County Teaches Grant Writing Workshop

Maui County Chief of Staff Cynthia Lallo, Contributed photo Contributed photo standing on the right next to Budget Director Lesley Milner, want to create ‘an army of grant writers’ on Maui County. Photo by Léo Azambuja

By Léo Azambuja
What are the right steps that could help nonprofit organizations to successfully seek, apply for, receive and manage grants? Through a comprehensive workshop, Maui County staff members tried to demystify the grant writing process and open new avenues for grant funding on Molokai.
“Our vision is to create an army of grant writers throughout the county to gather partnerships and funding resources for our needs, not necessarily coming from county dollars,” Maui County Chief of Staff Cynthia Lallo said at a public meeting at Mitchell Pauole Center Aug. 25, seeking participants for a grant writing workshop on the same location the following day.
The two-hour workshop presented by the Maui County Office of Economic Development focused on grant writing and management challenges, emphasizing the importance of organizational readiness, compliance and sustainability. Some of the key points included the need for clear mission statements, board engagement and accurate financial tracking.
Lallo and County Budget Director Lesley Milner suggested adopting specific metrics for measuring success, and highlighted the importance of aligning goals with funder requirements, as well as using private, local, state and federal resources.
They also stressed the importance of community coordination in grant writing to avoid competition, and suggested utilizing resources such as grantor websites to understand funding trends.
“We want to find a funder that shares the same mission and purpose as we do, or pretty close to it,” Lallo said. “Call the funder and say, ‘Hey, this is my idea. I think this would be a great partnership. What do you think?’ And then just stop. It’s okay sometimes just to stop and listen.”
A lot of funders, she said, are “absolutely happy” to have this discussion, because it can save time for everyone.
Lallo also encourage grant writers to know the audience they are writing to, to make sure their requests are clear and concise, and to provide business components that match the budget.
“Your budget needs to tell a story. Is it the same story your narrative is telling?” Lallo said.
In a light-hearted moment, Milner revealed a trick Lallo supposedly used to determine if she had written an application that anyone could understand.
“She would give her husband a six-pack and then sit him down and make him read it after he drank the six-pack, and if he could understand it after the six-pack, it was good to go for any funder,” Millner said.
Lallo added her husband was “happy to comply.”
Overall, the workshop covered key elements for a “Cinderella Fit” in grant writing: mission alignment, eligible activities, target population match, evidence of capacity and grantmaking style match.
Lallo and Milner touched topics such as organizational readiness, administrative capacity, project clarity, funding fit and necessary documentation.
They also went over the grant writing framework — a structured approach or outline used to develop a compelling and effective grant proposal. This includes having an executive summary, a statement of need, a project description, a target population, an evaluation plan, a budget narrative, a sustainability plan and an organizational capacity.
“We need to have a plan, and that plan needs to be viable,” Lallo said. “In my experience, the best way to be sustainable is to partner with other organizations, especially when you are in a small community.”
The workshop distributed a list with 18 lesser-known programs that cover unique or niche areas of funding, including the U.S. Department of Energy-Solar Energy Innovation Network, NOAA-Marine Debris Program, National Endowment for the Arts-Our Town Grant Program, National Archives and Records Administration-National Historical Publications and Records Commission, U.S. Department of State-Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation, NASA-Space Technology Research Grants and many others.