Wondering how to make a bigger difference to your community?

• Did you know that each year over $500 billion dollars are awarded by Federal agencies?

Want to be more successful at maintaining a continuous funding stream through great grant management?

In our last article we looked at the 3 key elements to create grant management success:

• Be Seen
• Be Safe
• Be Relevant

Today we’re looking at some mistakes that sabotage your chances of being seen by your funding agency as the right solution when it comes to Federal awards.

Three Roadblocks That Sabotage Getting More Federal Funding

If you want more funding, you absolutely want to BE SEEN as the best solution to Federal agencies when it comes to their program goals.

• But being seen can be a scary thing to many of us.

And as a result you can consciously (or unconsciously) sabotage your chances.

Here are three common roadblocks that you keep you invisible to Federal agencies:

• Fear of Exposure
• Uncertainty of Results
• Fear of Success

Let’s look at these in more detail.

Fear of Exposure-Part I: Rejection

There are really two parts to the fear of exposure:

The first part is rooted in the fear of rejection.

For example:

• “We could do all this work to apply for a grant and they’ll reject us!”

So we put up barriers to stay invisible

We’ll say things like:

• “Only the big guys get Federal awards”
• “You have to pay a lobbyist to get a grant”
• “It’s all rigged for friends of politicians”

Now, while it’s true that getting your first award is usually the hardest one to get…once you have that, you should be able to increase your funding streams with a little effort.

Fear of Exposure-Part II: Perfectionism

The second part of fear of exposure is that it can be a symptom of perfectionism.

• Have you ever heard of the “paralysis of analysis” syndrome?

The truth is that perfectionism is also a fear of exposure, because if we turn in an application, they may see that we aren’t perfect.

And with more and more disclosures required in the new grant regulations…

The perfectionist may be wondering:

• “What if we have to DISCLOSE that we aren’t perfect?”

And that fear can keep us hiding in the shadows away from funding solutions that can really make a huge difference to our organizations and communities.

Uncertainty of Results

The next thing that interferes with getting more funding is that we are uncertain of the results.

• What does that mean?

Sometimes we lack conviction that we need it or even that more funding will ever happen.

For example, if we got more money, would we really know what to do with it?

Especially now that the new grant regulations focus on performance measurements-no more “just give us a bunch of money and we’ll figure it out as we go” funding opportunities.

And sometimes-(especially if you’ve have been turned down in the past) you may lack conviction that the award will really happen.

This where consciously (or subconsciously) you are thinking:

• “Why bother, we’ll never get it anyway.”

And sometimes you don’t know how to do it.

• A big proposal can involve a lot of pieces, a lot of estimates, budget, technical specifications, performance measurements and sometimes that’s just overwhelming.

Uncertainty of results can get you stuck before you even get started!

Fear of Success

The final way that we sabotage our being seen as the right organization for an award is the fear of success.

Have you ever thought: “If we get this award, then what?”

Or perhaps: “What is it’s too much work? I’m already crazy busy.”

Or just “How am I going to do all this work?”

If it’s a bigger amount of money than you’ve ever dealt with before, it can be outside of your comfort zone.

I call it the “OMG” Factor.

• “It has more zeroes. Yikes!”

Some of these things may flash through your mind:

• “Will it really be worth it to get more money?”
• “Does this mean I need to have a new type of audit I’m not familiar with?”
• “Does this mean new types of reports I haven’t filled out before?”

And then for those of you that are managers…

• “What if we have to HIRE people and then let them go?”

Can you see how easy it is to sabotage becoming more visible to the possibilities of funding Grant Management Success?

Got Fears?

Do you think that these are just individual characteristics?

I can assure you that organizations suffer from the same symptoms.

(I actually heard about these concepts first from Gary Barnes who is an international speaker on business-but these concepts apply to the world of Federal grants as well.)

Understanding and overcoming these common fears can make all the difference in this ever-more competitive world of Federal awards for both organizations and individuals.

Coming Next: Tips for Being Seen (in a non-scary way)

In our next article, we’ll give you some practical tips for being seen by your funding agency as the best solution as we walk through these 3 key elements of how you can be seen, be safe and be relevant in the world of successful grant management.

Ready to Improve Your Grant Management?

How about you?

Would you like to be a better grant manager?

We have another grant management training seminar coming soon.

Click here to get all the details!

Hope to see you there!

Author:

Lucy Morgan CPA, MBA

CEO, Compliance Warrior

Author of “Decoding Grant Management-The Ultimate Success Guide to the Federal Grant Regulations in 2 CFR Part 200” The 2nd Edition is now available on Amazon in Paperback and Kindle versions.