Denali Commission
Technical Assistance Project

In 2002, the Denali Commission distributed 300 GrantStation two-year Memberships as Mini - Technical Assistance Grants to constituent organizations in Alaska.

The Denali Commission TA Program presented each participating organization with a GrantStation Membership providing online access to information resources to help them become more self-sufficient and efficient in their grantseeking activities. Membership provides access to current, relevant grantseeking information, grantwriting tutorials and a searchable database of thousands of active national, regional and local grantmaker profiles.

The 300 recipient organizations included community and economic development organizations, schools, cities, boroughs, villages, tribes, tribal councils and a variety of community-based associations and programs. A majority of these organizations were based in small rural communities across the state.

The tables below provide a summary of three surveys whose purpose was to verify and measure the value and effectiveness of GrantStation as a technical assistance tool to these organizations. Any duplicate reporting of new grants received have been removed.

Effectiveness Surveys
Effectiveness Surveys	New Grants awarded	New Grants $ Amount	Percent Reporting	Pro rated Cost of Memberships for Respondents	ROI of Respondent Group at cost of $499 per Member
Survey 1: June 2002 4+ mo. Membership 174 respondents of 300	16	$3,096,817	58%	$86,826	35.67 multiplied by investment
Survey 2: December 2002 10+ mo. Membership 226 respondents of 300	56	$9,208,782	75%	$112,774	81.66 multiplied by investment
Survey 3: January 2004 22+ mo. Membership 139 respondents of 300	31	$11,505,917	46%	$69,361	165.88 multiplied by investment
TOTAL REPORTED Grants awarded through use of GrantStation online resources	103	$23,811,516

 

Two-Year Value Summary: Return on Investment Based on Reported Grants Received
59% average survey response rate across the three surveys. Results reflect only “reported” grants and usage information from a portion of the total universe of 300 Members over the period of 2 years.
Cost of 300 GrantStation Memberships for 2-year term	$299,400
Number of new grants reported	103
Total New Grants Reported through use of GrantStation online resources	$23,811,516

Survey Findings
Three different surveys and methods were used. Responses were compiled and any duplicate reporting removed. Type of information differs according to the type of questions asked and data available from each survey.

Survey 1: June 2002
Total: 174 respondents of 300 GrantStation Members (58% participated)
Period of Membership - Minimum 4 months
Source: GrantStation.com, Inc.
Survey Method: Online and telephone survey conducted June 1-16, 2002

• 26% have sent a pre-proposal or letter of inquiry to a GrantStation listed funder
• 11% have been asked to submit a full proposal based on these pre-proposals/letters of inquiry
• 14% have submitted a full proposal to a GrantStation listed funder
• 16 grants were awarded grants based on these proposals

Survey 2: December 2002
Total: 226 respondents of 300 GrantStation Members (75% participated)
Period of Membership – Minimum 10 months
Source: Dittman Research Corporation, contracted by Denali Commission
Survey Method: Telephone survey conducted December 2-18, 2002

• 95% of Organizations receiving a Membership were aware of GrantStation resources
• 66% used Grantstation in 2002 to try to find possible funding sources
• 23% submitted grant applications to a GrantStation listed funder
• 58 grants were awarded (14 organizations have one or more “pending” proposals)
• 35% of users applied to one or more GrantStation listed funders
• 38% of applicants received one or more grants
• 56 grants were awarded grants based on these proposals

Survey 3: January 2004
Total: 139 respondents of 300 GrantStation Members (46% participated)
Period of Membership – Minimum 22 months
Source: GrantStation.com, Inc.
Survey Method: Printed surveys were mailed and faxed, responses compiled

Of the 139 survey respondents:

• 93% visited the GrantStation website at some time during the year
• 71% visited GrantStation at least 1x per month
• 23% visited GrantStation at least 1x per week
• 68% read the GrantStation Insider weekly newsletter

Of the 86 organizations (62%) that stated they used GrantStation in their grantseeking efforts:

• 78% identified funding sources using GrantStation’s online resources
• 58% submitted pre-proposals or letters of inquiry to these funders
  (137 submissions by 50 organizations)
• 41% submitted at least one full grant proposal to a GrantStation listed funder
  (55 proposals submitted by 35 organizations)

Of the 35 organizations that have submitted at least one grant proposal:

• 54% of applicants were successful in securing at least one grant (19 of 35 organizations)
• 31 grants were awarded to 19 organizations totaling $11,505,917.50
• 60% have a proposal currently pending (21 of 35)
• 31 additional grant proposals currently pending totaling $24,607,270

Summary

2-Year summary compilation - average 56% survey response

42 organizations received 103 grants