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During recent years, the available grant monies have decreased as the need for more police grants has increased. Grants for police departments have been slowly become homeland security grants. This site is designed to be a start point for the law enforcement grant researcher and grant writer. We have assembled information on different methods for obtaining police and law enforcement grants as well as different sources of grant money. Most recent grant: Grant Details: Organization Information: Contact Information: More Information: Finding Grant Money
The number one rule for grant writing is to be aggressive. Think outside the box (does it have to be a box?), do what others are not doing, and don't let anyone tell you that obtaining some grant is impossible. It is not necessary to let everyone know which source you are using. You can't keep going back to the well if everyone is using it. There are two tracks you should be using. First, you should be subscribing to reputable grant newsletters and other sources of information on grant money. Using a reputable commercial grant service is also beneficial. Don't be cheap. There are tens of thousands of dollars available in grant money. If you are with a good company, the service fee will be far outweighed by the grant monies you receive.
The second track is doing your own homework. Search using every grant keyword you can imagine. Don't just focus on government grants either. Many private companies offer grants. For instance, many grant writers have had success with Walmart grants. Yes, Walmart has a division that does much work with the community including offering LEO grants. Grants come in all shapes and sizes:
Grant WritingThe first one is the hardest. Most grants require detailed information which will require some serious running around. You may need to research everything from UCR reports to agency arrest statistics to budget items. However, as you continue writing grants and saving your research, you will find that the information is in your desk rather than in eight different places. The key is to save every piece of information you gather so it is always available. You will also need to save your previous grant applications. They will serve as sample grant proposals for the future. Grant writing is all about conveying the message. You need to learn how to use statistics and information to your benefit. By no means are we suggesting that you lie. However, if a certain statistic can be presented two different ways and one of the ways benefits you while the other doesn't, you would, of course, want to use the one that benefits you. Learning how to find information and how to present the information are two invaluable skills to the successful grant writer. Grant writing is an art, and those who are successful at it have a huge feature after retirement. Only experience will teach you how to write a grant.
Grant MoneyWhen you receive grant money, don't even thing about spending it until you have thoroughly read all the documentation that comes with it. Follow their rules to the letter. The grant may require a separate bank account as opposed to depositing the grant money into the town's general fund.
Spending Grant MoneyDocument everything, and don't go one inch over the line. When it comes to grant money, be more stringent in how you spend it than what is required by the grant. The quickest way out of the grant game is to get caught spending narcotics grant money on a shiny, new DWI patrol car.
Grant ReportsGrant money usually comes with a catch. Often, you will need to submit a report back to the source of the grant detailing how you allocated the grant money. This report is as important as the initial grant proposal. Next year you will be asking again for more grant money. The first thing they will do will be to review how you previously spent grant money.
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