Grant season…that’s a wrap!

Hannah Hammond
Jun 8
4 min read

by John Kelley & Roy Anderson, The Beck Group Consulting

Service Spotlight: Grant Writing Assistance

There was a lot of good news during this year’s March-April Federal grant season:

USDA U.S. Forest Service grants still exist, with some remarkable USFS staff spending a couple of months advising and helping everyone in sight—then working as grant evaluators while the rest of us take a breath and catch up on everything else.
The grant award process still does a lot for the forest products industry, especially in rural areas.
The grants still aren’t that difficult to administer, and it gets easier with some practice.
For us at The Beck Group, we reconnected with numerous existing clients and developed new relationships with some impressive firms. We are confident that our participation will make a positive difference in many applications.

Are we pleased?

Fair to say. Are we complacent?

Don’t even imagine it.

This grant season reinforced something we have observed for several years: grant funding is increasingly part of a broader business planning and capital formation process. The strongest applications are the result of thoughtful project development, market analysis, engineering, capital planning, partnership building, and long-term implementation strategies. While there is uncertainty around continued grant funding and timing, companies that take the time and effort to complete these activities are in a stronger position when opportunities arise. For these organizations the grant is simply one step in a longer development process. The most successful projects are often well underway before a funding opportunity is ever announced. Our role is to help clients navigate that process, strengthen project concepts, evaluate opportunities, and position them for long-term success.

It follows that we would truly love for clients who value our services to sign up early, on a contingent basis, with terms that can be adjusted in good faith according to the actual announcement timing and content. For example, if Joe’s Lumber Co. knows they want to use grant money to get a new planer or add dry kilns, Joe can start getting quotes now with the understanding that prices could change later. He can start making a list of people and agencies he can count on for support. He can sign on with us, and if things happen the way we believe, Joe is certain to get the help he signed up for. If they vary, we can adjust the understanding because if it takes an extra year before the government announces the grants, we’re not going to hold Joe to it if he decides to buy the new equipment sooner. A little flexibility goes a long way in long-term relationships, which begin as short-term relationships.

In the end, early preparation leads to stronger applications and better outcomes. What does early planning mean for you?

Begin now. Not tomorrow, but today.

You can start to:

Register on sam.gov and grants.gov. These are prerequisites. We don’t know anyone who looks forward to these processes with joy, but we know even fewer people who get grants without completing these steps (specifically, zero).
If you applied during the April 2026 season, come up with plans for a) if you get some of the grants you applied for, and b) if you don’t. If Joe gets his dry kilns but not his planer, perhaps the latter is the next thing. Maybe he’s decided something else will help him more.
Look at which grant types have existed in the past, and ask yourself which ones could apply to which needs. If a WIG isn’t available, might a WPIAG do as well? A CWG, perhaps? We cannot know; we can guess based on experience. Well in advance of an actual grant season, the outreach process can include our guidance in this process.
Make a wish list, then review it for a) your priorities, and b) odds of success. See what is nearest to the top of both groups; that can be the starting point.
Need help maximizing odds of success? Before the season starts, think it through, get quotes, develop your supporting data. It’s hard to poll a bunch of rural logging outfits about the percentage of timber they cut that is Federal in origin and expect to hear back in two days; they might be too busy logging some Federal timber, and as a breed, they are more about physical action than filling out forms.
Start immediately on the support letter sources. Customers, vendors, county commissioners, state reps, USFS managers (!) U.S. senators, Tribal chairpeople, conservationists (you’d be surprised), bankers, chambers of commerce—anyone prepared to sign on to asking Uncle Sam to please support you because this will be a great deal for the Federal government.
If you’re going to want help, decide what kind. Some clients do not want us to compile their actual applications, but do want our consultative guidance, or our review and commentary, or simply our help with signing onto sam.gov and uploading to grants.gov without having to resort to hairpulling.gov. We can be flexible—and if it’s just consultative, we might make a lot of our impact in advance.

We take tremendous pride and satisfaction in doing our best work even when it’s challenging, leveraging our close-knit teamwork and interdependence. We’d like to do more of it. We certainly want people to think in advance, lock us in, know what they want.

Please help us to help you. Reach out now, not later, and let’s talk. If that results in a plan, let’s solidify it and plan for the ability to flex it.

Let’s get your company ahead of the game. Fill out our contact form, email, or just pick up the phone. Real people will answer you and guide you in the right direction.

The Beck Group, Inc.

Forest Products Planning and Consulting Services

Telephone (503) 684-3406

Email: info@beckgroupconsulting.com