Episode 102: How to Leverage Grants to Fund Your Business with Patrice Davis

Acquania Escarne 0:00

Hey guys, welcome back to the Purpose of Money Podcast. I'm super excited today to be joined with Patrice Davis. Today we're going to talk about how business owners can leverage grants to fund their business in 2023. Patrice Davis is the founder of grant works, a grant consulting company that helps organizations and municipalities and businesses, fine, secure and manage government and foundation grants. She has 13 years of experience and her company has applied for and manage over $131 million in government grants. Hi, Patrice. How you doing today? Welcome to the show.

Patrice Davis 0:43

Hi, Acquania Thank you for having me!

Acquania Escarne 0:46

This is a super exciting conversation to have because some of you guys who have been listening for a while may know that last year a friend and I joint venture on a theories featuring women entrepreneurs, especially women of colour, and what some of you may remember is that we received three grants to find that podcast joint venture, and use that money to help support the costs of production. And also to pay for some of the equipment we needed to do this series. And so this is actually the first time I've been able to talk about the importance of grants and funding your business ventures. And it is really important that people know it, it can be used for specific projects, or it can be used to find your entire mission. So now we get to be joined by an expert who can give us some light into how do we make this happen. So Patrice, thank you so much, again, for being here today, because you are the government grants guru that I've always wanted to know. And I'm super excited that someone in my community who's super active and loves to continue to help all of us grow, and recommended you for the show. So this is all in divine order. So, before we dive into a super dope conversation on grants and foundations, and why you need to use their money to run your business, I want my listeners to learn a little bit more about you and who you are. So my first question is a signature question I asked all my guests, which is what was money like for you when you were growing up?

Patrice Davis 2:29

Wow. So money was growing up? It was, you know, it wasn't something I had to think a lot about. And so when it became when I became a young adult, and I then had this responsibility, I would have to say I really was unprepared. What I said I didn't have to think a lot about it was, you know, growing up, I'm from the Caribbean. And I was raised for a few years by my grandparents, while my mom and dad were trying to get things established here. And he was known in the community, he did well for himself. He was a very successful entrepreneur. So I would have to say money was something that I never had to think about when I became an adult. I wasn't ready. But thankfully, over time, and of course, having a family, you learn to you know, figure out your priorities real quick. And as a result, thankfully, we've made some some progress and some good decisions. And, you know, now we are very much more in control of of where we have our finances.

Acquania Escarne 3:38

I love that tell me where you're from, because my family's from Panama, and I'm all about the West Indians coming here and making our way.

Patrice Davis 3:45

Yes, so I'm actually from Jamaica, I was actually born and raised. I came here when I was about nine and then went back for a few years lived with my grandparents. And then came back I would say permanently around 13/12/13. And so yeah, raised by an immigrant mom, who like a lot of immigrants, you come here and even though you they leave behind a lot of experience, sometimes really accomplished positions, and they have to come here as you know, and almost start over. And so that grit and that striving and that doing what you can with the little you have was a really great thing to to see. And now I realise I'm emulating that as an adult obviously and and of course as a business owner.

Acquania Escarne 4:37

I absolutely love that. And I completely understand. Well, my great grandfather came from Jamaica originally but then migrated to Panama to work on a canal and then same came to the US to New York specifically to settle and sent for his kids later. And so everyone came over eventually but my dad is also born in Panama and pretty much lived there until he was about six, and then came to the US, but my parents met in middle school. And so my dad always tells me stories about his grandfather, who had 10 jobs, at least, he was very prominent in the community. He was a superintendent, he worked for the post office, he worked in the school system, he had a store, he used to give money away to people in the church and whoever needed it, and eventually built a real estate portfolio. So yet purchased a lot of real estate, and collected passive income through rent. And my dad used to go with him to collect the rent from the tenant. So that's when he was like, Grandpa has money. And then he's always giving away money. And then he has all these streams of income at an age where it probably wasn't said to him, like, oh, have multiple streams of income, but it was witnessed by him, right? So. But that grid is what shaped my dad into knowing, okay, you can have a career in the military like he did. But you can leverage that money to do multiple things. So my dad invested in real estate, also collecting rents later in his life as a real estate investor. So I totally understand how the influence of our parents and the things that they did to start over in the United States has definitely shaped our lives. So thank you so much for sharing that because I know a lot of my listeners are in similar positions, too. But let's hop into this story about how in the world did you discover your passion and your purpose? And to help business owners and municipalities find grant money? Like what was your aha moment when you were like, I can do this and I should be doing this for other people.

