WISCONSIN ARTS BOARD

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An electronic grant application process (eGRANT) is in place to transmit applications via the Internet to the Wisconsin Arts Board where the application will be reviewed and processed electronically into the Arts Board’s grants database.

All applicants are required to use the electronic application process in addition to mailing paper copies and originals to the Arts Board. You’ll find the tools for both of these submission requirements within our eGRANT system at wab.egrant.org. For those applicants who don’t have the technology or don’t have access to the technology, you must contact the Wisconsin Arts Board at 608-266-0190 or artsboard@wisconsin.gov.

The following text provides some tips and instructions for using this system:

1. Register OR Login

• TIP: If this is your first time using eGRANT, you must register prior to beginning. Login Name and Password are case sensitive. If you capitalize either when first registering, they must be capitalized every time you login. You will need to remember this name and password from year-to-year.
• TIP: If your organization has applied to eGRANT for any application in the past, you’re most likely already registered. DO NOT register again. If you’ve forgotten your login name and password, use the “click here” link at the bottom of the login page. You can type in a word from the organization’s name and the login and password will be mailed to the original email account. Or, you may contact Dale Johnson at the Wisconsin Arts Board for assistance.

2. Choose a grant program
   Click the drop down menu under the text “Create a New Application,” click on a program, then click “Go!”.

• TIP: The tools icon is the button to click to begin working on your eGRANT application. The other icons are explained under the “Screen Help” button at the top of the page.

3. Complete the application
   Information is saved when you move from page to page within the application by either hitting the “Go!” button at the bottom or the icons at top.

• Your application may be worked on until 3:00pm on the day of the deadline so that staff will be available to provide any assistance you may need on that day.
• PLEASE DO NOT TYPE IN ALL CAPS.
• TIP: To navigate to a previous page of the application, do NOT use the “Back” button on your browser. Depending on your browser’s options settings, there is the strong possibility that data previously entered will be lost in the process.
• TIP: If you are interested is seeing how your completed application will look, you can merge your eGRANT responses into a PDF document at any time by clicking the “Summary” button, then clicking Go! at the bottom of that screen. You must have Adobe Reader installed (see item #6, below). Depending upon your connection speed, this may take from one to ten minutes to load; please be patient.
• Most applications have an Attach Documents icon. Click on the button within eGRANT to read the requirements for this area (typically Narrative Questions). You will type responses to these questions in a word processing document, save the file, then upload it to the eGRANT server by clicking the purple upload button.
• TIP: Shorter narrative sections may be text fields within the eGRANT screens. You can type directly into these fields, or you can cut and paste. See “Tips on Writing Narratives,” below.

4. Click “eGRANT submission” after you are completely done to send the file to the database. This is a requirement for submission.

• TIP: You will not be able to submit until the entire application has been completed; if you failed to follow all application rules or fill in all mandatory fields, you will see a list of corrections that must be made prior to submission.
• TIP: After you hit the “Submit My Application” button on this screen, you will no longer be able to work on your application. You will receive an email copy of the file that is sent to the WAB.

5. Print a paper copy (“Summary” icon)
   After you have submitted your application electronically to the WAB (see #5 above), you MUST print out a copy of the PDF application. To do this click the “Summary” page, click “Go!” to merge your data into a PDF file, then print from your browser.

• TIP: To view the PDF, your computer must have Adobe’s FREE Reader software installed on it. This software is available on Adobe’s web site. We have found that the fewest problems occur when you have the most recent version of the Reader installed on your machine.
• TIP: The text you uploaded in the Attach Documents screen will not show in the PDF application. To make the required copies for your paper application package, please print directly from your word processing file.
• TIP: If you are having problems printing the PDF file, please see “PDF Printing Tips,” below.

6. Mail a paper application package to the WAB
   Make multiple copies and assemble your attachments as outlined in the Checklist. (The checklist is part of the PDF document—see #6 above). Copies of your application forms, copies of your narrative question responses, and supplementary materials must be sent through the mail to the Wisconsin Arts Board no later than one working day after the electronic deadline. (An application due on a Friday must be postmarked by the following Monday.)

Tips on Writing Narratives

See eGRANT Frequently Asked Questions from the developer

In applications that require lengthy narrative responses (i.e., Public Service Activity, etc.), you may want to write and save these in a word processing program then cut and paste responses into the appropriate application fields within eGRANT. Please note, however, formatting applied in word processing programs will not transfer to the application fields.

• Text may be written in a word processing program (such as Microsoft Word) for spell check and ease of saving, but formatting will NOT transfer to the eGRANT application fields (i.e. no bold, underline, bullets, tabs, or special characters including typographer’s quotes (“ ”), etc.). To emphasize text you can use all CAPS or extra spaces. To simulate bullets, you can use asterisks.
• Any character on your keyboard will transfer (&, $, ~, ", *, +), but the special characters that Word is usually set up to automatically convert will not. For example:

	Okay	NOT
	" "	“ ”
	'	’
	1/2	½
	*
	-	–
	--	—
	1st	1st

These characters may seem fine while viewing in eGRANT, but when you merge the information into the PDF file, odd symbols will appear (e.g., typographer’s quotes [“ ”] will become ™ symbols). Typographer’s quotes and other special characters mentioned above may be shut off in Microsoft Word by following these instructions:

1. Click “Insert” on the main toolbar
2. Click “Auto Text” on the drop-down menu
3. Click “Auto Text” on the second drop-down menu
4. Click “Autoformat as you type” tab in new window
5. Under “Replace as you type,” deselect “ ‘Straight Quotes’ with ‘Smart Quotes’ ” and any others you might use within your text
6. Under “Autoformat” tab, deselect same box(es).

• To check how many lines of narrative you have written when online use the “Check Line Count” button.

PDF Printing Tips

Often times, printing problems are caused by using a printer driver other than the one designed by the printer manufacturer. The best way to fix it is to contact the printer’s manufacturer and obtain and install a driver designed specifically for your printer. However, if you can’t get a new printer driver right away, there are a few other workarounds:

• Print to a PostScript printer, if possible.
• Print fewer pages at a time.
• Print at a lower resolution (for example, 150 dpi instead of 300 dpi).
• If the Print dialog box you’re using offers a “Print As Image” option, select it.
• Deselect the “Fit To Page” option in the Print dialog box.

This and more PDF help information is available at pdf_help.htm.

 

Updated: April 28, 2009