Here's how to get the money. Step by step. Done.

How do I get Medicaid money?

Before you start: Medicaid pays after the work. Plan to cover three to four months of one worker's pay and the $750 enrollment fee. If you can't yet, start with Playbook 3 or 4 and come back.

The result: your organization gets paid by Medicaid for work you're probably already doing.

Rule zero: every Ohio Medicaid dollar, even through a health plan, needs an Ohio Medicaid enrollment first. Plans reject claims from organizations that aren't enrolled.

Fastest door in Columbus: become a Care Coordination Agency in the Pathways HUB.

• A. Call Health Impact Ohio, which runs the Central Ohio Pathways HUB. It already holds contracts with the health plans, and CVS just funded more community health workers there (March 2026). Ask when the next agency application opens.
• B. Answer the application. Other Ohio HUBs have moved from posting to award in about three weeks.
• C. Sign the agency contract and the privacy agreement. Your community health workers take the HUB's training (about 20 hours, paid by the HUB).
• D. Get your community health workers certified by the Ohio Board of Nursing. The $35 fee is the easy part. Each worker first finishes a Board-approved community health worker training program, so start that early. The HUB wants certified workers before it contracts with you.
• E. Document every visit within two business days. No note, no payment.

How you're paid: a monthly fee for each person you're actively working with, plus payment for each completed outcome (a healthy birth, a housing connection).

Done when: the contract is signed, a certified worker is on staff, and your first monthly invoice is paid. Expect two to four months.

Other doors, in order of speed:

• Doulas. Ohio Medicaid has paid for doula services since October 2024. Your doulas get certified by the Ohio Board of Nursing, then you enroll with Ohio Medicaid and bill directly or through a clinic.
• Health plan contracts. Ohio has seven Medicaid health plans. Enroll with Ohio Medicaid ($750 for an organization), then pitch each plan a defined service with a price and your outcomes. Expect six to twelve months.
• Senior services (PASSPORT). Certified by the Ohio Department of Aging, with an audit by the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging. You apply after you've billed at least two unrelated clients for three months. PASSPORT is a waiver, and Ohio has paused new waiver and home health enrollments until November 14, 2026, so this door opens after that.
• School-based Medicaid. Only school districts bill. You get paid as the district's contractor.

Watch out for: cash flow (you're paid after the work, so line up 90 to 120 days of payroll first), privacy rules, and missing visit notes.

How do I get the government and social impact money coming to my community?

The result: you're registered, findable, and inside the money that already flows through the city, county and state.

• A. Register (week one, free). SAM.gov for your federal ID (up to 10 business days; renew every year). Grants.gov. City of Columbus vendor registration.
• B. City of Columbus. Summer Youth Program grants open in January and February (2025 awards ran $2,000 to $300,000). Elevate! capacity grants up to $200,000. The participatory budget vote runs November 2 to December 4, 2026: get your residents to vote.
• C. Franklin County. Community Partnership grants (about $5.8 million to 42 nonprofits in July 2026).
• D. State of Ohio. Every state grant posts at grants.ohio.gov. Check it monthly.
• E. Become a subrecipient. The fastest federal door is through whoever already holds the award: the city, the county, the workforce board, a hospital, a university. Ask five questions: the program name and number, the award period, whether they'll pass through 15% for overhead, whether they pay in advance or reimburse (and how fast), and what they need in reports.
• F. SNAP Employment and Training ("50/50"). You spend non-federal money on job training or support; the federal government pays back up to half, with no cap. Ask Franklin County Job and Family Services to add you to next year's plan.
• G. Banks. Banks are graded on how they serve low- and moderate-income neighborhoods (the Community Reinvestment Act). Look up the banks in your ZIP code, read their rating, call the community reinvestment officer, and pitch a grant or loan with a clear purpose.

Done when: you're active in SAM.gov, on the city and county lists, and have one application or subaward in motion.

Know this: since August 2025, new federal grants get political review and can be cut at any time. Money that flows through the city, county and state is steadier. Start local.

How do I get donor-advised fund donors to give to me directly?

The result: donors give straight to you, not to the big nonprofit down the street that speaks for you. Donor-advised funds gave out $64.9 billion in 2024 and hold $326 billion (DAF Research Collaborative, 2025).

• A. Be eligible. You need to be a 501(c)(3) or have a fiscal sponsor.
• B. Be findable (one afternoon). Confirm you appear in the IRS exempt organization search. Claim your Candid profile. Ask the Columbus Foundation to list you in its Giving Store directory. Sign up for electronic payment with Fidelity, Schwab and Vanguard.
• C. Add a "Give from your donor-advised fund" button to your donate page, with your legal name, tax ID and address beside it.
• D. Ask. "Many of our supporters give through a donor-advised fund. You can recommend a grant to [legal name], tax ID [number]. Choose general support. It takes three minutes, and it goes straight to [neighborhood]."
  Who to ask first: your board, anyone who gives you $1,000 or more a year, and anyone who has given you stock. Those are the people most likely to have a fund.
• E. Know the rules. A donor-advised fund grant can't buy tickets, raffle entries or benefits, and can't pay a binding pledge.
• F. Follow up. Thank them within 48 hours. Report to them twice a year.

Done when: your first donor-advised fund grant clears and that donor is on your report schedule.

I have a grant due

The result: a first draft answering every question in the funder's request, plus the list of what's still missing.

• A. Open the free Grant Builder and paste the funder's full request.
• B. Answer its questions.
• C. Download your draft and the list of what's still missing.

Done when every question has an answer and you know exactly what's left.

Need it done with you? The Store has the paid help. Need me? Talk with me.