Grant Season

With the completion of the federal FY 2010 budget, federal agencies are now releasing a flurry of funding opportunities.  If you work in education, green energy production/technology, health care, economic development, workforce development, human services, or housing, you should be checking www.grants.gov every other day through February for grant opportunities.

Appropriations Transparency in Action

A few posts ago, I made some predictions about the future of federal earmarking. I made three predictions:
1. The who, how much, and what for of earmark requests will become more transparent.
2. The total number of earmarks and/or the total cost of earmarks as a percentage of the budget will be capped.
3. Earmarks are here to stay. In other words, receiving an earmark will still require that you do your homework, lay thoughtful groundwork for your request, and follow-up like nobody's business.

I stand by my predictions, and I see this as evidence supporting my crystal ball gazing.

Following The Money

Stimulus Bill money is making its way to the street a little more slowly than the President and Congress would like. On behalf of clients, I follow the progress of certain pots of Stimulus Bill funding. I use the Federal Register (You are officially a policy wonk, a policy advocate, or a government affairs contractor if the Federal Register is bookmarked on your web browser.)

The Federal Register is the official daily publication for federal rules (proposed and final), federal notices (decisions made or decisions under consideration) and other completely random things. In one issue of the Federal Register, you'll find announcements from every federal agency - known and unknown. If the federal government is a hive of activity, the Federal Register tells you what all the bees have been up to.

Whenever any federal agency makes funding available, they must publish information (How much money is available? When is the deadline? Who is eligible to apply? I have questions, who should I call?) in the Federal Register. Unfortunately for you, the Federal Register uses a very dated listserve database program, which can take some time to understand. My clients pay me to know when funding is available, and the federal register is one of the tools I use.