IDEA INTO ACTION

BACKGROUND:  The staff of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District play a crucial role in educating students today and preparing the East San Diego County workforce for tomorrow.  You have unique insights into the needs of our students and our community.  As community leaders, we must strive to strengthen programs, reach new populations, and improve opportunities for our students.  Sometimes, we will need additional funding to achieve these goals—grant funding can be a way to finance our projects. 

As an educational community of more than 30,000 people, we must coordinate our fundraising efforts.  The Foundation for Grossmont & Cuyamaca Colleges (FGCC) helps to ensure that our grant writing efforts are strategic and focused on maximizing impact.  We can help you throughout the grant development process to ensure that your project is most likely to be successful.  We want to help you turn your Ideas into Action.

IS A GRANT RIGHT FOR MY IDEA?:  A grant is an agreement or contract.  The grantor provides the funds and the grantee commits to plan and implement a project.  A grant can help you to achieve important goals that make a difference in the lives of students or the community.  Keep in mind that a grant is usually time limited and has very specific deliverables and reporting requirements. 

IS THIS GRANT RIGHT FOR MY IDEA?:  When evaluating a potential funding source, you should consider both your idea’s alignment with the funder’s priorities and their expectations once you are funded.  The FGCC can help you make these evaluations.

The Funder’s Priorities:  Grant funding is competitive.  In order to receive funding, your project should closely align with the Funder’s stated priorities.  Factors that constitute alignment include funder’s goals, geographic priorities, target group, grant size, and type of grant given. 

The Funder’s Expectations:  You should carefully evaluate the reporting requirements of the grant.  How often do they want reports?  Does GCCCD have the capacity to do this reporting?  Does the grant cover the cost of program and budget reporting?  Will this idea achieve the goals that the funder is expecting?

IS THIS GRANT RIGHT FOR GCCCD?:  Your Dean, the FGCC, and the Cabinet have to consider the priorities of the entire district when determining the most appropriate funding sources for our projects.  If this funding source is not right for your project, we will try to help you find a funder who better meets the need of our educational community.