Nonprofits Can Increase Federal Funding Chances Through
Becoming Reviewers
Nancy Johnson, executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Network
of Youth & Family Services, tells CYF a great way for
nonprofits to increase chances for federal funding is to become
part of the peer-review process.
She encourages the audience during CD Publication’s
Keys to Winning Federal Grants audio conference to become
involved in peer review, increasingly becoming the most popular
form of doling out federal funding (see special funding section
on p5 for more tips from Johnson on tapping into federal funding).
Mary Nash of the Division of Grants Policy at the Admin.
for Children & Families provides CYF with insight into
the process for the agency. She says ACF selects reviewers
from a Web site, www.grantreview.net,
maintained by a government contractor (LCG). The most desirable
nonprofits are those with expertise in many areas, she tells
us. Nash says nonprofits interested in becoming peer reviewers
must register on the site to be considered for most Health
& Human Services funding programs.
The site helps both state and federal governments secure
reviewers. Most reviewing takes place from May-August, but
small programs have lately begun to schedule their reviews
intermittently throughout the year to leave the summer months
for the large and extensive programs, says a representative
of LCG.
LCG is looking to increase its database of potential peer
reviewers. The goal is to add at least one new candidate for
each funding category, including education, employment, labor
and training, health and housing. In the process, a government
agency identifies a need for reviewers andcontacts LCG, which
notifies all potential reviewers with the appropriate expertise
to check availability to participate in a particular session.
A list of available reviewer names is presented to the agency,
and program staffers use the list to choose grant reviewers.
The process is still competitive. Although a nonprofit’s
name is placed in the Grantreview.net
database, its area of program specialization, number of reviewers
needed for a grant announcement and its availability may limit
opportunities to serve as a panel reviewer.
ACYF provides guidance
The Admin. for Children, Youth & Families goes a step
farther than most Health & Human Services sub-agencies,
and provides minimum requirements and other guidance, as well
as maintaining its own list of potential grant reviewers.
Visit
www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/grants_acyf.html#reviewers for
more information on the process.
The Web site provides a four-step process to help potential
reviewers become part of the process.
Information includes:
- Understanding the reviewing process.
- Providing a list of current needs for reviewers at the
Child Care, Children’s, Family & Youth Services
and Head Start Bureaus. (This includes the minimum criteria
for each peer-review position).
- Preparing the right resume and writing sample.
- Submitting the information.
ACF’s Admin. for Native Americans hires its peer reviewers
directly as well. Visit
www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ana/reviewers/index.html. Potential
applicants can contact the ANA Help Desk toll-free at 877/922-9262,
too. Reviewers are paid $250 per day by ANA plus travel and
lodging. ANA reviews generally take six days, ANA’s
Web site indicates.
Info: Johnson, 412/366-6562; e-mail, nancy@manynet.org;
Nash, 202/260-6662; e-mail, mnash@acf.hhs.gov
|
