Intensive Grantseeking Workshop for Libraries - Jacksonville (03/19/24)

This workshop will establish a collective understanding about how to create and sustain a thriving grantseeking culture your library or organization. Bess will present concepts related to asset-based community development that form the foundation for collaborative grantseeking activities which:

Generate innovative project ideas;
Engage staff members who are interested in a variety of grantseeking activities;
Encourage partnerships within and external to the library or organization to leverage existing resources;
Demonstrate how to identify, collect, and share funding opportunities that match up with the interests of employees;
Understand why proposals are declined;
Offer ways to create buy-in and transparency within the library and promote a grantseeking culture;
Encourage continuous learning about how the field is changing, and where it is going;
Uncover potential grant project ideas that can be developed and planned; and,
Dissect the application development process from initiation of the project idea to the submission of the proposal package.

Trainer: Bess de Farber

Bess de Farber serves as grantseeking and collaboration development consultant at ASK Associates, Inc. She has had four careers: as a musician and arts administrator; as a program officer managing grant awards for arts and cultural, social services, and human and race relations; as a nonprofit management consultant; and as an academic research development professional. She has provided collaborative grantseeking training to thousands of library staff, nonprofit and academic professionals, artists, and university students in the past 32 years (most recently at the University of Florida), and has led efforts to secure millions for nonprofits and academic libraries. Her CoLAB Workshops have served more than 3,600 participants from a minimum of 14 to over 120 per workshop. Bess is the author of Collaborative Grant-Seeking: A practical guide for librarians, and Creating Fundable Grant Proposals: Profiles of innovative partnerships, and coauthor of Collaborating with Strangers: Facilitating workshops in libraries, classes, and nonprofits. She holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Southern California, and a Master of Nonprofit Management from Florida Atlantic University.

Cost: NEFLIN classes are free of charge for Florida library staff. Registration is required for all classes and NEFLIN members get priority.

This project was funded either under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act from the Institute of Museum and Library Services or the Library Cooperative Grant program. Florida’s LSTA and LCG programs are administered by the Department of State’s Division of Library and Information Services.

For FY2023-24, the total state and federal budgets for NEFLIN's programs are $694,693. 42% of the total costs ($294,693) are supported by federal funds, and 58% of this program ($400,000) is supported by state funds.