredited college or university has a Web site. Also, NCJRS and the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) collection, along with local libraries' reference sections, provide other places to assemble materials. Finally, research groups dedicated to improving policing can offer indispensable information to grant writers. (6)

SUPPORTING DATA

After gathering resource materials and beginning the writing process, it then becomes necessary to garner support for the idea. Support for the program can come from a variety of origins, such as authorities (subject-matter experts), concrete examples, or statistical illustrations.

Authoritative Support

For nearly every program that a department can conceive, an authoritative documented source exists that will support the concept. (7) Grant writers use authoritative support when they cite respected authors or publications on the topic under consideration. This demonstrates that the department is not just espousing a theory or advancing a supposition but showing that recognized authorities have studied the topic scientifically or proven the theory. Most people are influenced by the testimony of others when dealing with unfamiliar topics. The reader (in this case, the review team) will tend to respect the direct quotations or paraphrased statements of authorities because of the special knowledge or experience that these individuals possess about the topic in question.

Concrete Examples

"Research has shown that vivid, concrete examples have more impact on [readers'] beliefs and actions than any other kind of supporting material." (8) With examples, ideas become specific, personal, and lively. (9) Grant writers can use two types of examples, factual and hypothetical. A factual example describes a true incident as it relates to the proposal. A hypothetical example, on the other hand, depicts an imaginary situation (often, fiction based on fact) that relates to the general principle of the proposal. By using a hypothetical example, the grant writer creates a realistic scenario related directly to the proposal and captivates the reader (again, the review team). Then, by incorporating real statistics into the example, the writer gives the perception that this undoubtedly could happen in real life. Indeed, the grant writer should use statistics to support a hypothetical example so that it does not seem too far-fetched.

Statistical Illustrations

Because this is an age of statistics, expressing what actually is meant numerically often gives others a sense of security in their own knowledge. It also affords the reader the opportunity to visualize the intensity of what is being said or to feel the impact of a particular problem. A widely shared belief infers that when used properly, statistics offer an effective way to clarify and support ideas. To avoid falling victim to unreliable statistics, grant writers should ask two questions: 1) Are the statistics from a reliable source? and 2) Are the statistics representative? If the answer to either of these questions is no, then the writers risk misrepresenting what they wish to portray.

Primarily, grant writers should use statistics to quantify ideas and give them numerical precision. Whenever possible, the writers should include visual aids to clarify statistical trends. A simple pie chart, time line, or bar graph will show the relationship between a time period and the particular social condition.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The goal of grant writing is to receive funding--but not at any cost. Writing, a form of power, carries a heavy ethical burden. People will be influenced and persuaded by presentation. This is how one department's proposal receives funding over the others. The question of ethics in grant writing usually centers around the writer's goals and methods.

Grant writers must make sure that their goals are ethically correct. As criminal justice professionals and (probably) government representatives, grant writers who laud worthless or wasteful programs place their departments on shaky ethical ground. Similar caution extends to the writer's methods as well. Even if the goals are ethically correct, grant writers are not being ethical if they employ cheap and careless methods. Basically, this signifies that the "ends do not justify the means." Writers should review five recognized considerations for ethical grant writing.

1) Subject awareness: Grant writers have an obligation to themselves, the granting agency, and the public they serve. They must understand the program for which the department is applying and how it relates to the city, the department, and its mission or vision statement. Service is the credo, not self-service.

2) Honesty: Writers must remain cognizant of the temptation to distort facts and figures for their own purposes. Responsible writers do not falsify facts, present few facts as representative of the whole picture, or use tentative findings as conclusive evidence.

3) Valid reasoning: Responsible grant writers take affirmative steps to avoid making hasty generalizations, asserting casual connections where none really exist, using invalid or absurd analogies/examples, and yielding to prejudices.

4) Sound evidence: A grant that is awarded is not full of "fluff." It contains real circumstances supported by qualified, objective sources and avoids plagiarizing.

5) Plagiarizing: Generally, grant proposals are a collaboration between the writers and their sources. To be fair and ethical, the writer must acknowledge borrowing another person's ideas and words by documenting the source. To borrow without proper documentation constitutes a form of dishonesty known as plagiarism. Plagiarism occurs in two forms: 1) borrowing someone else's ideas, information, or language without documenting the source and 2) documenting the source but paraphrasing the source's language too closely, without using quotation marks to indicate that the writer borrowed the words and phrases. (10) Writers should consult a reputable writing handbook and give credit where credit is due. In short, if they use another person's material, they must cite it.

WRITING PROCESS

Needless to say, the process of actually writing the grant will test the writer's determination and creativity, but can coalesce into a comprehensible, meaningful, and persuasive document that brings money into the department. Grant writers are selling something--a concept, a belief in their cities and departments. They must convince people to invest in them because they have a worthwhile service to offer. Therefore, grant writers should draft their proposals with the two basic principles of presentation and content at the forefront.

Presentation

Presentation probably represents the single most salient feature of grant packages because no second chances exist in first impressions. Therefore, the grant writer should--

* create the document on a quality word processing program, never handwrite the proposal;

* put headers and footers in the document and number each page;

* use letterhead with original signatures and never fold or crease the paper;

* print in color, but do not make the document gaudy with too many different colors;

* include charts and graphs to depict data;

* organize the document logically and according to RFP requirements;

* grammar check and spell check the document and have it proofread by another person;

* bind the document in quality material; and, most of all,

* follow the instructions offered by the funding source.

Content

Content includes the language, grammar, and punctuation that the writer employs. Words are the tools of the writing craft. Writers must choose the right words for the task they want to accomplish. They should not use words unless they know their meanings. If uncertain, writers should check the dictionary. They also should vary their words, but not use complicated ones, except when explaining or clarifying difficult subjects (e.g., DNA testing procedures, forensic science materials, or computer equipment). Writers always should use bias-free language. They should not refer to all members of an occupational group with a masculine pronoun. Instead, they should say he or she or change the noun to plural and use the pronoun they. Writers should work with the eight parts of speech--nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections--recognized as the traditional parts of English grammar. Finally, writers should ensure that they correctly employ all of the common punctuation m arks, including the period, comma, exclamation point, question mark, semicolon, and colon.

PROPER ORGANIZATION

The funding source sets the substantive provisions of the grant. These will vary among sources, but all have the basic requirements of the problem statement, goals and objectives, program strategy, and budget narrative. Other substantive requirements that funding sources may desire include management structure, organizational capability, an abstract, a curriculum vitae of each participant, matching funds requirement (local match sources), projected milestones or accomplishments, geographic location, a statement of the program's anticipated contribution to criminal justice policy and practice, the program's continuation and retention, additional resource commitments, and a statement of the program's s contribution to the state's strategy (Byrne formula)."

Because many departments seeking grant funds do not follow a predefined format, their applications may not flow logically. By following some simple steps, however, grant writers can ensure that their proposals have a smooth continuity, thereby increasing their chances of obtaining an award.

Cover

Grant writers should design a bold and attractive cover that includes the name of the grant, a subtitle if necessary, the names of both the grant program and the funding source, the date of submission, the city and state, and the department's name. They should use graphics and color to heighten the appearance of the cover.

Table of Contents

Grant writers always should include a table of contents so reviewers can refer easily to a specific provision without fumbling through each page. They should use an outline format and indent the subsections for clarity.

Abstract

Some funding sources require an abstract, a one-page description of what the program proposes to do and the expected results. It summarizes the important points of the program and highlights the key aspects of the problem statement, the program description, and the goals and objectives.

Problem Statement

The problem statement is the bedrock upon which all else rests. If no problem exists, the department needs no funding. Grant writers should set a historical perspective that leads from the beginning of the problem, through different time periods, and up to the current condition. If it is a crime problem, insofar as possible, they should make a correlation between the crime problem and an underlying criminological theory (e.g., rational choice, routine activities, social disorganization, or conflict). Also, writers should identify the antecedents that preexisted or currently coexist with the crime problem. They should use statistics and a variety of charts to bolster their claims and extract percentages, show rates, and add trend lines.

Goals and Objectives

Often used interchangeably, goals and objectives, in fact, are two distinct criteria that must be met. A goal is a broad general statement explaining what the grant program is expected to accomplish. Goal statements often start with an action indicator, such as to or will (e.g., to reduce inmate population, to decrease fear of crime, will strengthen community partnerships, will minimize the temptation to join a gang). By contrast, objectives are specific, precise, and exact statements that lead step by step to the achievement of the goals. Four elements of an objective--subject, assignment, condition, and standard--must be met for it to be measurable.

1) The subject represents who is tasked with doing something (e.g., the tactical narcotics team, the patrol division, the municipal court system). The subject is the element or person that will be responsible for accomplishing what the program is designed to do.

2) The assignment depicts what the subject is to do (e.g., to effect arrests for curfew violations, to expedite incoming prisoners, to conduct a workload analysis). The assignment, an action, explains the specific task (or responsibility) required of the subject in question.

