Utilizing QI to Improve the Acceptance Rate of Grant Proposals

Once the commitment was established, a QI team was selected to explore the issue. A trained QI facilitator led the team through the process by first developing and agreeing on a goal statement. A fishbone was used to document the issues associated with grant rejections, and then they were prioritized on a 2x2 matrix. Once the issues were prioritized, a root-cause analysis was conducted on the issues that ranked highest in priority. After the root-cause analysis, a brainstorming session was facilitated, and the solutions were ranked on another 2x2 matrix. Finally, the solutions were prioritized and then an action plan was developed and implemented. The QI Coordinator began tracking the grants that were be written and applied for on behalf of BHB. The Health Director and Program Managers were trying to offset some of the cuts that BHB was receiving to current programming, but BHB were simply writing grants that took a substantial amount of time and were not necessarily grants that the bureau should have been applying for in the first place. Additionally, BHB was not documenting any lessons learned from the grants that were rejected. An action plan was developed and communicated to all staff. Several initiatives were implemented as part of this project: 1. The individuals writing the grant applications typically submitted the grant without any feedback prior to submission. An internal and external grant review process was developed. All grants being submitted for funding must go through a formal grant review process by a minimum of three individuals (two internal, one external). A standardized template was developed to evaluate the overall quality of the grant, ensure the grant writing was adhering to the requirements of the application, and provide suggestions for improvement. 2. All potential grant applications are now reviewed at biweekly managers’ meetings, and the team determines whether or not to proceed with the application. The determination to apply is now based on alignment to BHB’s mission and adherence to the identified health priority areas. In addition, grant writing teams are developed for larger grant applications, and collaboration with other community partners is discussed when applicable. 3. If a grant was rejected, the grant writer never contacted the funder to determine if feedback could be provided. It is now a requirement that funders are contacted if a grant was rejected so that feedback can be obtained and shared with others. This ensures that we are going through a lessons learned process so we can correct identified deficiencies. Twenty BHB staff members were exposed to the initiative, and two other departments in the City of Bethlehem have utilized BHB's grant review process.

1. Each year a spreadsheet is created that documents the following information for all grant applications: the funder, description of grant, amount of grant, date submitted, and funding awarded or rejected. This tracks our success rate from year to year. The number of grants applied for and also the number and amount of grants awarded are analyzed. 2. Use of the peer-review template is tracked for 100% of applications. 3. Number of collaborative grant partnerships are documented. 4. Number of lessons learned completed.