Most simulation programs don't have an ideas problem; they have a simulation program funding problem. Manikins age out on the same schedule, recording hardware needs replacing, and capital requests compete with every other department on campus.
Jill Sand, Dean of Health Sciences at Southeast Community College (SCC) in Lincoln, Nebraska, has spent years finding outside money for her programs. Her team's largest effort, a USDA grant awarded across three application cycles, brought in about $1.8 million for simulators, manikins and video recording equipment. That equipment now supports simulation across 27 beds in a 15-county region that is mostly rural.
Below are the funding lessons Jill shared in a recent Intelligent Video Solutions (IVS) webinar, along with how you can work through them with her at an upcoming SSH Learning Lab.
1. Start With the Funder's Focus, Not the Dollar Amount
Every grant exists to solve a specific problem. Jill's first filter is whether that problem lines up with her program's mission. If it doesn't, the money can pull a program off course.
"Every grant has a focus. And really aligning that focus of the grant with what your vision and mission is, what your desired outcome is. Otherwise I would say almost don't pursue it, because you can get so bogged down in the reporting of the grant and lose sight of the reason you pursued that grant." — Jill Sand, Dean of Health Sciences, Southeast Community College
For simulation programs, the best fit is often not labeled as a simulation grant. Jill's team has found funding through:
- Workforce development grants at the state and federal level, many of which currently center on healthcare
- USDA programs for telehealth, telemedicine and rural access
- HRSA grants focused on the health workforce and underserved communities
- Private foundations and donors in your state
- State Health and Human Services grant listings
- Perkins V funds your college already receives
- Profession-specific listservs that share grants for your field
One of SCC's USDA awards had nothing to do with healthcare. It funded Wi-Fi access for rural communities. By working with the college's IT department, Jill's team used that award to purchase the servers and switches that run the college's simulation recording system.
The right grant may fund the infrastructure behind your simulation program rather than the simulators themselves.
Once you know which funders fit, the next step is making sure the right people on your campus are watching for them.
2. Build Your Support Team Before You Apply
Jill's advice is to know exactly what you want, roughly what it costs and how it connects to your institution's goals. A full building and a few mobile recording carts are very different requests, but both start with a clear statement of need.
With that statement in hand, find the people who already work on funding:
- Your grant writer
- Your foundation contact
- Institutional research (IR)
- The Office of Sponsored Programs
- Your Perkins coordinator
- Your CFO, who knows the largest funding sources the college already uses
"If you form those relationships, then they begin to look for you." — Jill Sand, Dean of Health Sciences, Southeast Community College
If your institution does not have a grant writer, Jill suggests taking short online grant writing courses, asking a grant writer at a local nonprofit to review your draft and studying successful applications from other institutions. Some state agencies offer grant reviewers, and some funders will review sections of an application before the deadline. She has even asked English faculty to read drafts for clarity.
Staffing matters as much as the application. Early on, Jill served as both principal investigator and grant coordinator.
"Grant maintenance became my second job." — Jill Sand, Dean of Health Sciences, Southeast Community College
She now writes staffing into her grants. One current grant funds a full-time coordinator who handles student contact, regulatory work and success coaching.
Jill is also selective about scale. For capital equipment, she now pursues grants under $500,000 because the reporting tends to be simpler and takes far less time.
Before you apply, ask what it will take to manage the grant, and write that support into the budget.
With a team in place, the work shifts to the application itself.
Looking for Grants That Fit Your Simulation Program?
Search more than 400 federal, state and private funding opportunities by discipline, state and type.
▶ Explore the Grant & Funding Resource
3. Write an Application That Shows Need and Outcomes
Jill starts every application with the funder's scoring rubric. Knowing how points are awarded shapes how she writes the narrative. From there, she makes sure the application does two things: it tells the program's story, and it shows how the program meets each requirement.
For SCC's USDA application, that story centered on rural access. Students were driving up to an hour and 45 minutes to reach campus, or moving to Lincoln or Omaha and never returning home. That migration leaves rural communities short on healthcare workers.
Jill's team backed the story with specific community data:
- Rural hospitals that had stopped offering labor and delivery
- A growing number of dental deserts, which supported the dental assisting program
- Communities that had stopped offering certain surgeries, which affected the surgical technology program
They added images of the service area and letters of support from advisory boards, students and community partners. In Falls City, Nebraska, that included the chamber of commerce and local manufacturers.
Jill also cautions against two common mistakes. The first is asking for everyday expenses. Funders want a new solution to a community's problem, so scholarships alone rarely win. Success coaches or emergency funds that cover gas money for clinical rotations are stronger requests. The second is relying on AI-generated text, which reviewers can often spot.
"Really look at the grant from their perspective. What are they wanting to see? Not what are you wanting to get." — Jill Sand, Dean of Health Sciences, Southeast Community College
Finally, promise outcomes you can measure with data you already collect. Federal funders tend to look for statistics, while private donors often respond to student stories. Strong applications include both.
