170 People in Non-Profits & Local Government Attend Congressman Garamendi's Grants Seminar

MARYSVILLE, CA - Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA-03) hosted his first Grants Seminar in Marysville today. More than 170 people attended this six-hour event hoping to get a leg up on applying for grants.

All participants attended a Grants Proposal Development Workshop hosted by Yumi Sera and Elaine Abelaye-Mateo.

"I frequently read grant proposals, and they often focus on why your organization needs this money. It's not about your organization. It's not about you. It's about who you support," Sera explained.

The presentation centered on improving the focuse of grant proposals by communicating clear and achievable goals that are plausible given an organization's budget. The presenters repeatedly encouraged the organizations in attendance to remember that real humans read these proposals, making it very important to add emotion to the proposal. Numbers are great, but stories of people who have been or will be helped are also very important. Participants were also encouraged to partner with other organizations and to make it clear that the grant-seeking organization has community support and multiple ways to access resources. Grant providers rarely want to be the primary funder. 

Following this presentation, a networking luncheon helped connect participants with experts and like-minded organizations followed by a keynote presentation by Congressman Garamendi. He talked about many of the services his office provides and noted that the Grants Seminar emerged after multiple non-profit organizations reached out to his office for help.

"The need is great, and we are here to help," Congressman Garamendi said. "My job is to do all I can for economic development in this region. A lot of the work we do is directly related to the work you do: education, help for seniors, and rural housing. That's your job and it's my job too.”

Garamendi also encouraged the participants to read the Grants Guidebook created by his office and to provide feedback on how it can be improved.

"How do you get a grant? What's the process? This guide book is designed to help you understand how you should process grants," Garamendi said. "That one sentence of feedback you didn't provide could put you at the bottom of the stack instead of the top of the stack.”

Garamendi's remarks were followed by two presentations on how to access federal and private foundation grants respectively by Glenda Humiston, the California State Director at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Rural Development, and Chet Hewitt, the President/CEO of the Sierra Health Foundation.

"We think about grants as investments. You're doing something that isn't solely about you. If it has applicability beyond your community - if it can serve as a model that can be replicated - that's something many foundations value," Hewitt said.

Humiston noted that the closer organizations can partner together, the more likely they are to be successful in seeking a grant. It's also important to make the case with data. California's countywide data can hide serious needs. Data that can look at communities more closely, such as census track data, can help identify needs that are easily missed in county data.

The day ended with group sessions focused on six types of grants: social services, health and well being, education and youth, community and economic development, agriculture and environment, and arts and culture.