Category Archives: OIffice of Safe and Drug Free Schools

What Schools and Non-Profits Can Learn from Business About Achieving Goals

I met with the executive director of a local non-profit organization last week. His organization has been grant dependent for years and has a very, very small private donor base. He knows they need to increase communications with the community and build the donor base, but there just isn’t time.  The staff is busy providing services. There is no fund development plan, and every time he starts to move forward with private fund development, he makes progress for a while, and then gets distracted by another grant deadline or yet another administrative fire to put out.

I’ve hear this story so many times that I wish I had a dollar for each time I heard it.  I’d have a nice retirement account built up. I’ve heard the flip side, too….folks are so busy with private fundraising, donor courting, and program services that they have no time to write grants.

Running several businesses has taught me a few things (often as a result of mistakes I’ve made, but learning is learning, right?), and one of those things is that there is truth in the phrase, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”

Here’s the lesson for schools and non-profits that successful businesses do automatically:

  • Set a measurable performance target.  What do you want to accomplish? Increase your donor base?  By how much?  By when? Raise funds through multiple sources to support a youth program?  How much? By when?  You get the point. You may need to set multiple targets, but don’t set too many. You won’t be able to maintain focus if you have more than 3-5 goals. If there is one target that is really important, stick to that one.
  • Devise a strategy to meet your target. The problem with most schools and non-profits is that they have been able to continue functioning for years regardless of not meeting outcome targets, so they are not very good at devising realistic and effective strategies for meeting outcomes. Businesses close down if they consistently fail to meet performance targets.  So, devise your strategy as if your job and/or your agency depended on it.  Get some expert advice. Enlist your entire staff.
  • Develop short term and long term action plans to implement your strategy. Assign responsibilities and timelines. This is the list of activities that must be completed to fully implement your strategy. Be very specific.
  • Develop short term benchmarks to make sure you stay on track. Don’t just set an annual goal and wait until the end of the year to see if you met it or not. You simply must set interim benchmarks to determine if you’re making progress so you can modify your strategy, if necessary.
  • Use your action plans to drive your monthly, weekly, and daily activities. This is the action part.  Make no mistake – if you are not doing something just about every day to get you closer to your goal, you probably won’t meet it, and you’ll be scratching your head at the end of the year as you make more excuses.
  • Stay focused. Not only do you have to stay focused, but you have to keep your staff focused.  You need to monitor your part of the action plan, as well as the components of the plan for which your staff are responsible.
  • Review your progress frequently. Take time at least monthly to see where you are with the implementation of the plan. Progress updates on the plan should be a standing item on every staff meeting agenda.  It’s your job as a leader to keep the staff focused and to demonstrate the importance of assessing progress and changing course, if necessary. If you never talk about the target and the plan, don’t be surprised when they quit working toward it.

 This really is how successful folks get from point A (the current situation) to point B (wherever they want to go).  Learn from this and jump on the success bandwagon.

What Schools and Non-Profits Can Learn from Business About Achieving Goals

I met with the executive director of a local non-profit organization last week. His organization has been grant dependent for years and has a very, very small private donor base. He knows they need to increase communications with the community and build the donor base, but there just isn’t time.  The staff is busy providing services. There is no fund development plan, and every time he starts to move forward with private fund development, he makes progress for a while, and then gets distracted by another grant deadline or yet another administrative fire to put out.

I’ve hear this story so many times that I wish I had a dollar for each time I heard it.  I’d have a nice retirement account built up. I’ve heard the flip side, too….folks are so busy with private fundraising, donor courting, and program services that they have no time to write grants.

Running several businesses has taught me a few things (often as a result of mistakes I’ve made, but learning is learning, right?), and one of those things is that there is truth in the phrase, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”

Here’s the lesson for schools and non-profits that successful businesses do automatically:

  • Set a measurable performance target.  What do you want to accomplish? Increase your donor base?  By how much?  By when? Raise funds through multiple sources to support a youth program?  How much? By when?  You get the point. You may need to set multiple targets, but don’t set too many. You won’t be able to maintain focus if you have more than 3-5 goals. If there is one target that is really important, stick to that one.
  • Devise a strategy to meet your target. The problem with most schools and non-profits is that they have been able to continue functioning for years regardless of not meeting outcome targets, so they are not very good at devising realistic and effective strategies for meeting outcomes. Businesses close down if they consistently fail to meet performance targets.  So, devise your strategy as if your job and/or your agency depended on it.  Get some expert advice. Enlist your entire staff.
  • Develop short term and long term action plans to implement your strategy. Assign responsibilities and timelines. This is the list of activities that must be completed to fully implement your strategy. Be very specific.
  • Develop short term benchmarks to make sure you stay on track. Don’t just set an annual goal and wait until the end of the year to see if you met it or not. You simply must set interim benchmarks to determine if you’re making progress so you can modify your strategy, if necessary.
  • Use your action plans to drive your monthly, weekly, and daily activities. This is the action part.  Make no mistake – if you are not doing something just about every day to get you closer to your goal, you probably won’t meet it, and you’ll be scratching your head at the end of the year as you make more excuses.
  • Stay focused. Not only do you have to stay focused, but you have to keep your staff focused.  You need to monitor your part of the action plan, as well as the components of the plan for which your staff are responsible.
  • Review your progress frequently. Take time at least monthly to see where you are with the implementation of the plan. Progress updates on the plan should be a standing item on every staff meeting agenda.  It’s your job as a leader to keep the staff focused and to demonstrate the importance of assessing progress and changing course, if necessary. If you never talk about the target and the plan, don’t be surprised when they quit working toward it.

