The More We Do, The More We Can

[Note: My very belated Thanks to Janine-Mendes Franco for picking up a recent Jenius post on the local "strike."]

The More We Do, The More We Can. Mientras Más Hacemos, Más Podemos.

That's the name of My "Let's get more grant proposals written and submitted" plan, mentioned in My previous post.

The purpose of this plan is to significantly increase the number of federal grant proposals dealing with Puerto Rico's social and economic woes and not only gain much-needed experience of how to be successful at it, but also gain the much-needed funding to correct or halt the downward spiral We see in so many areas.

My initial point was to reduce My fee per proposal from $3,000 to $600. The expertise is the same, the writing ability is the same, but the accessibility has changed. By making My abilities more accessible, it opens the door to more organizations and individuals to participate and learn. And for those concerned about My income, I can always fall back on "I'll make it up on volume." Maybe, maybe not. But the goal is "more proposals," and that's the only measurement I count on My side.

There are four additional points that make up the core of this plan. The second point is that the increased number of proposals means an increased level of feedback. My goal is to take that feedback and share it with every participant that submitted a proposal with Me. The benefit is that they will (eventually) learn in days what could take them months or years to absorb: the bottom-line details and fine-tunings that make the difference between a grant and "good try."

The third point addresses a weakness I have dealt with before, but must do so again: few people know where to look for grant funding. And beyond that, they also need to know/imagine what would work in Puerto Rico and what won't. For that, I have started a daily Twitter feed under @FederalFundsPR that quickly lists grant programs that I believe have high applicability to Puerto Rico. In some cases, Puerto Rico has the "minority" advantage, in others it might be related to socioeconomic factors. In any case, follow @FederalFundsPR (you can see it at the top of the left sidebar here on Gil The Jenius, under "Federal Grant Programs") and learn what's available.

I'll point out that the programs apply as well to the Greater U.S. of part of A. My focus is My Island, but proposals that could help Puerto Ricans or others in the States are equally valid in My plan. The money might stay "there," but the experience will come "here."

A fourth point is the launching of a Facebook page and a website--www.factorefectivo.com--to help support the plan and extend the levels of contacts to reach as many entities as possible. I'm not happy so far with the Facebook effort and the website has a broader application that is under development, but they will become part of the plan.

And the fifth point is a PDF I wrote, which I will update periodically, titled Cómo Conseguir Fondos Federales (How to Get Federal Funds.) It is free. Yes, free, for now. Just leave your e-mail address in the Comments, send Me a Direct Message tweet over in @FederalFundsPR or wait for Me to update this post with a link to download a copy (free; I mentioned that already, right?) from Facebook and/or FactorEfectivo.com.

The More We Do, The More We Can. Mientras Más Hacemos, Más Podemos. 

Join Me.



The Jenius Has Spoken.