The Biden Administration has committed to funding community-based environmental justice (EJ) organizations as a central tenet of its climate agenda. Pecan Street is a small, environmental non-profit that got its start through a large federal grant and has since prepared dozens of federal grant applications packages and managed multiple grants for the Department of Energy, Department of Transportation, Department of Commerce, and the National Science Foundation. This experience has provided a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities in preparing and managing federally-funded grants.

To support EJ organizations in securing these funds for their critical work, Pecan Street led a seminar series on tips for preparing federal grant applications and getting ready for federal funding. Topics covered included explanations of federal grants terminology; common operational structures that small non-profits will need to put into place to be eligible for federal awards, such as time-keeping records and an application for federal approval of indirect rates; and the different auditing requirements on organizations that receive under $750k annually and those that receive over this amount in federal grants.

The seminar series was offered through Pecan Street’s newly launched Center for Race, Energy, and Climate Justice, and was led by Pecan Street’s CFO & General Counsel Fisayo Fadelu. Watch the seminars below and download the Session I and Session II slides.