by Doreen Martel

Created on: July 27, 2009

If you are involved in grant-writing on any level, one of the secrets you will want to learn is how to leverage grants into additional grant opportunities. There are some steps you can take that can help ensure that you take advantage of available opportunities to increasing your grant income. Here are some of them:

Research opportunities - Check out websites that offer a database of grant opportunities. There are many legitimate websites that offer a host of

grant opportunities that you might not even be aware of. Sort through these databases for those grants which provide a similar opportunity for the grant you are currently applying for. The more grants you can apply to with the information that you have written once, the more leverage you have available to you.

Private Grants - Check your local community for grants that might be available as one-time opportunities. Often local hospitals, medical centers and more will offer one-time special grants. These grants can often help you provide seed capital for various pieces of equipment, supplies or other much needed items for the project you are seeking grant funding for.

Proper write-ups - Make sure when you are applying for grants that you follow all instructions to the letter. Once you develop a reputation as a grant writer that follows directions, you're likely to receive additional funding opportunities from sources you were not even aware of. Making a name for yourself as a good grant writer will increase your opportunities for increasing your grant income.

Be realistic - If a grant opportunity says that they will only have $25,000 grants, don't submit a grant for $50,000. Find ways to prove to the group that is approving grants how you intend to raise the other $25,000.

Matching grants - There are thousands of matching grant opportunities available. The first tip for increasing your grant income is to find the matching grants that are applicable to the grant that you are applying for. Find out if there are matching programs that you can leverage your current grant application. This can immediately increase your grant income.

Keep records - Make sure once you are awarded a grant that you are keeping complete and comprehensive records. Make sure you can show how you used the funds for the grant, what benefits were obtained from the grant and what impact a grant had. This can often lead to additional grant funding opportunities and help increase your grant income.

Summary

Generally speaking, grants are not available to start a business, or for personal use. However, if you are working on a community project, a piece of equipment for a school, library or hospital, there are thousands of grant opportunities available to you. Doing the needed research and understanding all of the options that are available to you can help increase your grant income without a lot of extra effort on your part.

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