Patrice Davis 6:55

Wow, that is a great, you know, so I started out in marketing, went to college, and started out in an advertising and marketing career. But then once I had my children, I have two or three children, I decided I didn't want to have latchkey kids. And so I decided to leave my career my full time, you know, burgeoning career as an account executive managing marketing campaigns. I did this for both international campaigns and domestic campaigns. I decided to intentionally down quote unquote, downgrade my career and shifted to working for nonprofit because it gave me the flexibility that I needed. And so at that nonprofit, I was able to leverage the skills I had managing really detailed marketing campaigns, doing the ROI analysis and all the things that one does, before and after a campaign and used it to crunch numbers for government grants. I have a you know, I you know, as you get older, you start to realise what your skills are. And so I realised, wait a minute, I'm really good at analysing. Really good at crunching the numbers. I care very deeply about accuracy, and the way that my work is presented. And basically, I was able to take those skills and start managing a government managing nine government grants for a local nonprofit here in Atlanta called Jerusalem house, I'll be happy to say their name because they do really great work. And basically, from Jerusalem house, I then became the first grand Compliance Officer for the Carter centre. Of course, that's the Jimmy Carter centre that's here in Atlanta, then I shifted to an actual position employee position at the CDC. Whereas Public Health Analyst it's it's an interesting story, because getting into the federal government as an employee is not an easy task. But thankfully, it worked out. I decided after two years, you know, federal government is not necessarily for me, things move a little bit too slowly, that whole spokes in the wheel thing. I didn't want to be a part of that. And so I worked at Georgia Tech as a research programme manager. The reason I'm going through this is to basically demonstrate the different environments where I manage grants, because even at CDC, I reviewed the grant continuation applications from many, you know, top research universities just to see how much progress they made with their grant. So by the time I'd already accumulated, I don't know 13 years of experience actually had now have 15 on almost 16 years of experience. I decided, after becoming a senior director for federal grants that Boys and Girls Clubs of America that I had now had enough skills I'd actually always thought about in entrepreneurship. I decided this is information that companies will pay money for. I can either use it to benefit one organisation, or I can use it as that pivot I've always wanted to make, I've always wanted to pivot to entrepreneurship, tried a few things. This was the thing I knew would be able to, you know, take me to the next step. And of course, the great thing about is that I get to work with emerging organisations, such as emerging nonprofits, businesses, universities, and I'm, as I said, municipality, so it's really an interesting number of pivots and detours that got me to the point where I was, I decided I wanted to use the skills I learned to actually, you know, launch and grow a business and of course, help people while I'm doing it.

Acquania Escarne 10:34

I love that because I tell people all the time, there are skills your job is paying you for, that you can do outside of work, and somebody will pay you, if not the same more to do it. And when you're in a business of helping companies, municipalities, and organisations find money so they can operate, and you are in a golden age business, right? Because what you're doing literally changes lives, when they have the funding to do their mission, they are more successful. So this is a good transition into my next question, which is why do you think so many people, companies, businesses, municipalities, do not pursue grants as a great way to fund their companies? Why is it not necessarily the first thing they go to? What are some of the challenges you think that hold people back?

