One of the biggest hurdles that any local government GIS effort faces is finding the funds to develop GIS data and to pay for staff. With tightening budgets the availability of local government funds has become limited and GIS is certainly not the only effort trying to gain access to these limited funds. This presentation will focus on several possible sources of funding for GIS including private companies such as ESRI, private foundations, and state and federal government sources. Sources of funds for hiring staff such as interns will be discussed and organizations that provide this funding will be identified. Additionally, some successful grant strategies, such as forming regional partnerships, will be discussed.
Stewart Bruce started his career in GIS at Mifflin County in 1996 where he was the GIS and IT Director. At Mifflin County, Mr. Bruce started a county level GIS from the ground up creating a regional GIS system with over eighteen participating municipal organizations. During his tenure he raised over 1.7 million dollars in competitive grant funds to develop and expand the system. Currently Mr. Bruce works for the Cooperative Extension Geospatial Technology Program at Penn State under the direction of Dr. Rick Day. Here he is responsible for assisting local organizations in Pennsylvania through the GIS Outreach and Extension Program. He is now working with several counties doing GIS needs assessments, providing GIS training to local organizations, and working on several other GIS related projects such as land use and web mapping. He received a Bachelors in Geography from California State University, Long Beach in 1994 and a Masters of Science in Geography from Penn State in 1997.