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Q&A's for Health Care Boards and CEOs: Why
Should Health Care Organizations Grants and charitable gifts represent a THIRD major revenue source for health care facilities, following behind patient fees and third party reimbursements. Understanding your lack of control over the first two sources, grantseeking and other forms of charitable giving may be your ONLY way to offset future operating losses. Thus, grantseeking is no longer optional. It is a mission critical activity that should be integrated into the core of your facility’s strategic planning process. Given the current health care funding crisis, grants and charitable giving activities among healthcare organizations is experiencing a dramatic upswing. We are already receiving grants. Why should we invest more money in their pursuit? Most hospital are only scraping the surface of grantseeking opportunity. Take a look at your operating budget. Are there any capital expense or program items that could be underwritten with grants? Very likely, yes! Grants can be secured to underwrite all or part of ANY mission related activity . . . including general operating support and operating deficits. To incur financial hardship without aggressively pursuing grants is like enduring hunger at a banquet. Money is tight. We’re cutting programs. How can we possibly spend more on grantseeking? There is story about a depression era corn farmer who had only one bushel of seed corn. He could either feed his family with this seed corn OR he could save and plant it for next year’s crop. He couldn’t do both. Tough situation. Money invested in
grantseeking will pay off many times over . . . next year. There are over 56,000 private and corporate foundations that, along with federal and state grantmaking agencies, award over $150 billion annually in grants. Grantmaking is a very big industry. These grants go to school districts, hospitals, colleges, libraries, municipalities, and thousands of nonprofit organizations throughout the nation. There is one common difference between those organizations that receive these grants and those who do not. Those organizations that receive them, ASK for them; those organizations that do not receive them, DO NOT ASK for them! Can grants really help us solve our budget deficits? There are two basic types of grants. One type underwrites capital needs such as facilities and equipment. The other type underwrites programs and services. If capital grants are able to replace local expenditures for facilities and/or equipment, budget pressures are eased. If program grants can be used, in part, to pay staff salaries and benefits, budget pressures are likewise reduced. How much does an effective grantseeking program cost? There are three basic grantseeking strategies. One strategy is to assign grantseeking tasks to current staff members. The second strategy is to employ a full-time grantwriter. The third strategy is to engage outside grantseeking consultants. The first strategy (assigning grantwriting tasks to existing staff) is not a realistic option for most organizations. Staffs are already over-worked. The second option (hiring a full-time grantwriter) is very expensive when considering salary, benefits and necessary logistical support. The typical annual cost for a one-person grantwriting department is between $75,000 and $125,000. The third option (engaging grantseeking consultants) is the most cost effective strategy. It enables you to commence active grantseeking without delay. There is no reassigning of tasks, no staff increases, and no risk of failure. Professional grantseeking consultants have a proven record of success and clients to reference their work. Professional grants consultants
typically cost less than one-third of what a district would pay for a full
time grantwriter. Robert J. Miller & Associates, Inc. (RJMA) has been serving clients from coast to coast from its Buffalo, NY headquarters for nearly 30 years. We do this via a variety of mechanisms. First, we maintain our own aircraft to speed our grant consultants to client locations whenever necessary. Second, we employ web-based telecommunications extensively to communicate with our client staffs. Third, rapidly increasing numbers of grantmakers require electronic submission of grant proposals, thereby eliminating any geographic considerations in the grantseeking process. RJMA creates a virtual grants development office as if it were located down the hall from the CEO or development officer’s office. The resultant cost savings to the facility are dramatic. If we’re already pursuing grants, how can RJMA help us? RJMA simply increases your grantseeking
capacity, enabling your facility to pursue more grants, from different
sources, for additional purposes. While the grant well is not bottomless,
few districts are able to dip more than a few feet into the water. RJMA
enables you to probe the depths of your grantseeking opportunities at costs
far below what you would incur performing the same services internally. Before RJMA engages a client, we must be confident of our ultimate success. Recognizing that some districts provide a more “competitive” grantseeking picture than others, we begin by conducting an Onsite Grants Development Feasibility study. This study exams 20 separate factors or determinants that grantmakers look at carefully before considering any specific grant request. We capture the information in an informal three hour interview with district leadership, compile the results, and return the findings along with recommendations to the district in a 15 to 25 page report. This feasibility study is a powerful tool in
maximizing the facility’s overall grantseeking potential. It also provides
the district with an objectively based estimate of its actual grantseeking
potential over the next 12 to 24 months. What follows after the Onsite Grants Development Feasibility Study? If the study results reveal strong grantseeking potential, RJMA will provide you with an itemized proposal for services. This proposal will recommend a grantseeking plan designed to achieve the goals contained in the study. Following your acceptance of this proposal, RJMA representatives will meet with you at your location to begin the grants development process. At this meeting, we gather information concerning your current grantseeking priorities. Your priorities are then matched with our database of grantmaking opportunities. We begin immediately developing funding
proposals in those areas where matches are found. Certainly, but only to the extent necessary to verbally communicate specific project protocols. Our staff takes it from there including all proposal drafting, re-writing, final proposal preparations, proposal submissions, and all related follow-up with grantmakers. This approach frees your staff to think creatively, leaving the tedium of grantwriting to us. Working together as a team, your staff and our grantwriters achieve optimal grantseeking efficiency . . . and eventual grantseeking success. Why RJMA? Why would we engage RJMA rather than some other grants consulting firm? Robert J. Miller & Associates, Inc. has been
continuously in business for nearly 30 years. That alone says more than
nearly every other grants consulting organization in the nation. Mr. Miller speaks extensively on grants development and fundraising issues both in person and via e-conference format to audiences around the world. The RJMA staff represents some of the very best grantseeking talent in the nation. Can we afford to engage RJMA? The adage that you get what you pay for is more true in the consulting arena than in any other endeavor. Anybody can call himself or herself a consultant. A better question would be, “can we afford to spend ANY money on grants development and NOT be successful? RJMA has remained continually in business
because it continually brings its clients more money than it receives in
fees. Without question, you can embark upon an aggressive grantseeking
strategy less expensively than engaging RJMA. The ultimate merits of such a
decision will be measured at the end of the day, week, or month. Grants are flowing by your district’s front door like a fast moving river. Untapped, they are doing nothing for you. In financial terms, your accountants would call this the “cost of lost opportunity.” Give us a call today to learn more
about what we can do for you. |