 This really is how successful folks get from point A (the current situation) to point B (wherever they want to go).  Learn from this and jump on the success bandwagon.

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Federal Education Budget for 2011 – BIG News!

I just finished participating in the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools (OSDFS) webinar.   The purpose of the call was to go through current SDFS grant competitions and answer questions.  There was not much information provided in the webinar that is not currently available through the U.S. Department of Education Funding Forecast or RFPs that are already out (The webinar PowerPoint will be available through the Grant Writing Resources page on our website).

There were two pieces of information about this year’s grant competitions that were important and worthy of note (then keep reading for the BIG news about FY2011):

  • There had been some confusion about the Elementary and Secondary School Counseling program for this year.  If over $40,000,000 is allocated for the program, the program includes both elementary and secondary grants.  If under $40,000,000 is allocated, the program will only fund elementary school counseling proposals.  The RFP notes that over $15,000,000 was allocated for new grants this year, leading folks to believe that only elementary school counseling grants would be funded.  On the call, the FPO clarified that $55,000,000 has been allocated for this year (inlcuding funds for continuation grants).  Because the continuation grants are all elementary programs, this covers the $40,000,000 legislative requirement for elementaries.  This means that the FY2010 competition is open to both elementary and secondary programs.
  • Also, we have been waiting with bated breath for news of the new School Climate grants.  We learned today that for FY 2010 these will only be available to SEAs (State Education Agencies), not LEAs.

Ok, that was big news, but here’s the really big news…..

Assistant Deputy Secretary Kevin Jennings reported that the budget presented by the president yesterday for FY 2011 has some very good news for Education.  It includes a 6% increase for ED, and a 12% increase for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools (OSDFS).

In addition, OSDFS will be working to consolidate grant competitions to make it easier for LEAs to apply for and receive funds.  OSDFS will also be proting the funding of comprehenisve programs, rather small piecemeal programs (the current funding model). Specifically, they are planning to consolidate all of their little grant programs into four main programs:
1) Safe Schools/Healthy Students (which is, by the way, being revamped a bit in preparation for the big shift)

2) Emergency Management Grants (No information was provided regarding if these will be the same ones available now or new ones, or the same old ones with additions.)

3) Violence/Substance Abuse Prevention Grants (including those for higher education; Again, no news on how much of the current portfolio will be continued in this classification)

4) School Climate Grants (To be known as the Successful, Safe & Healthy Students Program – or something like that.  Mr. Jennings pointed out that these School Climate grants in FY 2011 will be available to both SEAs and LEAs (unlike this year, which is open only to SEAs).

Of course, all of these plans for FY 2011 depend on the approval of the President’s proposed budget, and a lot can happen over the next several months as that process moves forward.  However, the preliminary news for Education is promising.

Federal Education Budget for 2011 – BIG News!

I just finished participating in the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools (OSDFS) webinar.   The purpose of the call was to go through current SDFS grant competitions and answer questions.  There was not much information provided in the webinar that is not currently available through the U.S. Department of Education Funding Forecast or RFPs that are already out (The webinar PowerPoint will be available through the Grant Writing Resources page on our website).

There were two pieces of information about this year’s grant competitions that were important and worthy of note (then keep reading for the BIG news about FY2011):

  • There had been some confusion about the Elementary and Secondary School Counseling program for this year.  If over $40,000,000 is allocated for the program, the program includes both elementary and secondary grants.  If under $40,000,000 is allocated, the program will only fund elementary school counseling proposals.  The RFP notes that over $15,000,000 was allocated for new grants this year, leading folks to believe that only elementary school counseling grants would be funded.  On the call, the FPO clarified that $55,000,000 has been allocated for this year (inlcuding funds for continuation grants).  Because the continuation grants are all elementary programs, this covers the $40,000,000 legislative requirement for elementaries.  This means that the FY2010 competition is open to both elementary and secondary programs.
  • Also, we have been waiting with bated breath for news of the new School Climate grants.  We learned today that for FY 2010 these will only be available to SEAs (State Education Agencies), not LEAs.

Ok, that was big news, but here’s the really big news…..

Assistant Deputy Secretary Kevin Jennings reported that the budget presented by the president yesterday for FY 2011 has some very good news for Education.  It includes a 6% increase for ED, and a 12% increase for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools (OSDFS).

In addition, OSDFS will be working to consolidate grant competitions to make it easier for LEAs to apply for and receive funds.  OSDFS will also be proting the funding of comprehenisve programs, rather small piecemeal programs (the current funding model). Specifically, they are planning to consolidate all of their little grant programs into four main programs:
1) Safe Schools/Healthy Students (which is, by the way, being revamped a bit in preparation for the big shift)

2) Emergency Management Grants (No information was provided regarding if these will be the same ones available now or new ones, or the same old ones with additions.)

3) Violence/Substance Abuse Prevention Grants (including those for higher education; Again, no news on how much of the current portfolio will be continued in this classification)

4) School Climate Grants (To be known as the Successful, Safe & Healthy Students Program – or something like that.  Mr. Jennings pointed out that these School Climate grants in FY 2011 will be available to both SEAs and LEAs (unlike this year, which is open only to SEAs).

Of course, all of these plans for FY 2011 depend on the approval of the President’s proposed budget, and a lot can happen over the next several months as that process moves forward.  However, the preliminary news for Education is promising.

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com