State Websites
In addition to federal grants, each state also makes grants. Some are state-initiated and -funded, while others are federal block grants administered by state governments. They vary widely in quality, comprehensiveness and ease of use. For all of the issues with grants.gov, it would be terrific if each state had the equivalent, a comprehensive grants site, but few do. Here is what you will find, state-by-state:
Alabama: Save the best for last? No way. The A’s – Alabama and Alaska – are among the best. The
Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs maintains a thorough and very user-friendly grant information center. It includes a consolidated listing of funding opportunities from every department.
Alaska: Even nicer is the
Department of Community and Regional Affairs’ site. It’s attractive and thorough, and contains grant writing suggestions as well as current listings.
Arizona: Each grantmaking agency has its own site; there is no central page. The major sites are
Arts,
Commerce,
Parks and Recreation,
Fire assistance, and
Libraries. Each looks and works differently. All, however, appear to be reasonably useful.
Arkansas: There is a somewhat perfunctory centralized site run by the
Department of Human Services.
California: The
central site is nicely organized, with links to every grant program at the state level. Click on the link and you’re transported to the specific agency. Those sites vary widely in quality. Unfortunately, the central site is a bit of a shell. Due to the state’s fiscal distress, many of the competitions have been cancelled.
Colorado: The
Department of Education has a website without much content. The
Department of Public Health and Environment’s grant page is much livelier.
Connecticut: Each grantmaking agency has its own page. The formats are basically alike but some are more robust than others. See:
Emergency Management,
Policy and Management,
Emergency Services and Public Protection, and
Agriculture. Presumably, when other departments have grant opportunities, they announce them on their own pages. There is no central listing.
Delaware: The
Department of Education’s webpage hasn’t been updated since 2010, and the most recent entry at the
Department of Health and Social Services expired in August 2013. At least the
Division of the Arts has a lively and informative page.
Florida: The
centralized website is nicely designed but largely void of information.
Georgia: There are at least nine websites with grant leads. Each is totally different in its format, organization and value to grantseekers. They are:
Humanities,
Agriculture,
Community Health,
Criminal Justice,
Historic Preservation,
Children's Cabinet,
Coastal Resources,
Highway Safety and
Land Conservation. A centralized hub would help a lot.
Hawaii: Another fragmented source of information. One good feature is links to federal grants as well as those administered by the state. See:
Human Services,
Hawaiian Homelands,
Forestry Programs,
Emergency Management and
Criminal Justice.
Idaho: Applicants from all 50 states would do well to read this page of
grant writing tips. It’s right on target. The sites announcing specific opportunities (Requests for Proposals or RFPs) are about what you would expect. They are:
Health and Welfare,
Emergency Management,
Historical Society,
Idaho Humanities, and the
Commission on the Arts.
Illinois: At first glance there appear to be lots of funding opportunities, but on closer inspection, much of the information is obsolete. Some sites haven’t been updated in years. One Hot! New! Opportunity closed in 2012. But check them out – things may have changed. See:
Department of Natural Resources,
Board of Education, and
Community Development
Indiana: Although the state doesn’t have many open grant opportunities, its websites are valuable for their links to federal and foundation sites. See:
Indiana State Library, Department of Agriculture,
Indiana Arts Commission,
Department of Natural Resources and
Department of Transportation.
Iowa: Far and away the best is the
Department of Natural Resources’ site. The
Department of Education’s is a dud. Also check out the
Iowa Arts Council and the
State Historical Society of Iowa.
Kansas: What’s the matter with Kansas? Its grant sites. They offer little information, and it’s mostly outdated. See: the
Department of Health and Environment and
Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism.
Kentucky: The
Department of Education website starts with the statement, “the information contained on this page is frequently updated.” What information? It’s a blank page, and the last update was two months prior. The other agencies don’t seem to have much going on either. See the
Department of Agriculture,
Kentucky Community and Technical College System, and the
Department of Natural Resources.
Louisiana: Dead in the water. A keyword search on the Louisiana.gov homepage for “grants” turned up one hit: “Grant Parish (county), named for U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant.”
Maine: One of the better ones. Check out
education,
arts,
inland fisheries and wildlife, and
emergency management.
Maryland: The Governor's Grants Office wins the Gold Medal. Maintained by the governor’s office, it’s a single portal with links to every grant making state agency as well as foundations and the federal government. All states would do well to model their sites after this.
Massachusetts: Municipal Grant Finder is another single statewide portal, but less robust and more difficult to navigate.
Michigan: At least nine departments maintain grant sites, and there is no central site. Nonetheless, some departments do an excellent job. The
Education Department is an easy-to-navigate, comprehensive listing of federal, state and foundation funding opportunities of interest to Michigan schools. Other sites are
Natural Resources,
Environmental Quality,
State Police, and
Agriculture and Rural Development.
