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Good news for grant writers
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In an era of budget cuts and rising costs, communities and nonprofit organizations have to find new funding sources or cut back on services. Increasingly, these groups look to grants from local, state, federal and private sources for funds.
Through a grant-writing workshop, Purdue Extension helps nonprofit organizations throughout Indiana prepare for this competitive process.
“The workshop teaches participants how to find funding, cultivate their ideas and match their projects to potential funders,” says Aadron Rausch, a Purdue Extension specialist who leads the workshops. “Our participants have been awarded more than $4.5 million over the last three years.”
 The Meals on Wheels program in Hamilton County is one of the many organizations that successfully used tools learned in the workshop. “We received $10,750 from the Central Indiana Community Foundation,” says Meals on Wheels' Margaret Lukes. This is the most the organization has ever received from grants.
The funding helps support Sponsor a Senior, a program that provides Meals on Wheels clients with two meals a day for just $1.
Initially started as a resource for Purdue Extension specialists in 2001, the grant-writing workshop is now open to the public and offered throughout the state via videoconferencing. “The workshop really gave us the confidence to start applying for grants,” Lukes says. “Whenever I get a chance, I tell people to go to this workshop.”
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