4 Tips and Best Practices to Secure Federal Grant Funding
Whether a transportation project’s purpose is to repair an aging bridge or enhance a road to accommodate a bike lane, it’s an opportunity to positively impact the communities where we live and work . But it’s easy to see how history repeats itself as over the years as lack of funding is frequently one of the main challenges for the completion of many of these projects. As our country’s population grows and infrastructure ages, it’s been common to see states, cities and even counties implement new taxes on top of existing state and federal taxes to make up for funding gaps.
Since the passing of one of the largest investments in infrastructure history, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill (BIL), in 2021 there are now many more discretionary grant awards available to public agencies. For instance, the money available for the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant has approximately doubled from $1 billion to $2.2 billion during the past year.
Although there is more money available and chances to win grants are higher, securing grant funding is still extremely competitive. To stay in the competition, it’s important to have a strategy. Go through projects and filter down or prioritize which projects are in highest need or best meet the grant criteria to receive funding. Once you have your projects narrowed down, our 4 tips for better grant applications, listed below, can help you complete a compelling and winning application submittal.
4 Tips for Better Grant Applications
领英推荐
1. Plan and Align Projects to Fit Available Grant Criteria
Grants are typically released around the same time every year. This can be an advantage as it allows you to screen projects in advance of the expected Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), so you are able to respond quickly when released. All the different grant NOFOs have certain criteria, make sure the grant narrative and benefit-cost analysis (BCA) hits the key criteria, so you get scored high. If you plan to hire a grant team to help with procurement, engage that team as early as possible. They will help you develop the best narrative and BCA support information to develop a competitive grant submittal package.
2. Communicate Project Need
In addition to an in-depth BCA, grants often require a qualitative assessment. To show project need, it’s important to write a compelling narrative. You want the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) agencies to know how this project will help the community and you want to show how the project meets and exceeds the specific criteria for the grant you are seeking. When you write, be clear and concise. Include topics that relate to the current administration’s primary focus. For example, equity is currently a primary criterion, along with sustainability and resiliency. Within the application, focus on these topics in addition to the other criteria. USDOT prefers local data, when available, so use the best quantifiable data available to document the project need and support your narrative.