MW Health Blog

Whose responsibility is it to make sure nonprofits assess their programs?

As our grant application deadline quickly approaches, we asked guest blogger Carla Cataldo, a professional proposal writer and former member of our Distribution Committee, to tell us about what makes for a solid budget proposal. Here’s what she had to say…

If you want your proposal to stand out, now is the time to prepare a stellar grant budget.

Use the following five tips to minimize questions about your proposal and maximize your organization’s chances for a grant award. These tips were written specifically with the MetroWest Health Foundation’s budget in mind but could apply to almost any foundation.

Tip 1. - Budget numbers tell a story and that story must stand alone.
In the Foundation’s case, the budget form is usually read first. Not only does it need to be clear to the diverse community readers, it should be the building block that sets up and is confirmed by the rest of the text. Use the second part of the form to flesh out the numbers with details, such as “Consultant for strategic planning on site at $1,000 per day for four days.”

Tip 2. – Don’t forget overhead.
Your budget will contain direct costs to run your project, such as staff and equipment, but it also allows for indirect costs (“overhead”) of up to 15 percent. Overhead consists of costs that your agency needs to operate, but are not directly attributable to your proposed program, like auditing fees, human resources, utilities, rent. You do not receive bonus points for NOT taking overhead percentage so build the unrestricted monies into your budget!

Tip 3. - Make sure you explain each requested line item.
If you request money for postage, be specific about how many items you will mail, and what the unit cost is for each, such as: 1,000 flyers at $.44 each. Similarly detail equipment, consultant hours, and staff time (full-time or part-time? number of hours per week?). If you are specific in the budget narrative section, you will catch mistakes if the proposal is edited and the numbers change. If the text and numbers don’t match, at best you will receive a call asking for clarification. At worst, reviewers will be confused.

Tip 4. List other sources of revenue for the project budget.
List them in the “Other Support” column. Examples might be other grant funders who have made an award for the same project. Make sure to indicate whether or not the other support is pending or guaranteed in the notes section of Form B, under Section V. Other.

Tip 5. Finally, don’t forget in-kind contributions.
Include any costs that are being donated (e.g. staff time, materials, copying from a business) that is necessary to make your project run. In-kind costs should be counted in both revenue and expense sides of the budget so they net each other out.

Lastly, and perhaps the most important piece of advice to remember, be accurate. Make sure that your budgets present your real story, by including all costs and revenues in a clear, detailed manner with footnotes.

Good luck!

Framingham police officers and the manager of a group home were struggling with how to get through to a troubled teen whose disruptive behavior resulted in four 911 calls in two months.

Then, during a regular meeting where stakeholders involved with the department’s Jail Diversion Program discuss challenging cases, one of the officers asked the group home manager if the individual could come into the station. A few moments later the two parties – offender and officers – had a sit down.

That was all it took for the 911 calls to stop.

It was an unprecedented talk that wouldn’t have taken place in Massachusetts 10 years ago. In 2002, with Foundation support, the Framingham Police Department and the Framingham-based human services agency, Advocates, Inc., launched the first Jail Diversion Program in the state. The program, which diverts low-level offenders who suffer from a mental illness from being arrested, now serves as a model for other police departments across the state.

“It had never been done before,” said Sarah Abbott, director of the Jail Diversion Program at Advocates.
Once it was clear the Framingham program was keeping people with mental illness out of jail and hospital emergency rooms and instead referring them to treatment, other departments expressed interest in replicating the program.

“People have recognized for many years that the police are often the first to encounter people in crisis,” said Abbott.

Advocates recently partnered with the Marlborough Police Department to create a Jail Diversion Program with the help of a three-year, $201,828 grant from the Foundation.

Last year Marlborough Police recorded 365 cases that were referred to the Jail Diversion Program. Seventy-five percent of those cases were diverted from arrest to community-based mental health services.

“For starters, they’re not getting involved in the criminal justice system for low-level minor offenses,” she said.

Fifty-one people were diverted from the Marlborough Hospital emergency room and were instead evaluated in the community by a clinician. Of all the cases, 6 percent involved repeat offenders. In each instance, the individual received a referral to treatment services.

The program received 112 calls from community groups in need of support services for victims of crimes and mental health and substance abuse resources. Advocates and the Marlborough Police Department also found, through the Jail Diversion Program, that there was an increased need for intervention among the homeless and elderly.

The program works best when police are willing participants and clinicians are an integral part of the department, said Abbott. Abbott said a handful of other departments in the state have based Jail Diversion Programs on Framingham’s model, including the Watertown Police Department which launched its Jail Diversion Program in October based on the lessons learned in Framingham and Marlborough.