Scott LoveridgeDirector, North Central Regional Center for Rural Development

Professor, Dept. of Ag., Food & Res EconMichigan State University

Small Grants Program Overview2012-13 Fiscal Year

About the Regional Rural Development Centers

Federally funded program – part of USDA line item

4 Centers

NCRCRD

Mission: Strengthen the ability of the land grant system to execute its rural development mission.

Among four Centers, NCRCRD alone offers small grants

Center’s Themes(Based on visits to 12 states)

Innovation Diffusion Sustainable Communities Leadership Development Entrepreneurial Communities

Theme: Innovation Diffusion for Rural Development

Agriculture Water saving Ethanol, Alternative Bio-fuels, Bio-lubricants Biomaterials Nano-technology

Other areas Broad band & related comm tech Wind Manufacturing process improvement

Will return to this in a few minutes

Theme: Sustainable Communities

Planning for wind power Green buildings (database development and

research, ideal community building codes, entrepreneur training)

Energy efficiency Mitigating and adapting to climate change Equity & social justice Reinvent rural manufacturing Youth engagement Asset based development

Theme: Entrepreneurship

New AmericansValue-added (esp. small & mid-size farms)

Entrepreneurs in the new economy Identifying and supporting

entrepreneursYouth developmentLocal foodsSocial entrepreneurship

Theme-Leadership Community coaching

Effectiveness, best practices, training Leadership across generations

Governance Building Strong Sovereign nations Local Government Finance & Efficiency Poverty/crime reduction

Effective Social Services Rural health delivery

Elder care, drug abuse, obesity, mental health Personal finance education Rural schools

Small Grants Program Summary

More than one NC state REQUIRED Multi-disciplinary/integrated preferred Review by panel; summary review by NCRCRD

Board of Directors Expected start date mid-fall Example deliverables:

Grant proposal—highest priority Conference/workshop Curriculum Training Publishable manuscript

Small Grants Review Process

Initial review and classification by Director

Single-blind review by faculty or other experts from appropriate subject-matter areas

Final review and budget recommendation by NCRCRD Board of Directors

Lessons from prior years

Use NCRCRD seed funds to get organized to write a larger grant? Specify the target agency and program.

Multi-state yes, but whole region is not necessary.

Avoid including long lists of people who “might” be interested.

Present true partnerships. One-sided or last-minute partnerships don’t review as well.

Lessons continued…

Document how your NCRCRD small grant will seed future activities, especially if the proposed final outputs do not include a major grant proposal.

Explain how the activity will benefit other land grants in the region.

Engage other 1862 Land Grants, but also consider 1890, 1994 Land Grants. (List available on Center web site.)

Hispanic-serving institutions also eligible.

Virtual Fellow Program?

Last year we targeted funds towards a study of the feasibility of implementing a 12 state technology and expertise sharing network. Dr. Maureen Kilkenny accepted a short term assignment to conduct the study. Report is coming out soon. There’s a webinar tomorrow with preliminary information & an opportunity to comment. We will decide on next steps after the final report is complete.

Early Career Grants?

No formal call this year. Only one applicant last year. Persons interested in this may apply under

the small grants and simply need to find a mentor in another North Central state to co-PI.

Flexible reimbursement schedule

In the past, we suggested one invoice when project is completed.

Now, PI’s institution can issue up to three invoices over the course of the project, as long as a progress report is submitted at the same time.

One invoice at the end is still an option (final report required).

New this year: 2 fiduciary arrangements are possible

If you plan to hiring staff, you need to go through all the approvals and if your grant is funded, we will send the money to your institution.

If you don’t need to hire staff, you can skip some of the approvals and request reimbursement from us.

Time Line

Ideas sent to Director (any time, reviewed in order rec’d.)

Proposals due 5 p.m. ET, Jan 10 Late proposals will be rejected without review Proposals that don’t follow formatting guidelines will be rejected

without review.

Preliminary decisions at April board meeting subject to final USDA approval and congressional funding.

We will try to start projects October 1st, 2012. We have limited control over actual start date due to vagaries of Federal and University approvals. This year, projects had their funding around Nov. 1.

All funded projects will have 12 months from their start date.

Want to know more about successful proposals?

Ask the PI for a copyPlug into a webinar (all funded

proposals now present a webinar on their project)

Want more information?

http://ncrcrd.org lists grants funded under last round of competition PI, Co-PIs Title of Grant Project abstract Webinar archive

Feedback

Call for proposals is found at:http://ncrcrd.msu.edu/ncrcrd/call_for_proposals