Going for Grants a Full-time Job

Trenton Terry Seeks Grants for Community

Securing grant funding can be a great way to help pay for local projects, such as parks improvements, riverfront development or the Chatham Square development underway at the former Bridgeway Apartments—all local efforts benefiting from a “yes” to local requests.

Works for GLC, Ivy Tech

The process of getting that “yes,” however, can be time-consuming, cumbersome, tedious and long. Realizing that, and acknowledging that a grant professional’s touch might give our community the edge, Greater Lafayette Commerce and Ivy Tech Community College jointly funded the hiring of Trenton Terry.

He came on board last June as director of development for Ivy Tech and Greater Lafayette Commerce, and since then he’s searched for grant opportunities, identified many possibilities, and either alerted local organizations to apply for them or written the grants himself.

He’s also the financial manager for the Intersection Connection project, a plan to add three new buildings at Ivy Tech, two for classrooms and a new YMCA.

Many Grants, Fierce Competition

“There are a lot of grants out there,” Terry says. The problem? “I think the competition for them is more than it’s ever been.”

He cites one example: he responded to an announcement for five grants; he was one of 1,000 applying for those five.

So far, he’s applied for about $3 million worth of grants and landed $350,000, with the rest still pending.

“You submit, and then it can be six to eight months before you hear back,” he explains.

The $350,000 is a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor for Ivy Tech, Greater Lafayette Commerce and other community partners to help retrain unemployed and displaced manufacturing workers. That program is now getting underway.

Searching for grants follows several avenues. Terry gets daily feeds from the federal government as grants become available. “And I go out and look for opportunities,” especially from various foundations, who all have different missions and requirements.

Lafayette Native, Purdue Grad

A Lafayette native, Terry earned his undergraduate degree in business from Purdue University and a master’s in business administration from Indiana Wesleyan.

Before taking his current post, he worked for Purdue in the Sponsored Programs Office and then with Huron Consulting Group as a grant consultant.

“It’s a long process,” he’s learned of the grant application and award cycle. “Most federal grants take 80 to 100 hours to put together.” Then the wait begins.

It’s rewarding work, though. “When I work with organizations that have a goal and want to do something worthwhile, it’s nice to come in and help them meet their goals,” he says. “Anyone who has grants questions or needs advice, I’d be happy to help.”