Reviewers fund solutions to problems they care about, so write to their goals before your own.
Winning the award is only the start. How you manage it decides whether the funder comes back.
4. Plan for Reporting Before the Money Arrives
Jill's first piece of advice after an award is to start spending. Keep vendor quotes current so purchasing can begin right away. If purchasing and installation drag on, the first annual report has nothing to show.
Most grants require at least an annual report, and some require quarterly or monthly updates. Jill recommends knowing the timeline and building a template before the first report is due.
For SCC's USDA grant, the team built charts in advance and filled in the numbers for each reporting period, such as manikin usage hours and system logins. The grant writer drafted the narrative, and Jill refined it. Working with IR to set up student data points ahead of time kept reporting manageable.
Relationships matter too. SCC invited a USDA representative to visit campus, and he came twice. Seeing the funds in use worked in the college's favor on its next application.
"If you can show accountability and integrity in the use of the money, they often will come back and ask you to apply." — Jill Sand, Dean of Health Sciences, Southeast Community College
Track stories and statistics from the first day of the grant, and invite funders to see the results.
Reporting keeps the current grant on track. Sustainability planning protects the program after it ends.
5. Make Sure the Program Outlasts the Grant
Every grant ends. Years ago, SCC bought its simulators on grants at the same time, and they reached ten years old together. Jill calls them her "old men," and when they aged out, the college had little to no simulation running.
SCC now handles equipment differently:
- Buy in phases. USDA-funded manikins were purchased over time, so they will not all age out at once.
- Rotate inventory. High-fidelity manikins move from the interdisciplinary center to program skills labs, so a new manikin enters the simulation space about every three years.
- Keep a capital replacement list. Some requests must be submitted two years in a row before they are chosen, so Jill flags them early with her vice president of instruction.
- Write rationales that point to outcomes. Tie each request to accreditation requirements or to low-frequency, high-acuity experiences students cannot get any other way. This makes requests easier for administrators and grant writers to match with Perkins or other institutional funds. SCC used Perkins funds to purchase three ROAM mobile recording carts.
- Give your foundation a running list of needs. SCC's foundation once funded only scholarships. Now some donors, including retired nurses, choose to leave part of their estates for equipment.
Jill also encourages leaders to look for partnerships. Some workforce grants require two-year and four-year institutions to apply together, and serving as a sub-awardee means less reporting.
A sustainability plan should be part of the application, not something you write after the equipment ages out.
Jill will cover each of these steps in more depth at her upcoming Learning Lab.
Work Through Your Funding Plan at the SSH Learning Lab
The SSH Learning Lab, Secure Funding to Grow Your University Programs: Tips, Tricks, and Best Practices, takes place Wednesday, November 18, at 1 p.m. CST. It is built for simulation leaders who need to fund new spaces, replace aging equipment, or grow programs into new communities.
Jill will walk through each step of SCC's process:
- Find the right fit. Compare federal, state, foundation and industry sources, and decide when to apply and when to pass based on matching, reporting and sub-award requirements.
- Build a strong case. Gather support from faculty, grant writers, IR and IT, and tie your request to clear, measurable outcomes backed by images and community letters of support.
- Plan beyond the award. Assign ownership of compliance and reporting from day one, keep in touch with funders and set your program up to sustain itself after the grant ends.
She will also share samples from successful applications, common mistakes to avoid and what managing compliance looks like once the money arrives. The session closes with a live Q&A.
Ready to Build Your Funding Plan?
Join Jill Sand on November 18 at 1 p.m. CST for a step-by-step look at securing and managing grants for your simulation program.
▶ Register for the SSH Learning Lab
How VALT Supports Grant-Funded Simulation Programs
At SCC, VALT (Video Audio Learning Tool) records simulations across health sciences programs and connects rural learning centers to the main campus. Faculty can observe and debrief remotely, so students do not have to relocate to complete their training.
VALT also simplifies grant reporting. SCC pulls usage data, such as system logins, directly into its USDA reports. ROAM carts bring recording into classrooms and labs that lack a dedicated simulation space, which helps programs grow in phases as funding allows.
"What I love about IVS is that it has allowed us to reach students who no longer have to drive from rural Nebraska. We're a farming community, I'm a farm kid, and we have moms that want to become nurses or respiratory therapists or med lab techs, and they can stay in their community." — Jill Sand, Dean of Health Sciences, Southeast Community College
Start With the Right Grant
Securing simulation program funding takes planning before, during and after the award. Jill's approach comes down to a few habits: match each grant to your mission, build a team before you apply, write to the funder's goals, report from day one and plan for equipment to age.
To start your search, use the IVS Grant & Funding Resource, which lists more than 400 opportunities you can filter by discipline, state and funding type.