Patrice Davis 11:25

That's a great question. So I think for a lot of people grants seem like this big cloud of this, this, you know, sort of like this dark cloud of information. And it's hard for them to figure out what's real, what is a scam, and you know, where the where the money really exists, and how they can access that money. So interestingly, researching universities and governments and nonprofits, they are really, really hip. And, you know, they're, they're they they pursue grants all the time, because they understand the force. And that's what everyone should understand that grants are free money. Now, is it free in terms of some of the things that you may have to do to report on what you did with the funds? Some would say, well, maybe that's not free, because it does take some time to report back to the grantor, which makes sense, what you've done with the funds. So grants are essentially free money. And I think that a lot of business owners, sometimes they're already, you know, managing so many aspects of their business, that for them to take the time out to learn how to apply for a grant. And then of course, you know, it, sometimes that can seem a little overwhelming. And so a lot of them, what they do is they end up finding a few grants that they may have heard of, from this friend or from that friend, they either then they spend the time trying to find a grant writer, sometimes they find grant writers that really don't have the experience that they say they have, they get burned, and then they decide, You know what, I'm not going to go down this route this grant path anymore. So my recommendation, if you don't mind me, giving a recommendation at this point is find out what grants are, you know, are actually funding the types of businesses find the type of business that you have. And I can, you know, I can easily share some tips on doing that. And then spend the time to try to find a good grant writer with actual experience, and who can actually demonstrate that they've won grants in the past, please don't expect the grant writer to do any work for free. If they're accepting free work, they're not an experienced grant writer, any good grant writer worth their salt knows just how much it takes for them to meet with you. If you don't already have some of this information written down somewhere, really grab and get the information about your business about the impact your business has, the more you know about your market, about what you've accomplished, take everything that they've learned from speaking with you, or from gathering information that you may already have, then researching, you know, the extent some external details about your market, and then putting that into a really strong and competitive and compelling application and then sending that off. So I think it's that sounds like a lot, but it's really not a lot if you find the right grant consultant who's going to lead you down a certain path, pull that information, you know, from you know, really get that information from you and then and then prepare a really strong proposal.

Acquania Escarne 14:28

I absolutely agree with you. I think that a lot of times as business owners, we don't even know how to tell our own story, which makes it a challenge in itself because we're like, I'm busy trying to do the business, right, the work of the business. I don't have time to tell my story, but telling your story is necessary. It's not only the way you get customers, clients and repeat buyers. It is also the way you can get free money as you said, and I love the fact that you emphasise this free money. It might have some strings attached, you might have to prove how you spent it or only spend it on certain things. But it can free up your capital to do other things. So we should not ignore the power of free money. So that is really what I wanted to get into Please, honey, share all the tea because on the podcast, I'm all about how to tips and I want people to leave with so much value. So if you have websites people can go to to maybe that grant opportunities, or even grant writers, please share those. Because I'm definitely interested to know, tips to help people get started. Because I'm not sure maybe this is a great time for you to talk about grants works. But is there a particular stage that I need to be in my business before I come to you for help? Because I know some companies will say, Well, I want you have proven you can secure one grant or something on your own before you come to me. So tell me what stage could I be in my business and get help from you?

Patrice Davis 16:04

Excellent. So there are a couple of things. So. So in order to when you approach you need I in my in my in, I wouldn't say my opinion, this is really the truth of the matter. There are few grants out there that are going to fund startup costs unless that grant, that grantor or foundation or corporation specifically develops a, you know, a grant funding, let's say they did develop grant funding specifically for that, for the most part, they are going to want an organisation that's been in business for at least two years, you have to have something to demonstrate what you've actually accomplished in your market, I do want to be I do want to make sure it's very clear to most to your listeners, that many foundations do not fund for profit, organisations, businesses, but some do and when they do, they're typically described as prizes, or fellowships, and what they are those fellowships or prizes or for a specific purpose. So say, for example, one of my clients, she, you know, what's her name, but basically, she runs a company that helps entrepreneurs get funding. And so I helped, I wrote a grant for her to get a very prestigious fellowship, that fellowship funded some specific activities, it was $150,000 felt fellowship, not only did she get the funding, she, of course has the additional, I don't know, prestige, I guess, of getting that funding, and then being able to direct that $150,000 towards that exact activity. And of course, it includes, you know, meeting with her, you know, people in her cohort, it included travelling to two or three retreats. So those funding opportunities are out there. I do want to also make sure that your listeners are aware that many of the grants that are prizes and fellowships, as you said, are typically for specific purpose, but as Acquania may, you know, you know, really made a great point that it frees up your capital to other to do other things in your business. But I am going to share a couple of organisations that are offering grants. So of course, you know, many of them, you may have heard of the Tory Burch Foundation, they tend to have a number of grant funding opportunities for women owned businesses, specifically, then you have the FedEx small grants, small business grants, you have Comcast even had a brand that they were offering in certain industries, if they were targeting certain certain communities, such as Detroit, Atlanta, Chicago, I don't remember the other cities. So what I would do for as a, as a small business owner is I would look at those corporate foundations that are interested in funding, not for profit entities, most family foundations, like maybe you've probably heard of the Kresge Foundation, or, you know, you know, even the Hilton foundations, they are typically interested in funding, nonprofits that are doing work that aligned with that Foundation's purpose or mission. So those are just two or three that I can think of right now.

