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The City of Phoenix and local non-profits have been successful in garnering public, non-profit, and foundation grants and corporate sponsorships for a number of city improvement ventures. But numerous people I have talked to inside and outside of City Hall admit that we could do better. Maybe one of the issues is that the responsibility for researching, garnering support, submitting, receiving, and implementing grants that are received is spread out among numerous city departments that sometimes don't talk with each other or may compete for the same grant. Another factor is that "grants" is often just one of many tasks in a person's job description.

A possible solution: The Grantsinator. No, that wouldn't be the person's official job title, but you get what I mean... One person who lives and breathes grants... who seeks out every possible grant that could benefit our city... who works with city employees and possible partners outside of City Hall to review and discuss the interest level and feasibility of going after Grant A or Grant B... who helps pull together teams to craft the best possible grant application... who sees where there are holes to fill and works to plug them... who monitors and tracks the progress and success of grants received... and who, when asked by a potential funder to re-apply next year, states: "I'll be baaaack."