Summary

• Securing resources for your project can involve applying for grants and other sources of financial support, but may also include a campaign to raise in-kind resources.

• A great deal of community-based mental health promotion work can be done with little or no money. Thinking creatively about how to use the resources that are already present in your community helps to increase community participation and support.

• Applying for a grant is a two-part process that involves both preparation and research as well as the proposal writing itself.

• Before they applied for funding, the people responsible for each project were able to demonstrate evidence of significant investments of resources and time by local residents and organizations. This helped to ensure that their proposals were successful.

• Many granting agencies require that grantseekers express their proposal in terms of "needs". Although this format is not in keeping with a capacity building approach, it is possible to express your mental health issue in such a way that it meets the funders requirements.

• In-kind support forms an integral part of the resource base for mental health promotion projects.

• Seeking in-kind resources will help you to expand the community networks that are essential to supporting and maintaining your project over the long run.

• Each project operated with limited financial resources, and made the most of available community assets and in-kind resources. Funding covered some start-up costs, but most of the resources used to carry out the projects were contributed directly from the communities themselves, in the form of people’s time and energy, as well as material resources such as computers, photocopying, etc.

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