Patrice Davis 19:25

Now, I do want to point out my I focus quite a bit on government grants. And one of the things I've shared with a lot of listeners and on my webinars is that when the American rescue plan, act pass, and a lot of times we hear about these laws passing and we don't realise how much impact they could actually have on our lives. So the American rescue plan act when it was passed, I believe in 2021. It released into the into, I would call it across the country and even into territories if you want to call them that. Billions and billions of dollars! So, what happened is every eligible local county governments City County, GUP, city government, and state government received billions of dollars, some of them receive money that's that exceeded their their budget for the year. And a lot of companies were able to qualify for grants from their city government or for them for their county government. And so just wanted to make sure that you all are aware that those government grants are also a way for you to access this this free grant funding.

Acquania Escarne 20:36

That is amazing! And a really good point to bring up. One question I have for you is, when is the best time to apply for a grant? I know you're helping people apply every day 365. But is there a particular time of year when companies are giving away more than they normally would and other times of the year where they're more conservative?

Patrice Davis 21:00

You know, that's a great question. I haven't seen I haven't, I haven't noticed a seasonality in grant making. I would I would think, though, but I don't want to, you know, I don't certainly don't want to jump to assumptions. But I would think definitely, you know, the final quarter of the year, many of these corporate foundations may not have been they made it they may want to maybe enhance or increase the the rate at which they're actually doing the grant making that they committed to themselves to. But But no, I haven't actually noticed the seasonality. Also, because I work very I'm most of my work is in government grants. You know, when the when the US Federal Government, when their new fiscal year starts in October of each year, you know, there's usually that's when a lot of agencies get some clarity about what funding they're going to have agencies such as the US Department of Health and Human Services, US Small Business Administration. And that's where you start to notice a lot of what they call forecasts and announcements about grants that are going to be coming down the pike that they'll fully announced in the next two to three months.

Acquania Escarne 22:08

Okay. Okay. So yeah, I hear that. So I, what I heard, just repeat is you should be applying to grants all the time. And it should be a part of your business plan. So I would encourage everyone listening today to consider putting grant on your quarterly schedule, maybe evaluating when you do your planning for the following year, trying to look for all the grant possibilities for the next year. And then if they have specific deadlines, then plan them out per quarter, and get ahead of the game, right. But then at the end of the year, depending on your fiscal year or whatever, you can really, really hone in on some companies, because they're probably giving away more money in that last quarter, especially if they get money from the government. So that's really, really interesting. And great takeaway, because I always thought it was the beginning of the year, they'd be more conservative and the end of the year, they'd be giving it away, so they will get more funding. But I'm glad that you just dispelled that myth for me, because it's not right, you know. And I think that people need to know, money's always there. If you have that open, abundant mindset, you will find the coins and why. So I want everyone to listen to this episode, and most importantly, take action, when you've talked about some great ways to get started, and at what point they should come work with you. But I also wanted to ask you, what are the common mistakes that you see business owners make? Because we need to kind of avoid some things, too.

