Take a look at the November 20th issue of GrantsNet Funding News to find:

18 New Research Funding Opportunities

4 New Student or Institutional Opportunities

The Deadline Watch, now part of the Funding News, provides upcoming due dates for science research funding, scholarships, fellowships, and internships in GrantsNet.

Info on how to register for the GrantsNet Express.

Links to past Funding News issues.

November 2009 highlights from {Centered} by the Grantsmanship Center include:

On News....

Integrate grantsmanship into program design : "Grant professionals must insist on being part of the [program] development team--during the creation of new programs, expansion of existing ones, or during program reevaluations," says Saadia Faruqi in "The Grant Professional's Role in Program Design" (CharityChannel, October 14, 2009).

Applying for a federal grant? Follow the rules! : Most federal agencies provide a list of standard requirements for grant applicants. To avoid having your proposal rejected before it's even been read, you must observe these precisely.

Strategies to fund operating costs : Every organization must find ways to fund general operating costs: administrative salaries, rent, utilities, and other expenses essential to carrying out their mission.

Seek new funders in your own back yard : What can you do when you've run out of ideas for new places to send proposals? Consider mining your own back yard.

On grantsmanship...

Understanding capacity-building grants : Capacity-building grants are a growing trend among both private and government grantmakers. But writing proposals for capacity building can be difficult, expecially for an organization that is unfamiliar with the functions and language of these efforts.

Back Issues

The Big Read is accepting applications from nonprofit organizations to conduct month-long, community-wide reads between September 2010 and June 2011. The Big Read is a national program designed to revitalize the role of literature in American culture. Organizations selected to participate in The Big Read will receive a grant ranging from $2,500 to $20,000, access to online training resources, educational and promotional materials, inclusion of your organization and activities on The Big Read Web site, and the prestige of participating in a highly visible national program. Approximately 75 organizations from across the country will be selected by a panel of experts.

To download the Guidelines & Application Instructions visit The Big Read Web site.

Questions? Call Arts Midwest at 612.238.8010 or email TheBigRead@artsmidwest.org

The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in cooperation with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest.

Arts Midwest ~ 2908 Hennepin Avenue, Ste 200 ~ Minneapolis, MN 55408 ~ Tel. 612-341-0755

The Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies invites applications to the 2009 Humanities and Arts Research Program (HARP). Guidelines and instructions are found online at the Grant Proposal System (GPS) website (http://gps.vprgs.msu.edu), and will not be available in paper form. Proposals are to be submitted electronically through HARP GPS site. If you have any questions after reviewing the HARP website, contact us at: gps-help@egr.msu.edu or 432-3773.

HARP provides internal funds to support faculty conducting important research, creative, and performance projects and activities in the arts and humanities. The limited funding is designed to 1) support projects that will likely to enhance the reputation of the faculty and the university where external support is not generally available, and 2) provide seed funding for projects that will seek extramural funding.

While there are two components to HARP, we are currently requesting only scholarship production applications. These awards constitute a subvention program to help subsidize the costs of book publication, permissions to use copyrighted materials, cd recording and production, the creation and mounting of exhibits and other expenses associated with producing the results of a completed research or creative project.

In order to respond to the more immediate needs that these subsidies often entail, applications will be reviewed every two months, from mid-October to mid-April. Funds will be available shortly after the award decision and can be used for an additional fiscal year after the year of the award.

I encourage you to consider this program to support appropriate arts and humanities research and scholarship. The specific deadlines for can be found on the HARP GPS website.

Sincerely,

Estelle McGroarty
Assistant Vice President, Research and Graduate Studies

Realizing Our Vision Through Fundraising is the focus of the November/December 2009 (Vol. 28, no.6) issue of Grassroots Fundraising Journal which is available for consultation in the MSU Funding Center.

How to continue to develop a culture of fundraising — where fundraising and organizing go hand-in-hand — and reap the results in a far stronger organization is the subject of the featured article :

"Silos Are for Farms: How to Make Fundraising a Part of Your Organizing", by Tina Cincotti.

Other articles in this issue include:

Democratizing Philanthropy: Challenging Foundations and Social Justice Organizations. By Christine Ahn. Much of foundation funding comes from money that would otherwise have gone into the tax coffers for public spending. How we think about foundations —and taxes—is an essential topic in the effort to make philanthropy more democratic.

Give ’em Ownership: A Small Town Raises Big Money. By Jacquie McTaggart. How a (very) small town raised more than $3 million to build itself a new library. Says Jacquie: “If you share your vision and have a common pursuit, your constituents will open their pockets and do the work. I promise.”

Five Ways to Ride the Wave of the Media Buzz. By Nzinga Koné-Miller.Working on an issue that’s in the news these days? Here’s how to turn that hot topic into greater member involvement—and more donations for your organization. Fundraising Blogs: Five to Watch. By Manish Vaidya. Five fundraising blogs that are worth carving out a few minutes a day to read.

Reflections on 20 Years at the Grassroots Fundraising Journal. By Stephanie Roth. Our departing editor-in-chief reflects on the importance of the Journal, her favorite articles, and her future with GIFT and the Journal.

The Grassroots Fundraising Journal also provides a feature article online for past issues as well. See http://www.grassrootsfundraising.org/article.php/browsebackissues