There are many potential starting points for getting ideas about external funding.
Two good ones are what are your "more betters" and what are your "worsts?" Your "more betters" are all of the things that you can do better than many. It may be the strength of your instructors, a unique content area, a delivery mechanism, or any other factor that differentiates your unit. The "worsts" are all the things that may interest a funder because your need is more acute than others. This could be the number of displaced workers, a rural population that doesn't have easy access to certain kinds of learning experiences, or a critical shortage of health care workers, etc.
From these general ideas, you can start to move to specifics. You can use tools like the Outreach Market Research Portal to scan for ideas and activity in certain sectors. You can explore online or at conferences what similar organizations are doing nationally. You can even use the databases described in the identifying funding sources section. Talking with successful grant recipients can also be a source of inspiration.
- Key questions to consider as you evaluate opportunities
- Sample search results and interpretation hints
- List of recommended Web sites to search for funding opportunities
- Tips for evaluating RFPs
- Unit vetting
- Incubator process
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