Patrice Davis 23:46

You know what that's I'm gonna, that's a great question. And I'm gonna get back, I'm gonna definitely answer that I do want to point out something that is really, really important for your listeners to know whether you work with my firm or another grant consultant, know that many of us offer a service called a grant Prospect Research Report. And that's when you come to us and you say, Patrice, I work I developed a new medical technology or I developed a new system or a new app that I believe can have this impact, right? And then you ask that grand consultant to conduct a using, you ask them to basically complete a grant Prospect Research Report. What that research report will do is help you understand what the funding landscape looks like, what are those corporations have corporate foundations? What are the other kinds of funders that exist that will fund that specific kind of project or business or product. And then many times that will what they should be preparing for you is a report. And then that report should lay out all of those funders in what we actually prepare. Also in our report is a grant calendar. So we come to you, you have a full understanding of what that funding landscape looks like. It's an executive summary, its a grant calendar, it's a research chart. So you know exactly what your game plan could be for either the upcoming year or if you come to us at a certain point, maybe you come to us in the third in the fourth quarter of let's say, 2022. Now you have your grant planning, laid out for 2023. So that's one thing, and many of those, and obviously, you may not be able to pursue every single one, because we typically do 15 to 20 grants that may be available, then maybe, of course, you can consider what you can apply for in 2024. So and I'm sorry, your question again.

Acquania Escarne 25:35

How the mistakes the common mistakes you see people make,

Patrice Davis 25:38

you know, one of the mistakes is, definitely, as you said, not not knowing how to tell your story in a compelling way. As you said many times as business owners, we're so caught up in getting the work done in focusing on the task and submitting that next thing are sending that next email that we don't really take the time to really sit, think about our journey, think about how this product came to be. And really think through the history and the evolution of you you as a business owner, your product, what your experience was, when you first entered the market, what pivots you took, so that you could expand your market, all of those things are really important. So even if you were to sit down, if you don't think you're a great writer, I mean, just make sure you create a really strong outline a bulleted outline of what your experience was, so that when you go to a grant writer, they have something to work with. Otherwise, they will be spending a lot of time and many of them charge by the hour, we don't charge by the hour, but you now they're spending time trying to get information from you so that they can write your story. Spend some time figuring out what your story is, even if you're not a great writer, do it in bulleted outlines, and then hand it to your grant writer and say here, this is what my story as a business owner has been or this is the story of our of getting our product to market. This is when we realised we needed to maybe tweak, you know this aspect of our product or service. And as a result, we now have this, you know, potential and what we're looking for is funding to take that potential to the next level. So imagine having all of that already laid out for a grant writer. And if they're a good read grant writer, they're going to take everything you've gave, you've given them layer on top of it things about the market that maybe you hadn't even considered. And that's what makes it a really strong and compelling proposal. It comes from you first, before the grant writer can actually prepare something that's competitive.

Patrice Davis 27:37

Please, and I think in a second mistake, this actually leads to a second mistake thinking your grant writer is a magician, your grant is not a magician, the grant writer and you know, the grant writer cannot they can only write a stronger proposal as the information that you provide to them. So that's definitely the second mistake. The third mistake is thinking the grant writers should work for free or asking the grant writer, well, can I pay you after I received the grant? No, please respect the time, effort and professionalism of a good grant writer and pay them for everything that I just described his work, that's a lot of hours, many of us as business owners, we now value our time, like we probably never valued it, like I don't know about you Acquania. I value my time, you know, because my time, the time that I take doing things that are not money making activities, our time is obviously time that's taken away from those money making activities. So as a grant writer, they're spending hours getting this information from you before they even begin writing. So respect that time that same respect and respect and you know, and care that you take in managing your time, understand that the grant writer who's also a business professional, needs to also be compensated for that time. So just those are just three things that that I wanted to think about, I can give before.

Acquania Escarne 29:06

Okay. Go ahead! Go ahead!

