Grant Center Services

Consulting through The Grant Center greatly enhances a nonprofit's chances of successfully competing for a grant and using grant dollars effectively. Clients interested in working with The Grant Center may be referred to the Alliance's Training and Consulting divisions for preliminary work as appropriate. This work facilitates the groundwork for seeking grant funding. The Grant Center provides coaching and consulting in four key areas:

Program Development - Grant consulting at the Alliance begins with this most important step, which must be accomplished prior to effective use of the other areas of grant development. The Alliance takes clients through an analysis of the problem definition, including client needs assessments and data analysis, to targeted populations and program activities, and, ultimately, program evaluation.

Grant Funding Research - The Alliance assists in resource development planning by researching potential funders and providing a list of potential sources, a calendar of application deadlines, and helpful hints and notes about each opportunity. The Alliance for Nonprofit Excellence has unique knowledge of both local and national sources for grants and an understanding of the requirements of funding entities.

Proposal Development - The Alliance works with a client's development team in reviewing specific funding requirements and helping with proposal planning, preparation, and submission. Proposal development assistance is available through:

• Grant coaching. Alliance consultants advise clients throughout the grant seeking process. They may review a funder's general guidelines or a specific RFP (request for proposals) to determine a client's eligibility. Consultants also provide insight and feedback as the proposal is developed.
• Proposal review. Alliance consultants will review, edit, and provide feedback on proposals written by clients.  
• Grant writing. The Alliance's pool of professional grant writers has diverse skills and experience in preparing foundation and government proposals. An Alliance staff member oversees all grant writing contracts, attending meetings, setting deadlines, reviewing drafts, and ensuring client satisfaction.

Grant Support Systems - The Alliance offers consulting in:

• Grant management. The Alliance assists a grantee (or sub-grantee) in ensuring compliance with grant terms and conditions, executing transparent transactions, maintaining accountability for expenses, and generating timely, accurate project and financial information.
• Indirect cost rate negotiation. Organizations often find that their grants and contracts do not cover overhead and administrative expenses, or "indirect costs." The Alliance can assist in negotiating an indirect cost rate through a federal government agency, or in determining an alternative way to recoup overhead expenses.
• Internal controls consulting. Alliance consultants can ensure that clients have key policies and procedures in place to manage grant funds and operations in the most effective manner and demonstrate transparency and accountability.

Today's challenging environment provides an opportunity for the Alliance for Nonprofit Excellence, with its unique strengths, to outperform its competition by moving beyond fulfilling an immediate grant contract and into client readiness, strategic fundraising, and mission impact.

For more information on Grant Center services, email info@npexcellence.org.

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