Hi Paula,
Here in Louisiana we felt that we had to use our standard grant form for
several reasons, one of which was because our auditors were accustomed
to reviewing our accounting in that format. You know how hard it is for
auditors to adapt... More to the point, we really wanted to familiarize
the site hosts with a "proper" application, since a big part of why we
sponsor MOMS programs is to encourage small museums to learn how to
engage our services (and those of other funding resources).
We started them off with a planning grant for $1,000. They used our
Outreach Grant application...it's a basic mini-grant, no cost-share
required. Those funds were to help with organizing costs to set up a
planning committee for their supplementary programs. Ideally, the
decisions of the planning sessions develop into the narrative for a
public humanities grant, our "big" grant. They are awarded $5,000 in
this category, and have a cost-share requirement (it's the usual in-kind
& cash split). Both grants are submitted at fixed deadline dates,
again in order to familiarize the applicants with the process of getting
in an application ON TIME. I had everyone do the planning grant for
the deadline closest to our state workshop so some of their funds could
be reimbursement for their hotel and travel expenses. But I've
staggered the big grants so that funds are available closest to their
exhibition dates...and also to keep the funds committed to the MOMS
hosts from playing havoc with the rest of the money allotted to
grants...I didn't want to hit one deadline with $30,000 worth of
already-committed projects.
All of this requires some extra hand-holding and mini-workshops, but it
keeps me out of the office and in regular contact with everyone to make
sure they overcome their initial jitters to see how much fun grant
writing can be!! I think of it as an intensive intro to grants...but
with such a pay-off ($6,000 plus the cool MOMS exhibit) it's really
worth their while. We used an almost identical process for our first
MOMS tour, and of the six sites which participated in that round, all
have come back with regular submissions to the grant deadlines, some
with really outstanding outcomes.
As you don't intend to use your standard forms, this is probably more
info than you wanted on the subject. I'll be interested in reading the
responses you receive...
Best regards,
LouAnn Morehouse
Asst. Director of Grants
504-523-4352, ext. 123
-----Original Message-----
From: Paula Millen [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2003 8:17 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Grant Applications for Venues
Good morning.
I am hopeful someone having hosted the Barn Again Exhibit or other MOMs
exhibit will be able to help me. Barn Again! is our first MOMs exhibit
for SC.
We are awarding our host sites a grant award to help with the exhibit
and I do not want to use our "standard" form due to the unique nature of
the Barn Again tour.
Have any of you created a special grant application for your Barn
Again/other MOMs Exhibit Tours for your venues that you could share with
me?
Thank you for your help.
Paula
Paula W. Millen
Finance and Business Manager
Raising the Loft: the SC Barn Story Project Coordinator
(803) 771-2477
Fax: (803) 771-2487
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Have you heard the Smithsonian is coming to rural SC? Visit our Web
site at www.schumanities.org <http://www.schumanities.org/> .
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