The Grant Writing Process - Understanding Your School

Before you even begin looking at grants, it's important that you have a thorough understanding of your organization. There are many intricacies of your organization that you will need to know before you even begin your grant search in order to identify whether or not your organization is eligible for certain kinds of grants.

Some online grant applications use a pre-qualifying questionnaire before you are allowed to access the full application.

Below I have listed some common information you will need to know before you go any further. I suggest typing up the information and keeping it in front of you while you do your search and even when you begin applying.

• The name of your school: Although this might seem really basic, you want to make sure that the name of your school as you list it on grant applications is the same as the one on file with the IRS.
• Address for your school
• Phone number for your school
• Fax number for your school
• Email and web addresses for your school
• Your principal and assistant principal's full name and contact information
• The contact information for the contact at the school (most likely you)
• Your school's tax status: Most  grants require that your organization is designated as 501(c)(3), also known as a non-profit organization. If your organization has not received this designation, it could be very beneficial to your grants search to seek re-classification. If your organization is unable to receive this designation, make sure that you have a thorough understanding of what it means. LAUSD's IRS designation is rather unclear. It states that LAUSD schools may qualify for 501(c)(3) status, but it doesn't expressly state so. I suggest having a copy of this designation letter to mail/fax/email to grantmakers.
• Your tax ID number: This eight-digit number is needed for all grant applications.
• DUNS number: I've only ever needed this number once, but it takes five days to just check if there is one for your organization, so not having it could potentially make you miss a deadline.
• The demographics your school serves: you'll want to know the racial make-up (in terms of percentages), the Title 1 status of your school, including the percentage of students who are receiving free or reduced lunches, and other signifying factors. If your school has a large percentage of special education students or English language learners, you'll want to know the exact facts and figures.
• The curriculum of your school: You'll want to be familiar with your school's vocational programs, Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate/honors courses, extracurricular offerings, community partnerships, etc. You'll need to be familiar with your school's academies and the special programs and courses offered through those academies, if applicable.
• Program information (we'll talk more about this in another post).

These are some of the basics you will need to know in order to have a thorough enough understanding of your school to begin applying for grants. Doing this kind of research before you begin your search will make it easier and your search and grant application process will be more expedient.