Patrice Davis 29:08

when you get your when, you know, when and if you are funded, it is important that you have a financial management system and Acquania made it you know, kind of alluded to this earlier. If say, for example, you have make sure you have a financial management system period. It doesn't have to be fancy, it could be the lowest version of QuickBooks or FreshBooks, whatever it is, have a financial management system, because just in case you get a $50,000 grant from some big foundation or you know, $150,000 grant, and they say we only want to fund this activity or this part of your product, or we only want to help you get this product to market, then you need to be able to make sure that you're you're only using their funds for that purpose. When you get really good at that then you can go after those government grants where they're really going to be checking on how well your Your financial management system has been set up. Because, you know, now you're getting government funds. And obviously, that's taxpayer dollars. And so that's just a heavier, not heavier, that's just much more accountability that you need to make sure you are prepared for.

Acquania Escarne 30:14

Fax fax, yes, I love that. I asked for three, you say I got four. And I want you guys to pay close attention. Because this matters, I remember the grants we receive. One of them was like spend it how you want to boo! we don't care. But another one was like no salaries. And if you need to hire a person to do something, ask permission first, but you can't pay yourself. So when we needed a graphic designer to do the cover art for the podcast, we had to get that approved. But when I needed a webcam, they were like, go ahead, get whatever webcam you want, but your budget is x. And I can't emphasise enough. And we actually did an Excel spreadsheet. And we kept receipts, right? Because even though they said you won this money, they want it receipts. Yeah. And just one our word for it. Like, I spent this on a webcam, I got it last week, they're like, Okay, show me the receipt. And so you need to have a system. And I think in general business owners need to have a financial management system that works because you need to know where your money is coming and going. But I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that. And if anyone wants to keep working with you, I'm going to give you in a second, the opportunity to drop all the links on the websites. But I got to ask you my other signature question. So the name of the podcast is called the Purpose of Money. So I asked all my guests this question, what is your purpose for money?

Patrice Davis 31:43

Oh, I had to take a deep breath on that one. Acquania. So the purpose for money for me is, is really tied around freedom and legacy. I am trying to purpose it's freedom and legacy I, you know, I want to be able to live life and I am living life on my own terms. Right? That is the reason why I decided to stop being someone's employee and go through what it takes to become an entrepreneur and a successful entrepreneur. Because I want and I value my freedom. I also want to leave a legacy, not just for my children, you know, but I also want to leave a legacy in the country I'm from I have things that I'm trying to accomplish in Jamaica. And even here, and of course, in Atlanta, I've come to learn, love the city, and I want to do some things and so that the freedom and legacy are the Purpose of Money for money in my life, and that's why I am doing what I need to do work until 2,3,4 o'clock in the morning, even though I have a staff, I'm still gonna grind because it's bigger than me. And I'm fully aware of that. And I believe that that there's a divine purpose that I have. And the only way to make that divine purpose a reality is to use something that's a practical tool. And that's what money is a practical tool to quote to achieve a divine purpose.

Acquania Escarne 33:08

Yes, I love that speak to me a practical tools that achieve a divine purpose, that might be one of my best answers. So thank you so much, again, for being on the show. Before I let you go, please tell my listeners, where can they find you? How can they connect?

Patrice Davis 33:25

Absolutely. So I'm on Instagram at Grants works. That's GRANTS WORKS, of course, my website is grantsworks.com One of the things I did was I launched an academy. So it's grantsworksacademy.com. And then one of my top courses there where I teach folks the basics of federal grants is federal grants simplified, so you can find me on Instagram at Federal Grants Simplified. So I'm all over the place. And I'm looking forward to hearing from your your listeners reach out to me. Yeah, you figure out the world of grants.

Acquania Escarne 34:03

Yes, let's do it. Guys. I will drop all of those links in the show notes. So make sure to check out the full show notes for the details. And I want you guys to share this episode with someone who you know needs to hear it, especially your friend who just told you, they want to start a nonprofit and they want to help people and they need money to do it. Tell them to get it started and get some proof that they are doing what they're doing and then start asking for the money. I am super excited to have had this conversation with you today. Patrice, thank you so much for your time. Those who are listening. Also, remember to leave a five-star review wherever you are. We love you. Reviews are great reviews are just a nice, free way to show your appreciation and to allow the podcast to be seen by others who may need to hear it. Until next time guys keep building generational wealth.

Patrice Davis 34:55

Yes!!

Transcribed by https://otter.ai