Will there be a 2015 Nonprofit Security Grant Program?
The current federal budget package only continues the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding until February 28, 2015, with no specific provision for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP).
Until Congress completes FY 2015 funding for DHS, no DHS grant programs can commence, including the NSGP program. When the new Congress begins in January, finishing the FY 2015 DHS appropriations will be a priority. Some pundits suggest that the DHS budget will not be passed until February 28th or thereabouts.
During this period of uncertainty, the Jewish Federations of North America staff (particularly Rob Goldberg), local federations and others in the coalition will continue to advocate for the best possible outcomes for the programs, which at this point may be maintaining the current level of funding of $13 million. The question is not likely to be if there will be a program, but when and how much.
Based on the patterns of past years, the deadlines set by New York and other states may be the beginning of May (or possibly earlier), even if DHS does not release its guidance until late March or April. If that is the case, the application period is likely to be very narrow.
The requirements of the grant paperwork are not likely to change in any material way. Get started now!
My organization really deserved a grant … why didn’t we get it? As indicated in our training, the most important skill is to carefully read and follow the directions. Organizations were disqualified if they did not attach required documents (mission statements, risk assessments and status report from the Grants Gateway) and/or received lowered scores if they did not completely answer the questions in the Investment Justification. JCRC’s advice was to use the Scoring Worksheet to “grade” your Investment Justification answers: FY 2014 Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) Scoring Worksheet.
What can we do now? We assume that any new round of grants will require NY State Prequalification (see below) and a risk assessment. Either of these can be done sooner, rather than later.
Prequalification. Nonprofit organizations that are applying for this funding opportunity must be prequalified in the Grants Gateway prior to submitting their application. In order to start the prequalification process you need to register for access to the Grants Gateway system by going to the Grants Reform website (http://www.grantsreform.ny.gov/Grantees) to download a copy of the Registration Form.
Investment Justification. There have been very few changes to the Investment Justification over the past few years. The left column of this webpage provides guidance for every section of the Investment Justification. You can draft your Investment Justification based on the 2014 version and make any changes, if necessary, when and if there is another round of grants.
We thank all of those at NY DHSES who worked so hard to make this happen: Shelley Wahrlich, Marianne Lindsay and Dov Horwitz.
