Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Dr. Drew's Expertise: A Partial List of My Grants Applications

Federal Applications

U.S. Department of Agriculture (1) U.S. Department of Education (2)
U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (2)
U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Dev. (3)
U.S. Department of Justice (2)
National Endowment for the Arts (1)

State of California Applications

California Arts Council (2)
California Council for the Humanities (1)
California Dept. Health and Human Services (1)
CA Comm. College Chancellor’s Office (3)

Local Applications

City of Long Beach Community Development
City of LA Cultural Affairs Department
CDBG – City of Mission Viejo
CDBG – City of Newport Beach
Los Angeles County Arts Council Grant (6)
LA Co. Dept. of Children’s Services
LA County Department of Senior Services
Orange County Probation Department (2)
OC Department of Children’s Services
Orange County’s United Way (2)
OC Workforce Investment Act/ARRA
Public Corporation for the Arts – LB

Representative Foundation Applications

Allergan (2)
Angel’s Care
Bank of America
Baker
Boeing
California Endowment
California Wellness
CA Consumer Protection Fund
DeMoss
Edison International
Fluor Corporation
GTE
In-N-Out
Isuzu
Joseph Drown
Mark S. Taper
Merrill Lynch
Mighty Duck’s Care
Norris
PacifiCare
Pacific Life
Pfaffinger
Parsons
Samueli Family
Southern California Gas Company
Steele
Stillwell
Taper
Target (6)
Tides
Toyota
VSAarts/MetLife
Warner Bros.
Walt Disney Co. Foundation (2)
Weingart Foundation (6)
Wells Fargo Foundation
Wynn

As of March 30, 2011

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Dr. Drew's Consulting Practice


1. How much does it cost?
Drew & Associates charges $6,500 for a standard grant package. In that time, Dr. Drew will deliver one model grant proposal, one model letter of inquiry, research on your most likely funding sources through the Foundation Center website, and then assist you in completing at least 10 applications and/or letters of inquiry to your top 10 funders. Normally, Dr. Drew requests half of this fee up front and the other half at the conclusion of his work depending on your complete satisfaction.

2. What are the most important techniques that you use to make your work special?
Dr. Drew is able to be three times more productive than a normal grant writing consultant because of his expertise in using voice recognition software. In addition, Dr. Drew has a Ph.D. in political science from Cornell University which means he is trained in applying the survey research, program evaluation, and measurement tools needed to complete a high quality grant proposal. Dr. Drew has over 30 years of experience in writing grants and scholarship applications. He has raised more than $8.5 million for various charities and educational institutions over his lifetime. The first eight (8) federal grants he wrote all received funding. In 2009, for example, Dr. Drew helped Coastline Community College District (CCCD) win $1.6 million in new government grants including federal funds associated with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Dr. Drew emphasizes product positioning techniques as part of a larger effort to help new charities break into winning grant money and to revitalize existing charities seeking to get back into the game of creating winning grant proposals. Dr. Drew understands the techniques needed to create clear and compelling arguments in English at a reading comprehension level that appeals to readers working for corporate, foundation and government funders.

3. How do I get started working with Drew & Associates?
To begin working with Drew & Associates, please call us to schedule a one hour appointment with you - either face-to-face or over the telephone. During this initial interview, Dr. Drew will ask your three basic questions:
• What's going well for you and your charity?
• What's not going so well?
• What have you tried to do so far to fix the problem?
Sometimes, there is not much Dr. Drew can do as a grant writer or as a consultant to be of assistance to you. Nevertheless, if looks like his skills might be useful to you and your charity, Dr. Drew will ask for your permission to create a letter of understanding which would guide his grant writing on your behalf. In this letter, Dr. Drew will outline the services he will perform, the hours associated with each segment of the proposal project and the total fee to be charged to you. He will be requesting a check from you for one-half of the total fee which he will need to receive prior to implementing the work indicated in the proposal letter. Dr. Drew will normally follow-up by phone in a few days after this letter is sent to answer any of your questions and see how we should proceed. Typically, all the work should be completed within 45 to 60 days depending on how difficult it is to pull together the necessary supplementary documents and forms to meet the requirements of the grant funders.

