Administration for Native Americans (ANA) 2020 Discretionary Application Process and Peer Panel Review Surveys

ANA’s 2020 Application Submission Survey

How Was Your Application Experience?

Assessing ANA’s Funding Opportunity Announcements

PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT OF 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13) STATEMENT OF PUBLIC BURDEN: The purpose of this information collection is to provide feedback to the Administration for Native Americans regarding the 2020 discretionary application process. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 10 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and reviewing the collection of information. This is a voluntary collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB # is 0970-0401 and the expiration date is 05/31/2021. If you have any comments on this collection of information, please contact [email protected].

The Administration for Native Americans (ANA) is seeking honest feedback about our Funding Opportunity Announcements and the grant application process to improve the overall experience moving forward. As a recent applicant, ANA would appreciate your views on the process. Responses are anonymous and have no impact on funding selection for this year’s funding competition. Responses will be reviewed to assist ANA in the planning and implementation of future FOAs and any other improvements to the process in the next funding cycle. Your participation is voluntary, and the information provided will be kept private.

1. COVID-19 Question: Due to the pandemic was extra 30 days helpful? Were there other challenges you faced?

2. Please describe your role in the organization? Grant Writer, Community Member, Project Staff, Tribal Administrator, Tribal Leader, Financial Director, Executive Director….

3. What describes your grant writing experience?

   1. I have written no federal discretionary grant applications

   2. I have written federal discretionary grant applications 5, 10, 15+

4. Is this your first time submitting an application to ANA?

   1. Yes

   2. No

5. Are there any other federal agencies that have a better FOA or grant process that ANA should look at modeling? If so, please list the agency, subagency, and grant name competition.

Comments:

1. Did you find any steps of the ANA grant application process difficult?

   1. Yes

   2. No

   3. If so, please rank the three most difficult aspects of the grant application? Please start with 1 to indicate the hardest aspect.

      1. Electronic Submission

      2. Complying with Two-file Submission

      3. SAM Creation or Renewal

      4. Completing the financial section

      5. Writing the narrative

      6. Gathering community input

      7. Designing an original project

      8. Submitting Tribal Resolution

      9. Understanding the criteria

      10. Understanding how to put together a full application

Comments on what you found difficult for some of these steps:

7. ANA offered a webinar on the ANA 2020 FOAs – What you need to know. Did you view it?

   1. Yes

   2. No, I wasn’t available during that time.

   3. No, I didn’t know about it.

   4. If yes, now that you have submitted the application, how would you rate the helpfulness of the training 1 to 5. 5 being very helpful and 1 being not helpful at all.

8. If you watched the webinar, is there anything that would strengthen the webinar next year.

Comments:

9. Did you attend any live on-line Pre-Application Training?

   1. Project Planning and Development Training

   2. Pre-Application Training

   3. If yes, now that you have submitted the application, how would you rate the helpfulness of the training 1 to 5. 5 being very helpful and 1 being not helpful at all.

10. Did you attend the on-line follow-up workshops Pre-Application Training held by the regional Technical Assistance Center?

11. Did you find on-line trainings more accessible as opposed to an in-person training at a designated location?

12. Please rate any of the following online resources you may have used to prepare your grant application?

    1. ANA Application Toolkit

    2. ANA Pre-Application Manual

    3. ANA Project Planning and Development Manual

    4. Currently funded grantees

Comments on any of the available resources?

13. ANA offers free electronic from our Regional Technical Assistance Center services for reviewing your application. Did you use the service?

    1. Yes

    2. No

    3. If no, was there a reason you did not use the service (other than running out of time)?

Comments:

4. If yes, can you provide brief feedback on the on line services or tools?

Comments:

14. What was most helpful to you in the process of applying for an ANA grant?

15. Did the FOA clearly describe the information expected for the evaluation criteria sections of the application? For each evaluation criteria below, please rank from 1 to 5 (1 less understanding and 5 being great understanding) your understanding of the information expected that aligns with project description.

1. Expected Outcomes

Comments:

2. Approach

Comments:

3. Budget and Budget Justification

Comments:

16. Which section took the most time and effort, and why?

17. Were there terms in the FOA hard to understand or needed more clarity? If so, please provide:

18. In 2020, ANA reduced the number of required application criteria from three ( Approach, Outcome Tracking Strategy, Organizational Capacity, OWP, Budget) to three (Approach, Organizational Capacity, and Budget and Budget Justification). These three criteria now contain several sub-criteria. Select the answer below which best reflects your response to the revision:

    1. It improved my understanding and grasp of the criteria

    2. It reduced my understanding and grasp of the criteria

    3. No change – I understood it the same

    4. N/A – This is my first year applying

19. SEDS GO ONLY:

20. Did you refer to the ANA Project Framework, found in Section IV.2 Project Description, in preparing your application?

    1. Yes

    2. No

21. If yes, on a scale from 1 to 5, rate the helpfulness of the ANA Project Framework to design your project, where 1 represents unhelpful and 5 represents very helpful.

Comments:

22. ANA allowed for a 120 day application period. In addition, ANA forecasted in 2020 FOAs on Grants.gov in early 2020. Was that sufficient time to put together your application? SEDS-GO: 60 days

How many people were used to draft the grant application?

How many hours were used to complete the grant application?

23. If you were to apply for another ANA grant, what would be most helpful for you in the future?

Comments: