Cooperate to build capacity with RCDI

This one is a little different.

Rural Community Development Initiative grants focus on housing, community facilities, or community and economic development, but they require two organizations to work together to benefit the community. One applies for the grant and is the "intermediary." The other organization receives training or assistance from the grantee and is the "recipient." The recipient uses what they learn at this training or assistance to better serve the people of the community. Make sense?

It's a ‘‘train the trainer’’ type grant. But... at the end, I'll tell you how you can use it to get some engineering work done, too.

For example, the County economic development group might apply for funds to help train local entrepreneurs. They cooperate with the local City (or Town) governments to train the City economic developers to better support entrepreneurs.

Use these grants to train your people
to better serve the community. 

USDA also provided some examples:

1. The intermediary hires a staff person to provide technical assistance to the recipient. (In our example above, the County hires a person to train the City economic development staff.) 
2. Or the recipient hires a staff person, under the supervision of the intermediary, to carry out the technical assistance provided by the intermediary.  (So, this would be the City hiring a trainer, under the County's supervision, and then training the City staff people.) 

Complicated enough for you? The simple goal is just to make your city better able to serve your people, whether it's in housing, community facilities, or economic development.

The USDA says grants may be used for but are not limited to:

• training recipients how to conduct a program on home-ownership education; 
• training  recipients  how to conduct a program for entrepreneurs or programs that support micro-enterprise and sustainable development; 
• providing technical assistance to  recipients  on how to effectively prepare a strategic plan; 
• provide technical assistance to  recipients  on how to access alternative funding sources; 
• building organizational capacity through board training on developing strategic plans, board operations, management, financial systems, and information technology;
• developing training tools, such as videos, workbooks, and reference guides to be used by the sub-grantee; 
• providing technical assistance and training on how to develop successful child care facilities; and 
• providing training on effective fundraising techniques.

Digging a little further, I found this bit:

• Assist recipients in completing pre-development requirements for housing, community facilities, or community and economic development projects by providing resources for professional services, e.g., architectural, engineering, or legal. 
• Purchase of computers, software, and printers, limited to $10,000 per award, at the recipient level when directly related to the technical assistance program being undertaken by the intermediary.
• Provide funds to recipients for training-related travel costs and training expenses related to RCDI. 

There are bonus points for working regionally, for smaller communities under 5,000 in population, for lower income and for addressing renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Get grant leads on Twitter

Don Griesmann now provides grant opportunities on Twitter.

Griesmann has long been a researcher who shared all the great grant leads he finds. Previously, they were available at Charity Channel. Now, you can follow Griesmann on Twitter.

Also, check out Griesmann's Nonprofit Blog for more info.

Regional Economic Development opportunity for Oklahoma

Training and technical assistance for rural economic development planning is the focus of a new project in Oklahoma called SET, or Stronger Economies Together.

The participants will receive lots of training as the main benefit of the project. You can see an overview of the training here (PDF).

Regions must contain at least 3 contiguous counties and can cross state lines. Regional groups can be brand new or existing. All participants have to commit to attending the bulk of the training. Groups with a wide variety of members (private sector, public sector, etc.) will score more points in the application process.

SET has been done is many other states, and is now expanding into Oklahoma as a partnership of
the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service and the USDA-RD State Office.

This is a competitive program, so applications must be submitted by May 4 and up to 2 regions may be selected (depending on available funding).

Questions? Contact Ryan McMullen (405) 742-1000 ryan.mcmullen@ok.usda.gov OR Brian Whitacre (405) 744-9825 brian.whitacre@okstate.edu.

Source: Dave Shideler, via email.

Grant opportunities by email

Whether or not you are in Florida, sign up for Miami Dade County Grant Opportunities email.

The weekly updates include volumes of information, including grants and awards on these subjects:

Grant leads by email, at no charge. 

• Arts, Culture & Libraries
• Children and Youth
• Economic and Community Development
• Education
• General/Miscellaneous
• Health
• Homeland Security/Emergency Preparedness
• Housing/Homeless
• Human Services
• Justice/Crime Prevention
• Media
• Natural Resources/Agriculture

While many of the grants do not apply for Oklahoma towns, most do. I highly recommend this free resource.

Also, if you haven't yet, subscribe to receive our targeted grant updates for Oklahoma towns. 

Preparation is the key to getting more grants

Looking over long lists of potential grants is like a menu at a fantastic restaurant: it all sounds good. The problem is that your small town can't do it all.

Get all the right people involved in planning
before you seek funding. 

Starting with the list of grant opportunities is starting at the wrong end. Where should you start? Planning.

1. Build a strategic plan for your town. Involve the entire leadership of the town, especially the council or board. Include your goals, your main projects, and the new items you'd like to undertake, funding permitting. 
2. Get the engineering or drawings done for your projects.
3. Figure out the basic budget. Know what it will cost, and whether it can be done in stages. 
4. Know how much matching funds you can reasonably provide. 

Now you're ready to consider what funding sources might fit.

We can help you with the preparation process. That will put you in a much better, more competitive, position when you find the right opportunities to seek.