3) The condition denotes the given circumstances under which the task must be performed. Conditions, either environmental or situational (e.g., in the field, at the domestic violence advocacy center, in the county jail), explain how, where, and with what the assignment is to be done. Because the condition represents the "given" circumstances under which the assignment will be performed, the objective often contains that word (e.g., Given a cellular telephone, the neighborhood patrol officer will....).

4) The standard specifies how well the task must be accomplished. The standard defines what the expected or anticipated results will be (e.g., without error, with 90 percent accuracy, according to approved agency policy and procedure, within the first month).

Program Strategy

The program strategy is the specific method or activities that the department will employ for the duration of the grant program. In this section, the grant writer must provide a clear statement of how the department is going to organize and administer the project to meet the intended goals and objectives. The writers should confer with the various departmental elements involved in carrying out the plan and identify what each is prepared to commit (e.g., 15 police officers from the drug squad, 1 municipal prosecutor dedicated to the program, 5 street sweepers from the sanitation department for neighborhood clean up, and 3 drug and alcohol counselors from social services). If required by the RFP, the grant writer must identify specific individuals who, by virtue of training and experience, will carry out portions of the program and attach their resumes. In short, this section requires that the writer states the means that the department will use to achieve the ends.

Budget Narrative

The budget narrative details a comprehensive itemization and explanation of the costs incurred from the administration and implementation of the program. Budgeted expenses must be reasonable, allowable, and cost-effective for the activities proposed in the program strategy. The budget narrative also must describe and explain how each particular item was calculated. Typical budget categories include personnel, fringe benefits, travel, equipment, supplies, contracts, utilities, construction, indirect costs, and consultants. When creating the budget, the department must not overlook one important issue--the budget must be in proportion to the goals and objectives. Often, the goals of the project far exceed the funds being requested, thus making the goals unattainable. This is known as the reasonableness requirement of the budget.

Appendix

Often, a grant application has a page restriction limiting the narrative portion. If this is the case, writers should include an appendix that contains all of the charts, tables, and supporting documents. They should not waste valuable space in the actual narrative section, but append all supporting materials and use an in-text citation (e.g., see chart 1 in appendix). In this way, writers can include organizational charts setting forth specific elements, flowcharts depicting a particular process, Gantt chartst (12) denoting a sequence of events and milestones, and additional statistical data. A variety of off-the-shelf, user-friendly software applications exist for creating charts and diagrams. These programs can illustrate complex processes and strategies and can present ideas and information with greater impact through the power of clear visual communication.

CONCLUSION

Whenever criminal justice agencies are tasked with addressing a problem, they should consider the grant process as a viable solution. They can use grants to start new initiatives or supplement existing ones. Funding sources disperse millions of federal, state, and private funds every year, but agencies have to enter the process to win the award.

If grant writers apply the basic principles of researching, writing, and organizing to the process, they will add strength and credibility to their applications. And, once the award letter comes congratulating the agency on winning the grant, they can proclaim proudly that their efforts directly contributed to successfully gaining some much needed funds for their agency to create or maintain quality programs to safeguard their community.

Endnotes

(1.) Since 1993, the author has sought and received nearly $40 million in federal and state funding for his agency and community.

(2.) Grant funds always must supplement the city's budget, not supplant the previously authorized budget. Supplanting can occur in several ways, most commonly when the agency uses grant funds in place of previously appropriated funds. For example, a city has appropriated $3 million for vehicles. Its police department then receives a grant for $3 million and purchases vehicles from grant funds and does not buy any vehicles from the previously budgeted funds. The department just supplanted the original funds with the grant funds. This always is impermissible and may result in the city having to return that portion of the funds that was supplanted. Other more subtle ways of supplanting also can occur. If cities are not certain about whether they are supplanting, they should contact the funding sources and pose their scenarios to them.

(3.) A project, usually short in duration, has a narrow purpose (e.g., to computerize the department or to replace the department's fleet). Normally long in duration, a program is a system of opportunities designed to meet a social need (e.g., a quality-of-life issue or an auto-theft-suppression effort). Private companies enjoy associating their names with projects and programs that reflect their business (e.g., insurance companies often donate vehicles, while computer firms provide hardware and software).

(4.) For more information, contact NCJRS at http://www.ncjrs.org or at 800-851-3420.

(5.) A meta search engine, an Internet "search engine of search engines," accesses several other Internet search engines at the same time for the information requested. This covers more territory with one request as opposed to having to go through each individual search engine.

