What's inside
U.S. Digital Response (USDR) conducted a survey and follow-up interviews with organizations representing over 350 local governments across the United States on their current experiences discovering, applying for, and reporting on federal grants. Too many small cities opt out of pursuing a grant because the journey is so complex. This study seeks to shed light on the barriers small communities face, showcase promising practices and tools to make the grants journey easier on small communities, and provide insights on new tools that could be developed and make grants more accessible to all.
See the report here.
Understanding the grant-seeking journey
Grants to states and local governments by 93% from fiscal year 2008 to 2020, with many of the federal programs designed with the intent to reach smaller municipalities and local governments. However, the journey a grant applicant takes before an application is often invisible to grantors, and the grant-seeking journey itself is often inscrutable to the grant applicant.
A deep understanding of the grant-seeking journey from the user's point of view shows there are key opportunities for reform and simplification and new ways for government needs to be met at scale.
Takeaways you can implement
In this report, we identified key opportunities for reform and simplification and new ways for government needs to be met at scale. We share examples from states that are scaling solutions and are serving their users well.
