Using Grant Money for Technology Projects
Grants offer attractive opportunities for carrying out technology initiatives that might not otherwise be possible for libraries. But grant money isn’t truly free money. The additional opportunities for libraries afforded by grants require time, effort, and commitment. In most respects, planning and implementing technology grants are no different than any other type of grant a library may seek and receive.
First, the up-front commitments. Planning and writing a convincing proposal takes a great deal of time. Many aspects of the project, such as researching and pricing appropriate equipment, need to be done as part of the budgeting process for the proposal, and therefore must be done prior to receiving any money, at the risk of the money not arriving at all, since only a small proportion of grant applications are actually funded. In addition, staff time is required for actually performing the project funded by the grant. Many grant programs require matching funds from libraries. The exact mechanism by which matches can be provided varies, but often staff time can be counted towards the match. Libraries implementing technology grants often choose to use grant money for the purchase of equipment, and use the time of base-funded staff to provide a significant portion of any required matching funds. Even if grant money is used for hiring temporary staff, contributions from some base-funded staff will be necessary to integrate grant activities into the normal operating environment of the library. In a technical environment, this means choosing technologies that fit within an overall infrastructure either planned or already in place and connecting new services to existing ones, in addition to the regular organizational integration issues. In either case, the time spent on these activities by base-funded staff is time not available to spend on something else.
Significant institutional commitment is also necessary after the grant period ends if the project is to result in an ongoing service. Server hardware often requires ongoing maintenance contracts. Any hardware, including public workstations, ages and requires replacement. Software requires periodic security patches and upgrades as older versions become unsupported, and many enterprise software packages require annual maintenance charges. Staff maintaining systems require ongoing training as the technology landscape changes. Patron training programs launched as part of grant projects remain in demand after grant funding ends. Most technology grants require additions to base operating budgets after the grant ends, often in the form of staffing and equipment.
Despite these challenges, a technology grant can be just the kick-start a library needs to launch a new service, make a hidden collection available to a wider audience, upgrade technological infrastructure, or modernize an outdated system. The key to a successful technology grant project is to match funding opportunities to institutional priorities. Don’t chase grant money just because it’s there, and don’t tailor your project to a specific grant program just to get the money. Instead, develop ideas for technology projects you want to do based on your library’s mission. For those projects that aren’t possible within normal operating budgets or existing special projects programs, applying for grant opportunities is a reasonable option. By using grant funds to pay for projects that grow out of a library’s overall mission, you can write more convincing grant proposals, and end up with more sustainable results. Be prepared to take on additional responsibilities before, during, and after a grant project. Be prepared to succeed.
Good post. A couple or three more thoughts on this from the "been there, done that" department.
Grants are a crapshoot. As such, they better be really worth how much time you sink into writing them--and writing the grant is just a small part of it; there's budgeting, and lining up grant partners, for example.
Many grant-awarding agencies now require a sustainability component to the grant. It is worth thinking through how the grant will survive after the funding ends.
The grant-funding environment, particularly in the big-bucks arena, is hugely politicized.
Read every document that applies to a grant, then look at who got the grant in previous years and if they're friendly give them a call and ask them about the grant process.
If you're a participant on a joint grant project, make sure your "cut" of the funding is stated clearly by percentage and that you are formally a PI on the grant, so should the grant come in less than requested, you don't get screwed out of your part of the grant.
The lead time for technology grants is pretty long, so shoot for projects that have some decent shelf-life and if possible have some flexibility in their interpretation and deployment.
I'll add one too: "beware the Frankenstein monster."
Sometimes when grants require partnerships as part of the funding process, people go chasing after partners to get funding and by the time everyone has their say, the project ends up looking like one of those ugly horrible-tasting cooking experiments I used to do when I was 10 years old.
I like to have a couple of mini plans in my filing cabinet for upcoming grant projects. That way, when I see an opportunity, I can get management approval quickly and jump on the opportunity as it comes. It also helps when someone calls me with a great "partnership" opportunity.
Amen, Ryan. Forgot that one. Also, I have seen libraries get grants for equipment where the grants were so restrictive the equipment couldn't be used for anything else for a very long time.