Many instructional designers never have to worry about monetizing a project. They don’t have to worry about fund-raising. They don’t have to necessarily bill hours. And maybe some even consider thinking about this a little vulgar. I don’t simply because it has almost always been part of my workplace landscape. I had to bill hours from my first month on-the-job as an instructional designer, and I have always had some role in budgeting projects over the years—in private industry and in higher education.

Pursuing Internal Funds

One stream of funding is through internal funds. These do require some reportage, but usually, it’s much less than for external grants. And the reporting forms tend to be a lot simpler than for the larger external grants. These funds though tend to be comparatively small, and it’s more helpful to think of these as seed moneys. However, one already has some of the professional relationships in place as well as established connections. One also has a ballpark sense of the funds available.

Every project has its own risks. For every potential gain, there is always something to potentially lose. There are various degrees of freedom regarding work. Part of project planning is to ensure that the work gets done in the proper way to the satisfaction of the main stakeholders. There are always plenty of opportunities to do free work, but it’s important to note that liabilities follow those as well.

In-Kind Supports

Various departments would do well offer in-kind supports to a project, so it’s not just in the purview of a particular office to do all the work (or for the funding office to take on all risks). Given how tough the costs are in a higher education environment, everyone is trying to do more with less—and if one can hand off responsibilities (displace costs) to others, one often will try to do so. When applying for internal funds, it’s important to justify the funds by showing the value of the finished work and making a so-called “business case.”

This is why it’s usually better to be at the table early on. If one has a say early on, one can set up the work in a way that is beneficial to the overall work. One can help the other team members understand what is being done in one’s small patch of work… The hard part, though, is being top-of-mind when a project moves forward.

Pursuing External Funds

The pursuit of external funds adds layers of complexity. For one, there is the internal political hierarchy to move through to get all the approvals. There has to be agreement from various offices, so the institution is not hitting a funding organization inordinately. The risks are orders of magnitude higher as well. There is a sense of a residual effect for moneys applied for but not gained, and while some funding agencies will provide helpful tips for next rounds of application, some do not…and it can feel like the work has just gone into a black hole.

Filling in Some Gaps with Gratis Work

Really, it takes very little money to seed a basic project in higher education. The reason for that, in part, is because there are plenty of hidden costs. Also, most of the development team will do complimentary free work to actualize the project. We’ll undercount hours generously in order to make sure that a project is done at the level required. None of us want to over-invest in time, but we also care about standards and also about the success of projects. What is created in higher education tends to last a while, so it’s almost easier to justify the work. This all muddies the cost waters a bit.

Also, there are many software programs and much equipment needed to actualize work. The real expended costs are orders of magnitude higher many times than what appears on a grant budget line. There are ways to calculate actual costs, but it’s not really in anyone’s interests to do so.

It’s all good to ensure that projects work effectively. However, the limits arrive when people expect continual free work in an infinite loop. Various colleges and departments and individuals create reputations for such requests, and various offices will then avoid working with them.

For instructional designers, one doesn’t want to have to pursue funds all the time, but we also have an interest in making sure that projects get actualized positively and for the next short-term. If we don’t get funding, the hours we can actually invest in a project are necessarily limited, which means that the outputs may be not up to the standards we’d prefer.