In February, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, in part making grant opportunities available for nonprofit projects that spur long-term economic growth. The word from our national leaders is that communities with collaborative applications will have the best chance for success in securing a grant. Given our commitment to collaboration and building the social capital of our community, we decided to help bring our local organizations together to enhance our area’s chances for receiving stimulus funding. Various constituencies in our community were unaware of who else might be interested in the same funding opportunities, making collaboration very difficult to initiate. Our unique convening position allowed us to conduct a local stimulus funding networking survey asking groups to indicate which grant opportunities were of interest to them. Sixty-nine organizations participated in the survey. We informed them of each other’s interests and made our facilities and assistance available to them as they pursue funding. This led us to take on a new role as an objective convener. For example, we have since brought together a number of organizations interested in applying for the Federal Pathways Out of Poverty grant.
Although collaborating to apply for grants together can be challenging – especially when organizations must balance their respective missions and the common good – we believe it can provide a lasting value. Even if particular applications are unsuccessful, the community will emerge with a greater clarity of its collective needs and a stronger foundation for future collaborations.