100 Percent Funded

• A 100 percent-funded grant is a highly coveted source of funding. The grant application will require details about the project, items or ideas that will be funded. Be prepared to wait several months for an answer, because such grants typically receive many applications. You need to provide details about the exact cost of your need and how the money will be spent if the grant is awarded to your group. Ensure you have a chance by preparing the most concise, on-topic answers for each question. When possible, word your answers in a way that showcase why your need is greater than similar applicant needs.
  
  

Matching Grants

• A matching grant is a grant in which those awarded funds are expected to come up with part of the total. Matching grants are divided by percentages. For example, 80/20 typically means the grant will fund 80 percent of the cost and you will match it with 20 percent of your own funds. Most applications require you to explain where your matching funds will come from. If it does not ask, you can still offer the general information area to let the grant givers know you already have it covered. Grant matching comes in a wide range of percentages, from funding 10 percent up to 95 percent of the project. In many cases, your organization is expected to fund the entire project, then send in the paperwork to be reimbursed for the grant amount.
  
  

Graduated Funding

• Graduated funding grants are designed to help get a project or need off the ground and as time goes by you are in a better position to handle the total cost on your own. Funding salaries of public service employees is an example of graduated funding grants. So, 100 percent of the salary and benefits may be funded the first year, 75 percent the second year, 50 percent the third year, 25 percent the fourth year and on the fifth year, the grant stops paying anything at all. The premise behind such grants is that each succeeding year of having the benefits of the additional public service workers will increase the municipality's revenue stream and allow the grant to retreat a by a quarter a year. These grants are usually structured in such a way that municipalities must lock in their increasing match for each year, or lose the funding. If the grant is for five police officers a year, the municipality cannot decide to hire fewer the second and third year to get out of paying its match. The match must be paid for five officers each year, or the grant funding is removed.
  
  

In-Kind Currency

• Many grant funding sources allow applicants to donate in-kind work or supplies in place of their expected financial match. In-kind donations allow work and products to be given in lieu of matching funds. Such donations are popular during recovery from natural disasters. A town that is hit with a historic flood may not have the money in its budget to match partial grant funding to repair the roads, but recorded volunteer hours can be used instead of money. Local lumber stores donating supplies to rebuild city hall can be used in place of matching funds with cash. In-kind currency requires careful record keeping and has strict time lines on turning the information in.