Money Hungry: These Web resources help you through the grant seeking process

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The American Library Association (ALA) has created numerous grants and awards to help support programs and provide funds to individuals wanting to attend professional meetings. This handy page provides links to not only ALA grants, but also awards sponsored by the various divisions, including PLA (Public Library Association), YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association), and AASL (American Association of School Librarians). Created by: ALA, Chicago, IL. Don’t miss: A “Professional Recognition” section includes services for children and young adults, with cash awards available to libraries and librarians doing creative things. Having personally served on an ALA award committee, I was shocked at how few proposals were submitted. So don’t be shy—take a chance and submit your idea. Detour: To locate and apply for federal and state-funded grants, visit Grants.gov, your one-stop source for government-based funding.

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Do you want to get a jump on grants, awards, and other funding sources? How about new alternative ideas for funding library programs? Then make sure to bookmark this Web page created by School Library Journal. Here you’ll find information about private and government funds as soon as they become available. You can also learn what other libraries have accomplished with funds they’ve received (a great way for beginning grant seekers to learn how to focus their proposals). Finally, you can keep abreast of all the news related to funding of school and public libraries—both the good and bad. Created by: School Library Journal, New York, NY. Don’t miss: The “News from the Web” section pulls together information from a variety of library and other sources. Detour: For more funding opportunities, visit the “Library Grants Blog.”  librarygrants.blogspot.com

foundationcenter.org

If you’ve never written a grant or funding proposal or if you wrote one and it wasn’t successful, then check out the Foundation Center, home to free online tutorials and downloadable materials for creating grant proposals. From the home page, click on “Get Started” and take a look at the resources within the “Get Answers” section. The FAQs, Reference Guides, and Topical Resources lists are especially good and will help you understand the proposal process before you actually begin writing one. Then, go to the “Learn About” section, where you’ll find free online tutorials and a free audiobook on proposal writing, which you can listen to online or download to an MP3 player. Other tutorials cover funding research and fundraising. Created by: The Foundation Center, New York, NY. Don’t miss: The free “Finding Funders” tools—especially the “Foundation Finder”—just type in your state and you’ll be amazed at how many funding sources you’ll find.

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With a grant from the Gates Foundation, OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) researched the public’s attitudes and perceptions about library funding. You can read and download a PDF of the final report. Public librarians struggling with funding issues can put these statistics to immediate use. Created by: OCLC, Dublin, OH. Don’t miss: The chapter “Who are your library’s financial supporters?” There are some interesting surprises. Detour: For information about specific grants for public libraries, be sure to follow the PLA blog.

www.schoolgrants.org/index.htm

If you’re a school librarian/media specialist seeking funding sources, this is the site for you. Grants for Schools provides proposal writing tips and lots of practical fundraising ideas. An outstanding list of sample grant proposals will enlighten both new and seasoned grant writers. Created by: Donna Fernandez, Rowlett, TX. Don’t miss: “Links/Resources” for even more valuable information on the whole grant-seeking process.