Extension teaches local leaders to secure grant funding for community vitality efforts

Grant funding is a critical resource for organizations, nonprofits and communities, particularly small or rural communities with limited budgets. Local leaders have strong ideas and informed understandings of needs in their community but often lack the expertise or confidence to pursue and secure grant funding. Extension is uniquely positioned to support rural economic development by bridging this knowledge gap with trusted professionals who understand local economic and organizational ecosystems, and tailored research-based, technical assistance for rural and community-based organizations.  

South Dakota State University Extension offered community grant writing workshops in 2025 in Arlington and Rapid City, in partnership with local community organizations to maximize relevance and event outreach. The workshops taught the basics of effective grant writing, how to write a strong proposal, how to locate and use supporting data, strategies for identifying funding opportunities and ways to avoid common grant application mistakes. Thirty individuals attended the workshops. In follow-up surveys, participants stated they gained a wide range of practical grant process skills from finding appropriate grants to assembling a strong proposal.

One participant shared, “I learned a lot – how to write SMART goals, identify a team, define a scope of work, write narratives and research grants.”

95% of respondents reported they planned to implement what they learned in the grant writing workshops. Subsequent follow-ups identified six respondents who had already submitted grant applications since participating in the workshop, four of whom successfully secured funding totaling $120,000 with individual grant amounts ranging from $8,000 – $65,000. 

This immediate impact indicates the clear and lasting value of strengthening municipal, organizational and nonprofit leaders’ skills and abilities to secure grant funding for their communities. Equipping local leaders with these skills imparts a lasting ability to measurably improve community vitality. By teaching participants how to secure grant funding, SDSU Extension supports community-driven solutions to local challenges facing youth, families and communities, and strengthens small and rural communities’ abilities to self-direct long-term goals and development.

SDSU Extension | Project supported by Smith-Lever (3b&c) capacity funds.