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New Century Grant Application Guide, May 2002 - October 2003

I. General Information about New Century Grants

A. Who is Eligible to Apply?

  1. A single public library.
  2. Two or more libraries, one of which must be a public library and the applicant for the grant.
  3. A single public library or two or more libraries, one of which must be a public library and the applicant for the grant in collaboration with one other cultural organization or two or more cultural organizations.
  4. All organizations applying for a New Century Community Grant must be nonprofit organizations, legally incorporated in the State of Maine , or a unit of local, county or state government.

B. What is Eligible for Funding?

Applications must demonstrate a program or project that accomplishes one of the following:

  1. Expands library service to the unserved.
  2. Provides in-house use of new information technology, hardware, software, or both, for the use of all citizens.
  3. Encourages and improves resource sharing and cooperation between two, or among more, libraries or other cultural organizations or both.
  4. Enhances current services or extends current hours of service.
  5. Creates an innovative approach to widening and improving access to library and information services.
  6. Provides for the preservation of library resources.
  7. Creates local information databases.
  8. Provides for continuing education opportunities.
  9. Facilities studies and concept drawings from architects are acceptable for funding. (Construction grants will not be awarded due to limited funds. Architectural drawings are considered an integral part of construction and thus are not eligible. ADA projects are not fundable if the project would result in physical changes to a library building.)

C. How Applications are Approved

  1. The Maine Library Commission will approve all grant proposals.
  2. Experts from appropriate fields, Commission members, or other advisors may review and rate proposals.
  3. All grant awards will be reported to the Cultural Affairs Council.

D. Applicant Assurances for Compliance

  1. The activities and services for which assistance is sought will be administered by or under the supervision of the applicant.
  2. Any funds received under this grant shall not be used to supplant funds normally budgeted for services of the same type.
  3. The applicant will credit the New Century Community Program and the granting agency with all publicity regarding the project.
  4. The applicant will comply with all state laws and mandates regarding:
    • The Americans with Disabilities Act, and
    • The Age Discrimination Act, which bars discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, handicap or sex.

E. By When Does the Grant Money Have to be Spent ?

Money must be encumbered by June 30, 2003 . It must be spent by May 30, 2004 . This is a critical point as once money has been set aside for a library (by June 30, 2003 ), it can not be given to another library. Failure to use New Century Grant Money once it has been awarded means the funding will go back into the State's general coffers.

F. Grant Appeals Policy

Any grant applicant shall have the opportunity to appeal a decision to the

Maine Library Commission.

II. First Steps in Grant Writing:

  • A. Big Picture Thinking .. How does what you want to do fit in with what you are already doing? When beginning the grant process, don't let money get you down-if you had all the money, space, personnel, etc. in the world-what needs to be done? For example, all the children in town will use the library.
  • B. Define What Needs to be Done .. What are you trying to accomplish? In the example it would be: Get all the children in our town to come to the Library and once there, find what they want and need.
  • C. How Do You Know this Needs to be Done ? Why are you trying to find funds to do this? Example: The PTO, Women's Club, Teachers' Association and School Librarian, are worried that children aren't being exposed to reading as a pleasurable experience. Only 30% of the town's population under 14 has library cards.
  • D. What Resources do You Need to Accomplish This? Example: money for new editions of classic books, money for PR campaign, supplies for summer reading groups, etc.
  • E. How Will this Accomplishment Impact Your Patrons? Example : More children will hear about the library, get library cards, discuss books with peers and find enjoyable materials.
  • F. How Will You EVALUATE this Impact? Number of children having library cards, number of children attending reading groups, circulation of juvenile books, number of repeat users of the library in this age group.

III. General Guidelines for New Century Grants

INCOMPLETE APPLICATIONS (i.e. with questions not answered and requested information not provided) will not be evaluated for funding.

  • A. The maximum grant amount is $20,000 (Total available is approximately
  • $140,000)
  • B. The narrative and budget part of your application (Questions 6 and 9) should be no more than 10 pages. The entire grant application should not exceed 15 pages (the 10 narrative and budget pages plus pages 2, 3, 4, 9 and 12 which are primarily signature or check off pages) plus the letters of support and the governing body's letter . .
  • C. NO INFORMATION OR ADDITIONS WILL BE ACCPETED AFTER THE GRANT DEADLINE OF OCTOBER 16, 2002 .
  • D. Questions are in bold format. Applications, whether electronically filled out or on paper, should be in 12-point type. The answers to the questions should not be in bold format.
  • E. Personnel will be funded only for short, defined periods of time for projects that have a defined end.
  • F. Applicants must use the application form as presented by the Library Commission.
  • G. If applications are submitted electronically, the pages requiring signatures must reach the State Library in hard copy by the deadline date- October 16, 2002 .

IV.Guidelines to specific Section of the Application

  • A. Letters of Support from all collaborators. These letters should be from agencies, organizations, groups, governing officials, patrons, and/or persons that are promising to help develop your grant project, to support it in a concrete way and make it work. A letter from an entity saying, "I support Public Library XXX's grant application; it's a great idea," means only that the grant writer had the persistence to get this letter written. However, a letter from a group saying it will help with publicity, will donate time, staff and meeting space, assist at an event and/or perform some other concrete task shows evaluators that this is a collaborative effort and will help you implement the granted project. Please b e certain letters specify the type of help that will be given.
  • B. Resumes or job descriptions. These are not required for library directors or staff. They ARE mandatory for any contractors or non-library personnel you may hire to assist in your granted project implementation.
  • C. Legal Name of Applicant (page 3) If your library is a municipal department, the governing body of the municipality is the applicant. If a private association governs your public library, the association is the applicant.
  • D. Question 6B (page 5) Since there are always more needs than resources, how did you and your stakeholders collaborate to identify, prioritize and select the needs you want to address in this project? Libraries across the state have discovered through the New Century Grants process that broadening their stakeholder-base as part of the grant writing process has paid big dividends. Needs assessments should be inclusive. Library "stakeholders" include but are not limited to: schools, businesses, community service and governmental agencies, ethnic and demographic groups and children. Early inclusion of these stakeholder groups in the needs assessment process strengthens the role and relationship of the library within your community. It also helps build ongoing and broad-based support for library programs and capital funding.
  • E. Question 6D (page 5) If you can't identify a major issue your project will address, you might ask yourself why you want to undertake it. Please stress local impact.
  • F. Questions 6E (page 6) What do you expect to achieve by what dates? How will you define success? Achieving success in your grant involves converting needs, ideas and careful planning into actions, mobilizing and coordinating resources within specific timeframes, having measurable results. The more ambitious or complex your project, the more difficult it will be to manage it, pull it together and achieve a noticeable success.

To help you be successful, we have found that breaking up your project into smaller, bite-size increments, over shorter periods of time , will help you to focus, retain control, and celebrate your incremental successes. It will also help you to identify emerging problems early enough to correct, adjust and move on.

These incremental steps are called Time-Based and Measurable Objectives (TBMO's for short). The more nebulous your goals and objectives, the more difficult they are to achieve.because you don't have a definitive measure of your success. So TBMO's not only define what specifically and measurably you will achieve by what dates-they also define success. So as the project moves along you can "check in" with your objectives' timetable on a monthly and quarterly basis to see how you are doing-and be able to report back to your stakeholders-who are eager to know--about your work and your progress.

Note: The more specific your TBMO (Time-Based and Measurable Objectives), the more likely you are to achieve them successfully. Stress local impact, what you expect to achieve by which dates and how you define success.

Examples of Goals:

  1. More children will use the Library
  2. Broader representation of stakeholders on the Library Board

Examples of Objectives:

  1. Increase the number of children 14 or less having library cards by 36%
  2. Two members of the Library Board will be involved in local education (staff, faculty or school board member), by June, 2003.

Examples of TBMO's:

  1. Increase the number of children having library cards at our library by 24% by April 2003, with incremental goals of 6% by July 20, 2002 , 12% by October 20, 2002 and 18% by January 20, 2003 .
  2. Raise $16,000 by May 15, 2003 by raising $4,000 by July 15, 2002 ; $8,000 by October 15, 2002 ; $12,000 by January 15, 2003 and the total by May 15, 2003 .
  • G. Question 6F (page 7) An incremental and phased implementation plan (bite-sized chunks) is more manageable and achievable. Waiting until the grant runs out to determine if you met your objectives is too late to make relatively easy mid-course corrections and stay in budget. This section is asking you to list in order each step you will have to take (each action or task someone will have to do) in order to meet the objectives listed in 6E.
  • H. Question 6G (page 7) Again, here is a good opportunity to broaden your stakeholder-base by inviting representatives to your planning process. The community can feel a real sense of participation and can give constructive feedback early in the process. 6B asked who was involved in identifying the need, 6G asks who has been involved in the planning of the solution. Who are your community stakeholders and strategic partners? Get them involved.
  • I. Question 6I (page 8) Remembering your TBMO's, how have you defined success? Using your incremental, time-based and measurable objectives from Section E as starting points, you should plan to have at least quarterly reviews of your progress. It may be helpful to do a focused before, mid-way and post-grant survey of those affected by the project, maybe getting a postcard or short program evaluation form to participants. The results make great marketing tools!
  • J. Question 6K (page 8) Strategic partnerships with other organizations will provide critical input in the planning process. How does the library fit in your community? How does it help?

If you have questions, suggestions, or need clarification, please contact Linda Lord at Linda.Lord@maine.gov; telephone (207) 287-5620 Director, Library Development, Maine State Library , 64 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333