How you can help cash-strapped states get funding

By Rachel Eckert, consultant

Budgets are tight for state and local governments and education (SLED) and there is no relief in sight.

An expanding list of priorities and mandates are competing for funds that don’t seem to be growing at the same rate. With efforts focused on legacy application migration or other mammoth projects, where does SLED find the funds for new and innovative technology? Grants.

Grants and federal assistance can provide those funds to explore new and innovative technology and programs like the internet of things (IoT) and autonomous vehicles. They also provide funds to address major challenges like the opioid crisis. State and local governments and educational institutions can apply for funding that can help to continue efforts to drive innovation in government. And for industry, this means that tight budgets don’t have to push your deals.

By spending a little bit of time researching, you can identify potential grants and other forms of assistance that a SLED customer can leverage to purchase your product to support their efforts and mission. Before you head down this path, though, a few pointers:

• Do your research: Grants are tied to projects, and your product will need to demonstrate how it will impact the project. Do you have analytics technology that can enhance the analysis of opioid data to inform decision-makers and make proactive management decisions? What are the issues that your state, local and/or education are grappling with?
• Find the funding: Now that you’ve identified what your SLED customer is grappling with, you can search for a program to support it. You have the option to search for already awarded grant monies or you can search for grants that are yet to be awarded. Just read the fine print about who and what is eligible for the funding.
• Be patient: Last but certainly not least, be patient. Grants have many steps from drafting your application and proposal review to funding allocation and roject initiation. Each of these takes time, so be patient with the process and work collaboratively with your government or educational customer each step of the way.

While the process is long and arduous, it can result in a huge payoff. Doing the legwork to connect your product to an issue the state or local government or educational institution is grappling with and then finding a funding source to help can go a long way towards your relationship or shall I say partnership with the customer. A partnership is what they are looking for—a vendor they can rely on for a long-term relationship rather than a quick sale.

Need help identifying the right SLED decision makers? Contact immixGroup’s industry-leading Market Intelligence team today to learn about specific programs and contacts that have a pressing need for your IT solution.