Pre-planning is the first step in any project. A growing population, changing ecosystem, aging infrastructure, emergency, or other pushing factors will necessitate the idea of a project.  Depending on the needs of those impacted by the project, this idea can grow quickly or sit on a shelf for decades. In either case, once the project has been identified, it is in the pre-planning phase. 

Pro Tip: Once you have a project idea, we'd recommend looking into the regional water community and checking to see if your area has a water plan or a watershed management plan. These plans are often developed with community stakeholder engagement and could already have your project listed as a priority, OR is a great place to connect with other water professionals to share the needs of your project. Having your project listed on these types of plans often makes them more compelling later down the road for funding opportunities. 

If you find yourself sitting in this bucket, let us know! We'd love to add your project to our Project Pipeline and help facilitate the growth and execution of your project. 

Resources for Pre-Planning

An important, but sometimes overlooked (or undervalued) step in the process is Stakeholder Engagement.  In today's competitive grant world, it is critical to include all parties that will be impacted by your project and (ideally) get their buy-in. When conflicts do arise, it is much easier to address them at the early stages of the project, versus later. Prioritizing this step will often lead to more success later down the road and build trust in your community. 

Stakeholder Engagement Resources

Design is the phase where the project idea starts to take shape! Design for on-the-ground projects (versus outreach or education) is where you may start to pull in the experts! Engineers are often needed at this step to draw plans for your project. At this phase, you will begin to see the full picture and potential budget for your project. 

Resources for Design: 

Don't forget the important step of permitting! Without the correct permits, your project can be stuck in the design phase indefinitely. Permitting is the act of obtaining permission from state and federal entities to move forward with implementing your project. It requires thoughtful inspection of your sight, expertise to know what permits you need, time to fulfill the process, and sometimes funding to cover applicable application fees. Some common permits are listed below: 

Pro Tip: Not all projects need permits. Some examples of projects that generally don't require permitting include: education projects, community consensus workshops, creating management plans, and other projects that don't physically put a shovel in the ground. Odds are for projects that 'move dirt' you may need some permits. 

Implementing a project is where 'shovel-ready' meets shoveling! You've officially broken ground, and your project has likely been funded. 

Pro Tip: It is important to keep your funders up-to-date. If your project is delayed, over budget, or hitting any unexpected obstacles, it is important to let funders know so they can both help you find solutions and accurately account for your project in their books. 

Pro Tip 2: Take pictures of the progress of your project! It's a great accomplishment, and funders love getting photos in reports. 

Train at your own pace: Grant Writing Course

Region 9 Economic Development Funds has provided the following training for grant writing. Please see the Toolkits and Helpful Guides page for more partner-provided resources. 

1. Funding Your Vision: A Grant Writing Guide for Change-Makers

This training covers the whole grant process. It includes how to identify a good fit, build out fundable projects, write strong proposals, and submit complete applications. Whether you are new to grants or want to sharpen your approach, this training has something to offer. Each module has resources such as checklists, templates, and planning tools. Those are linked here in a Google Drive folder where you can download or print as you'd like. 

Some quick grant basics to get you up and running: 

• Check who is eligible to apply for the grant. (Often, only qualified entities like non-profits, mutual ditch companies, or governmental entities can apply - but each grant is different)
  • If you are not a qualified entity, have you thought about partnering with an organization that is? 
• Make sure you understand match requirements. Match is how much money you can bring to the project before you receive the grant. There are a few different types of match.
  • In-kind is any work that your organization or partners are doing on the ground, like using your excavator to move rocks. You can use the cost of using the excavator and the volunteer hours of operating the excavator as a match. 
  • In-house is any funding that your group is providing up front, probably from your group's reserves.
  • Sometimes, grant opportunities allow you to leverage other grants as a match, such as using a $3,000 partnership grant for design work as a match for a large federal funding opportunity. 
• Identify what phase of the project you will be funding with the grant opportunity. Some grants only fund certain phases of the project lifecycle, such as construction or design only. 

Since we are thinking about funding, we can't forget about creating a budget. Budgets will help those reviewing your grants identify where the money is going and they will help you stay organized. 

When writing a grant application, sometimes the budget can be the trickiest part. Some things to keep in mind: 

• For multi-year projects, don't forget to factor in inflation
• Some grants cover employee time, but most do not. Make sure to check the grant guidelines regarding staff work time on the project. 
• If you have in-kind time, most folks use the national volunteer hourly rate to calculate the total financial contribution. We found this resource to be helpful: Guidelines_on_Valuing_In-kind_Contributions_2023-24.pdf