This interview explored how a K-12 district leader discovers, evaluates, applies for, and manages grants. The dominant theme was time and cognitive load: fragmented discovery, ambiguous eligibility criteria, heavy data wrangling across systems, and high effort with uncertain payoff. Sentiment was candid and often frustrated—especially around search relevance (“not effective at all”), unclear requirements, and last-minute timelines and funding delays that disrupt planning. Grant Review - BU - 2025_09_05 …
Detailed Description:
Grant discovery is ad-hoc and slow. The user relies on a handful of sites (primarily the state education department) and foundations but finds search tools unhelpful and results often irrelevant. Matching a grant’s criteria to real district needs is the bulk of the time—and often ends in dead ends.
Direct Quotes:
“I think that’s the bulk of the time that we spend is looking for grants and then trying to match up the grant requirements to the actual need… incredibly time consuming.” Grant Review - BU - 2025_09_05 …
“I have spent days and hours trying to find something that matches that criteria and have [been] unsuccessful with that.” Grant Review - BU - 2025_09_05 …
“Not effective at all… sometimes nothing comes up… it doesn’t give me anything concrete. It doesn’t give me a suggestion as to where else I can go.” Grant Review - BU - 2025_09_05 …
Impact & Severity: Major. Search consumes days per need area; opportunities can be missed entirely.
Current Workaround: Manual weekly checks of NYSED; occasional use of grants.gov and foundations; brute-force keyword searches. User explicitly says there is no system for identifying opportunities beyond “places I have been accustomed to.” Grant Review - BU - 2025_09_05 …
Detailed Description:
Dense, ambiguous language makes it hard to know up front whether the district qualifies. Teams sometimes invest weeks writing narratives only to realize a misfit late.
Direct Quotes: