You will know if you are the recipient of the grant when you receive such notification in the form of a letter to the C.E.O. of your organization, or to the contact person of record, as appointed in the grant proposal.
If your business receives notification that it has been named the grant recipient, you need to construct a “thank-you” letter to the grantor. This will show your appreciation, and it will further strengthen the bonds for a quality and satisfying collaborative relationship. Grantors appreciate hearing from applicants to whom they have given money. In your letter, make sure to use the same words that the grantor used when referring to your grant. For example, the grantor’s name for your project may be different from the name you originally gave it in your proposal. Grantors who work with many applications that have similar project titles sometimes identify each individual project by its own particular name.
Invite the grantor to visit you to see your project (its investment) in action. Add key people in the grantor’s organization to your holiday mailing lists, and send them greeting cards and invitations to special events that you sponsor during the year. In short, consider this grantor as a “member of your family” because, in effect, this is the only way to maintain a synergistic relationship. You will benefit by showing your continuing appreciation through ongoing communication and invitations to your social activities.
Restrictions
Read the grantor’s acceptance letter carefully because there may be restrictions as to how and when you can spend its grant money. Any such restrictions are usually in your grant award letter or in the initial RFP guidelines. You must be aware of all legal agreements and how they may affect your grant and the work you do with any funds that you receive.
There may be restrictions on the funding you receive as to how you spend the appropriation. The following is a listing of some of the common restrictions placed on expenditures:
- Limitations on the types of expenditures allowed with the grant money, such as administrative salaries, equipment purchases, inventory, overhead expenses, and advertising.
- Content restrictions on artistic expression are common in grants, such as the arts. Be particularly careful to follow the list of restricted expenditures to the letter of the law if you are required to sign legal agreements related to such content restrictions.
- Operations restrictions, often on grants for scientific research, limit how scientists can do research or the kinds of material they can use.
There may restrictions on the funding you receive as to when you can spend the appropriation.
You may be required to use all the money in a certain amount of time. For example, if you receive a challenge or matching grant, you may not be able to use the money until you meet that challenge or match the funds. If you have any questions about any such restrictions, do not hesitate to ask the grantor.
Restrictions regarding when you can use the funds are typical with government grants. Your refusal to sign such agreements could lead to increased interest from private sector grantors who are impressed by your perseverance and willingness to continue your funding search rather than accept such restrictions.
Be careful and beware, however. Violating any content or operating restrictions can result in losing your entire grant! This could also affect your future grant funding chances with this and/or other grantors.