4. What sort of documents are needed by a non-profit organization to win funding?
Ideally, the non-profit should have available a copy of its 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) determination letter from the IRS, a copy of its latest IRS 990 tax return, a list of its Board Members and their affiliations, resumes for the Executive Director, Program Manager and Program Coordinator, the most recent audited financial statement, and a list of previous donors and the amount of their gifts to the non-profit organization. Additional information will need to be collected, as needed, to fit the particular requirements of the funders who are the closest match to your charity.

5. What are my chances of actually winning money?
A new charity that follows Dr. Drew’s procedures exactly should win at least one out of every five grant applications that it sends in to funders. Your chances of success increase as you gain more experience in producing grant proposals. Established charities who know who their prominent funders, for example, can easily obtain a 100% success rate over the course of a year simply by going back to the funders who have given them money in the past -- provided the charity has done a good job with the previous grant, properly acknowledged the funders, and spent the money in a way that made a measurable difference for the charity’s clients.

6. How much money might come in from a typical grant for a the charitable organization?
Initial grants given to a new charity tend to be in the $5,000 to $10,000 range. Some of these grants, however, may require a cash or in-kind match so it is important strengthen your other fundraising operations enough to secure the match.

7. What are my other options for winning a grant?
You have many of options and you are not dependent on Dr. Drew or, for that matter, any other grant writing consultant. For example, you can easily learn about grant writing through the courses offered through the Foundation Center in New York or you can take one of Dr. Drew’s grant writing classes. Dr. Drew teaches one day grant writing workshops at various community colleges in Southern and Northern California and has recently added a new two-day grant writing retreat program which will give you the opportunity to create a full grant proposal with his assistance in a small class limited to 12 students. At this retreat, Dr. Drew will guide you through grant-writing, step-by-step, so that you will emerge from the two-day retreat with a document ready to submit to a major funder in your area. If you do not have time for a class, Dr. Drew also sells booklets on-line which give you - in a highly condensed manner - the secrets of success he has used to become a successful grant writer at John Drew's Blogspot.

8. Can I win a grant if I'm not part of a non-profit organization?
Yes! Even though 95% of all grants go to 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations, the other 5% do go to individuals. Typically, grants are available to individuals in the form of scholarships for education, arts or research projects. Moreover, you can also work with an existing 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and ask them to serve as the fiscal agent for your grant for a small percentage of the grant. Information on all of these topics is freely available through the Foundation Center website. Dr. Drew is honored to help individuals draft their scholarship, art project, or research grant applications and charges the same rates as his normal work, dependent on the number of hours required to create the relevant individual grant documents. A lot of the techniques Dr. Drew uses in working with individuals are similar to the techniques he uses to assist non-profit or education organizations in obtaining grants.

9. How many clients does Dr. Drew work with every month and does he do the work himself?
Dr. Drew tries to work with at least one or two new clients every month while maintaining his commitment to assist his existing clients. He does the grant writing work himself using voice recognition software. Dr. Drew has a virtual assistant who assists him with grant research and his wife, Patricia Drew, helps with the proofreading responsibilities associated with grant writing.

10. What do I need to do to get started?
Simply give Drew & Associates a call right now at 949-643-8058 or send us an e-mail at johndrew25@msn.com. We will work with you to promptly schedule a one hour appointment to see if Drew & Associates can be useful to you and your charitable project.

11. What other resources are available for staying in touch with Dr. Drew’s consulting, workshops, retreats or literature?
Dr. Drew provides access to his ideas for producing winning grant proposals through a wide variety of communication channels including the following resources:
To buy one of Dr. Drew’s booklets, order through http://johndrew25.blogspot.com/
To sign-up for his e-newsletter, Dr. Drew on Grants, and see where Dr. Drew is teaching next, go to http://grantwriters.ning.com/profile/JohnCDrewPhD