How to compete effectively for grants

Abstract

Grantsmanship, or the ability to secure funds from public or private sources, has become increasingly important over the past two decades, and should continue to be important in the 1990's.

During the 1960's the federal government, through several different agencies, provided over two thirds of the monies made available for sponsored projects. However, this figure has dropped significantly since the heyday of the federally funded project in the mid-1960's. In 1975 the federal government was involved in funding only fifty percent of the sponsored projects. l In 1981 the Reagan Administration forecast a cut of twenty-five billion dollars in direct grants to non-profit organizations. By 1984 actual reductions totaled twenty billion dollars, or eighty percent of the predicted cuts. Grant dollars available in 1986 also were less than the available amount in the year 1980.