Government Technology - September 2008 - (Page 43)

Demystifying the Process Applying for federal grants is complicated. For example, the federal government is currently switching to a new application format. Some agencies use the new format, while Fischer said no good tool previously existed for learning remotely the ropes of Grants.gov. “Before the WebEx tool, if I had contacted Grants.gov, the best I probably would have Potential Improvements Pellegrino begins the Web conferences with a PowerPoint presentation. Then he goes live into the Web site, shows attendees where to find important information and answers questions. Fischer said she discussed with Pelligrino the possibility of expanding the Web conference to enable breakout discussions for various topics. Users would click into whichever discussion group topic interested them, and Pellegrino would move among groups and aid the discussions. Grants.gov hasn’t announced plans to make those changes, but it’s a possibility. Fischer is a trainer herself and prefers in-person training. exactly what forms to fill out. I’m not familiar with all of the numbers and information they’re asking for on the forms.” Karen Olson, health program coordinator, Sacramento, Calif. “I’m finding it a little bit challenging to know some use the old format. Sometimes one departKaren Olson ment within an agency uses the new format, while another department in the same agency still uses the old one. You also need to be careful when reading the deadlines on Grants.gov. For example, the site might say your grant application is due Feb. 5., but in another spot, it might state you must first go through the separate process of “preauthorizing” an application a week before submitting it. If you waited until the deadline to submit your application without the preauthorization requirement, you’d be out of luck. Grant seekers who have accepted the Web conferencing offer contend that absorbing the details is easier when Pellegrino explains them in plain English via WebEx. “The information is all [published] on the Web page, sure, but most people don’t read that closely, and I think the Web conference would save people some time,” said Davis Fischer, training coordinator for the Foundation Center, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that teaches other nonprofits how to find funding. Pellegrino recently conducted a Web conference with the Foundation Center. The organization’s expertise is teaching nonprofits how to find grants offered by other nonprofits, not government agencies. The Foundation Center has received numerous complaints about the complicated federal grant process. “There are just so many steps you have to take, and there are all these deadlines. Like any good government agency, the site offers tons and tons of verbiage explaining everything,” Fischer said, adding that the text often reads like a legislative bill. gotten would have been a conference call. The conference call would be somewhat limited in that there would be no visuals,” she said. “You could do a ‘follow along’ over the phone, but you wouldn’t really know if you were in the right place because the teacher wouldn’t be able to see where the person who was lost was looking. Web conferencing adds a visual element to training from a distance.” Opportunity Revealed Government Technology contacted Sacramento County, Calif., officials for insight on why their Grants.gov users hadn’t scheduled Web conferences. Karen Olson, health program coordinator for the county, said she struggles with Grants.gov. “I’m finding it a little bit challenging to know exactly what forms to fill out. I’m not familiar with all of the numbers and information they’re asking for on the forms,” Olson said, adding that she also had trouble finding grants on the site’s search function, even when she entered the grant identification numbers. Olson hadn’t heard of the WebEx feature but was eager to schedule a meeting after learning about it. “I will definitely look into it,” Olson said. “I do think it sounds helpful.” She had attended a few of the preorganized occasional webcasts open to all Grants .gov users that explain fresh news. “Those are useful if there is a questionand-answer session,” Olson said. However, the less known private request Web conference gives users the meeting to themselves. The entire conference is devoted to that an individual user’s issues, and he or she doesn’t have to sit through inapplicable questions. Grants.gov is a one-stop shop for governments and nonproﬁts seeking federal funds. It was established as a resource to help governments ﬁnd grants, but users say the site is complicated. The site has since implemented a WebEx conference tool to make the process simpler. The site also features: grant e-mail alerts, stakeholder webcast archive, a newsletter and a comprehensive glossary. “It’s still a bit of a sterile environment, but for crying out loud, for an hour, you get the information you need, and to get on with life, it’s fine,” Fischer said. “I wouldn’t do a daylong training program in that sterile environment. I would rather hammer my toes. “I think this is just the beginning. Pretty soon we’re going to have Michael coming in holographic form teaching classes,” Fischer joked. “Let’s keep supporting the technology because it’s going to get there and it will make us virtual people in essence.” 43 http://Grants.gov http://Grants.gov http://Grants.gov http://Grants.gov http://Grants.gov http://Grants.gov http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - September 2008

Government Technology - September 2008 Contents Point of View On the Scene Big Picture Four Questions for... Up Close Fork in the Road On Time and On Target On the Record, Off the Charts Government’s Greatest Asset? Easy Access Finding the Money Security in the Wireless World The Case for Mobility Spectrum Products Two Cents signal:noise Digital Communities Contents A New Government Paradigm News is Now Transformation Web 2.0 Style Protecting Community Media Thinking Regionally Government at La-Z-Boy Speed

Government Technology - September 2008

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