(6.) For example, the Police Foundation, an independent and unique resource for policing, acts as a catalyst for change and advocate for new ideas and has a Web site at http://www.policefoundation.org. Also, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), a national membership organization of progressive police executives from the largest city, county, and state law enforcement agencies, is dedicated to improving policing and advancing professionalism through research and involvement in public policy debate. Its Web site is http://www.policeforum.org. Both organizations have conducted studies, such as The Newark Foot Patrol Experiment, The Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment, Racially Biased Policing: A Principled Response, and The Police Response to Gangs: Case Studies of Five Cities, and have compiled publications on preparing grant proposals.

(7.) For example, if the program is a patrol augmentation program, grant writers could consider authors, such as Charles D. Hale or Tony Pate; for a community policing program, they might try authors Robert Trojanowicz, James Q. Wilson, and George L. Kelling; for a problem-solving or situational crime prevention program, they could review works by Ronald V. Clarke, Marcus Felson, or Herman Goldstein; for a juvenile justice program, they might consider authors John T. Whitehead and Steven P. Lab; and for a supervision program, they could look at works by Nathan F. Iannone. These individuals represent some of the most influential academics and practitioners who have used scientific methods to lend credibility to the social sciences, particularly policing.

(8.) Thomas R. Kobella, Jr., "Persuading Teachers to Reexamine the Innovative Elementary Science Programs of Yesterday: The Effect of Anecdotal Versus Data Summary," Journal of Research in Science Teaching 23 (1986): 437-449.

(9.) For example, the Bible is an extraordinary source of examples where stories, parables, and anecdotes make abstract principles clear and compelling.

(10.) Diana Hacker, The Bedford Handbook for Writers (New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 1991).

(11.) Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Formula Grants, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC 20531; contact the State and Local Assistance Division at 202-305-2088 or access http://www.usdoj.gov.

(12.) In 1917, Henry L. Gantt, an American engineer and social scientist, developed a horizontal bar chart as a production control tool to provide a graphical illustration of a schedule that helps to plan, coordinate, and track specific tasks in a project.

RELATED ARTICLE: Sample Goals and Objectives

Goals

* To reduce narcotics complaints by 25 percent within the first 6 months

* To secure guilty pleas or convictions in 80 percent of all cases

Objectives

* To deploy the Tactical Narcotics Team, which will use covert surveillance techniques within the target area, for the first 8 weeks

* To deploy the Special Investigation Unit, which will conduct undercover (UC) and confidential informant (CI) narcotics "buy" operations within the target area, for the first 12 weeks

* To deploy the Special Investigation Unit, which will apply for search warrants at locations within the target area in response to the UC and CI intelligence, throughout the duration of the program

* To employ the Emergency Response Team, which will execute all search and arrest warrants within the target area, throughout the duration of the program

* To assign a special narcotics prosecutor, who will investigate and prosecute all individual cases as part of a RICO scheme when the case involves a firearm or the weight of the contraband seized equals or exceeds 1 U.S. pound, throughout the duration of the program

* To assign uniformed patrol officers, who will conduct situational crime prevention operations for those locations within the target area that are responsible for 10 or more calls for service, during the last 15 weeks of the program

Funding Sources

Federal

Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)

1-800-421-6770

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)

202-307-5911

http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/

National Institute of Corrections (NIC)

1-800 995-6423

http://www.nicic.org/

The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office)

1-800-421-6770 or 202-616-3031

http://www.usdoj.gov/

Office for Victims of Crime (OVC)

1-800-627-6872

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/

National Institute of Justice (NIJ)

1-800-851-3420

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/

State

Contact the state's "administrative agency for assistance." For example, in New Jersey, it is the State Division of Criminal Justice, and, in California, it is the Office of Criminal Justice Planning.

The state's administrative agency is responsible for passing through federal funds to local jurisdictions. Often, the federal government does not make funds directly available to the local jurisdiction. Instead, the federal government passes the money to the administrative agency, which then disseminates it to the local jurisdictions.

A significant source of funding for programs on a state level is the Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Formula Grant Program (Byrne Formula Grant). Contact the state's administrative agency to obtain a copy of this program.

Private

There are thousands of private foundations that fund hundreds of program areas each year. Besides the Internet or the library as a research mechanism, companies, such as Research Grant Guides (P.O. Box 1214, Loxahatchee, FL 33470, 561-795-6129), publish resource guides to assist agencies in targeting only those foundations awarding programs in a particular geographical area.

Such guides are extremely useful. First, they are categorized so agencies only need to review the guide for the category for which they are interested (e.g., equipment grants, building grants, social service grants). Then, they are arranged by state, further organizing each guide into a comprehensible format.