Minnesota: There’s a hybrid system. The
State Office of Grants Management maintains a central registry of grant opportunities, but it’s not as well organized as it could be. Individual department sites vary in quality. They include
Agriculture,
Humanities,
Soil and Water Resources,
Culture,
Health, and
Transportation. All have some content except transportation, which is a blank page.
Mississippi: There are some grant opportunities, but they’re pretty well buried. You will find
educational ones and
economic development ones. Some others are probably in hiding too.
Missouri: There’s a paucity of information. The
Department of Natural Resources and the
Department of Public Safety have grant pages. The
Department of Education also has one, but you have to search for it.
Montana: The four agency sites are all okay, but totally uncoordinated; they look and work completely different from one another. Curiously, the URLs don’t give much of a clue as to the content. Check out
Fish, Wildlife and Parks,
Education,
Workforce Development, and
Transportation.
Nebraska: Similar to Montana, but less robust. Three agencies have grants pages:
Health and Human Services,
Wildlife, and
Arts. Curiously, a keyword search at the Department of Education turned up nothing.
Nevada: Not much happening. Only two agencies appear to be making grants. One is for
tourism marketing, the other for the
artists.
New Hampshire: The only significant funding, not surprisingly, is for
Education. There are small grants for
Highway Safety and
Historical Resources.
New Jersey: There is a
central state website, but it only has links to the two agencies that are the principal grantmakers,
education and
agriculture.
New Mexico: There is nothing on the state website. However, do not despair. A private consulting firm operates
New Mexico Grant Watch. It’s very well organized. Grant Watch also has pages for other states.
New York: The
Department of Education has grant opportunities, but good luck finding them. The
Department of Health’s grant page is modeled after grants,gov, and much easier to navigate. So are the
Office of Disability Assistance and the
Department of Parks and Recreation.
North Carolina: Single consolidated grant sites such as
North Carolina’s make finding opportunities so much easier, it’s a shame all states don’t have one. NC’s isn’t particularly attractive, but it’s workmanlike enough.
North Dakota: Three agencies offer grants.
Parks and Recreation has an easy-to-navigate one.
Education has one with lots of information but which requires lots of clicks to get from here to there. Also check out
the State Historical Society.
Ohio: The
Department of Education’s site has lots of information, but you have to go through layer after layer to access it. Other useful sites are
Arts Council,
Development, and the best,
the Lake Erie Commission.
Oklahoma: There’s not much. A little in
Higher Education, a little in
Commerce, and almost nothing in
Education, although you have to work hard to learn how little there is.
Oregon: Let’s call this one mediocre – or, if you’re into newspeak, meh. Check out
Education,
Parks and Recreation,
Arts, and
Land Conservation and Development.
Pennsylvania: Three agencies offer grants:
Fishing and Boating,
History and Museums, and
Education. The latter is robust but a bit difficult to navigate.
Rhode Island: There are funding opportunities in
Health,
Libraries, and
Historical Preservation (which also has an
additional site). But you’ll find nothing at all for
Education. Even a keyword search turned up zilch.
South Carolina: You’ll find rhetoric but no opportunities at the
Department of Education site. For real opportunities, check out
Historic Preservation and
Libraries.
South Dakota: About as average as it gets. See
Arts,
Emergency Services,
Education,
Historic Preservation, and
Agriculture.
Tennessee: The various departments’ pages all look and work alike, but the resemblance is only skin deep. The Department of Education has nothing. There’s something, but not much, at
Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities,
Environment, and
Homeland Security.
Texas: The
central website is nicely organized. Let’s give it an A. Also excellent are the two major state grantmaking agencies’ sites,
Education and
Health.
Utah: The
Department of Transportation and Public Safety has a page aptly named Grant Electronic Application and Reporting System (got it? GEARS), with a cute logo. There’s a wealth of process information, such as proposal writing tips, but at least currently, no opportunities to apply it. The
Health Department has a decent page, but hard to read – the font is too small.
Vermont: Want to fix up and preserve an old barn? In Vermont, you
can get a grant to do that. There are
grants for the arts and
human services. The Department of Education’s site offers nothing, not even a mention.
Virginia: The
Department of Conservation and Recreation has a site. The
Department of Criminal Justice also has one. To find funding opportunities in
Education, you have to use keywords.
Washington: Lots of sites but few opportunities. Check out
the arts,
historical preservation,
environmental grants, and
traffic safety. Other sites include
business development,
emergency management, and
waste management. The
Department of Education site has a header, Finance and Grants, but clicking on it brings up nothing.
West Virginia: Here’s something different: $745,000 in grants was offered for a
WV Broadband Mapping Program. The page is a big splash but the fine print shows that the deadline passed months ago. Live sites include the usual departments:
Arts and Culture,
Wildlife, and
Education (which can also be found at an
additional site).
Wisconsin: Not much appears to be happening. There are some funds available for
promoting tourism and a
few bucks for schools.
Wyoming: Remember Alabama, which led off with a great example? Wyoming ends the roll call with a whimper. Worth checking out are the
Arts Council and
Education.