Grant Research/Writing

Lesson 1: Introduction to the Process

Defining the Project: Addressing a Need

Step 6
Causation
Once you have isolated social problems that are specific enough to be addressed by your agency, and for which your agency has the necessary expertise, you need to determine the likely causes for the problem.

Again, taking a specific example of young adults without a home, causes might be:
Unemployment- Lack of job skills, lack of education
Mental illness
Breakdown on the family unit
Substance abuse
Determine which of these causative factors could be addressed by your agency. For example, perhaps your agency provides training and job counseling to individuals who have recently been laid off due to loss of jobs in the manufacturing sector. Your agency already has a program in place to address unemployment as a causative factor of homelessness among the young adult population. Therefore, this would be a social problem and causative factor that your agency would be qualified to address.

Step 7
How will the project address the problem?
It is time to think specifics of how you will reach the young people who need assistance, how you will provide them with the training, counseling, and job placement assistance that they will need.

Step 8
Has anyone else ever addressed the same problem?
How did they address the problem?
Were they successful?
Is their program still operational?
If their program failed, why will yours succeed?

Step 9
What results are you seeking?
You need to be specific. In our example, will there be 100 participants of the training program who will no longer be homeless once they have completed training, counseling, and job placement?

Step 10
How will you measure your success?
Will you measure success by the number of individuals who complete the program, or the number who obtain employment, or will you only consider your program a success if the participant is able to obtain and maintain housing once he or she has completed the program?

Almost all funding sources require quarterly, semi-annual, or annual reports of your progress. You may need to report the number of individuals who entered your program, the number who completed, the number who secured employment, and the number who secured housing at the end of the quarter, the end of the year, six-months after completion of the program, or one year after completion of the program.

Step 11
How will you maintain the program once the funding has ended?
Do you have a plan for maintaining this program once the funding source no longer provides dollars for operation? Is there another funding source available?

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