Category Archives: grant writing

Virtual Collaboration

Here are some thoughts from our Grant Coach, MaryEllen Bergh, on Virtual Collaboration:

Collaboration is a process of participation through which people, groups and organizations work together to achieve desired results. Starting or sustaining a collaborative journey is exciting, sometimes stressful, and even new for many. Successful collaboration requires focus on the goals of the team and on the development of trusting relationships. These relationships allow people to overcome problems that might arise through the collaborative process. While most of our collaborative tasks are still done in face-to-face meetings, technology has enabled us to collaborate from afar. It has given us the ability to be members of a professional learning community that may include people from around the globe.

Is collaboration on virtual teams as effective as collaborative teams that meet face to face? Dr. Jaclyn Kostner (author of Bridge the Distance) found that virtual teams tended to keep their focus on priorities better than face-to-face teams and, in fact, virtual meetings were frequently shorter; however, the virtual collaborative teams failed more often. One of the reasons for this higher rate of failure, according to Dr. Kostner, is that virtual teams did not develop the relationships that allowed them to work as a team to overcome problems – they did not collaborate in any meaningful way. As organizations move toward using technology to facilitate collaboration among teams that are split by distance what are some ways that teams can collaborate better at a distance? Here are a few tips:

  1. Don’t multi-task at virtual meetings. Close your email, turn off your alerts and pay attention. The only time an entire virtual team can collaborate is when they are meeting. If you want your team to collaborate and be a team make sure that everyone pays attention and participates in team meetings.
  2. Meet face to face as often as possible. While the technology tools that enable us to communicate virtually save time and money, there is no better way to develop relationships than face to face. This may not be a possibility for teams that are at long distances apart. Make sure that you do allow some virtual time to get to know your team.
  3. Create office hours when team members can be reached. Collaboration among team members is an important way to create relationships and overcome the barrier of distance. Because it is so difficult to get anyone live these days, set up hours for each team member when they agree to be available, answer their phones, and take the time to work with the other team member.

Dr. Kostner was the spokesperson for a study conducted by Frost and Sullivan (Meetings around the World) sponsored by Microsoft and Verizon. The basic conclusion from this study was “The more collaborative organizations are, the better they perform. Conversely, the less collaborative they are, the worse they perform.” So if virtual teaming is in your plan, pay attention to creating a virtual team that collaborates well.

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Would you like more of MaryEllen’s insight?  Become a member of GrantGoddess.com and visit the Coach’s Corner.

Changing the World

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”  –Margaret Mead.

I had one of those awesome grant writer payoff moments yesterday.  I was sitting in an end-of-year evaluation meeting with a group of collaborative partners that has been implementing a grant funded, school-based violence prevention program for the last four years. The group was discussing the outcomes for the past year and plans for the next year.

It was an unusually lighthearted and joyful meeting.  Of course, there were many educators around the table and school is out for the summer, but even in that situation grant evaluation meetings are typically not that celebratory, at least not in my experience. However, this group had good reason to be proud. There was good improvement in our targeted outcomes in spite of the fact that the sites involved had been hit hard by budget cuts and had suffered several dramatic challenges late in the year (the death of a teacher at one school; the arrest of a teacher at the other).

As we were discussing the outcomes and fine tuning the plans for next year, the real magic happened. A student walked in the room bringing some copies to the meeting facilitator.  After the student left, one of the principals said, “Now she’s a real success story!” and he proceeded to tell us how troubled that young woman had been and how many thought that she might be in real trouble and lost beyond the ability of anyone at the school to help.

Then he talked about the services provided to the young woman through the project – not just through the grant, but through the entire collaborative effort.  We learned that she had been assisted in various ways by at least  8 of the project partners in that room, and that the grant had helped coordinate those services so the community could actually wrap its arms around that young woman and walk her through the difficult time in her life. Then he told us how well she is doing now (including earning a 3.5 GPA!). The principal finished his remarks with the words, “Seriously, we saved a life.”

I sat there listening quietly, but the truth is that it was a moment that took my breath away.  I couldn’t speak because there was a lump in my throat. There is no question that moments like that are the real payoff in grant writing, and they are the reason I do it.

Most of the time, I work in isolation as I write.  I communicate with people as much as I need to to gather the information I need to put together a high quality proposal, but hours and hours are spent alone with my notes and my computer. The process is so separate from the ultimate result (changing lives) that it’s very hard to see sometimes, especially when I’m backed up against multiple deadlines, and I’m tired, and my client is being difficult (yes, it happens at times).

Because I also serve as a program evaluator, I have the incredible honor of being able to see the result of my writing efforts. I get to see programs in place that weren’t there before, services that weren’t offered before, and yes, I get to meet people whose lives are forever changed for the better because of those hours I spent in isolation doing what I do best.

So, the experience yesterday will provide some good motivating fuel for my writing for a while.  When I’m tired of writing and I want to quit or I want to take a shortcut or two instead of giving it my best effort, I’ll remind myself that I’m not writing, I’m changing the world.

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Related Post: The Real Payoff

The Grant Goddess’ Online Learning Center opens in a few days! Keep checking back here or visit GrantGoddess.com to see the link on the home page.

Want to supercharge your grant writing?  Become a member at GrantGoddess.com! You’ll have access to a huge selection of grant writing, program evaluation, non-profit development, and research tools.

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Changing the World

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”  –Margaret Mead.

I had one of those awesome grant writer payoff moments yesterday.  I was sitting in an end-of-year evaluation meeting with a group of collaborative partners that has been implementing a grant funded, school-based violence prevention program for the last four years. The group was discussing the outcomes for the past year and plans for the next year.

It was an unusually lighthearted and joyful meeting.  Of course, there were many educators around the table and school is out for the summer, but even in that situation grant evaluation meetings are typically not that celebratory, at least not in my experience. However, this group had good reason to be proud. There was good improvement in our targeted outcomes in spite of the fact that the sites involved had been hit hard by budget cuts and had suffered several dramatic challenges late in the year (the death of a teacher at one school; the arrest of a teacher at the other).

As we were discussing the outcomes and fine tuning the plans for next year, the real magic happened. A student walked in the room bringing some copies to the meeting facilitator.  After the student left, one of the principals said, “Now she’s a real success story!” and he proceeded to tell us how troubled that young woman had been and how many thought that she might be in real trouble and lost beyond the ability of anyone at the school to help.

Then he talked about the services provided to the young woman through the project – not just through the grant, but through the entire collaborative effort.  We learned that she had been assisted in various ways by at least  8 of the project partners in that room, and that the grant had helped coordinate those services so the community could actually wrap its arms around that young woman and walk her through the difficult time in her life. Then he told us how well she is doing now (including earning a 3.5 GPA!). The principal finished his remarks with the words, “Seriously, we saved a life.”

I sat there listening quietly, but the truth is that it was a moment that took my breath away.  I couldn’t speak because there was a lump in my throat. There is no question that moments like that are the real payoff in grant writing, and they are the reason I do it.

Most of the time, I work in isolation as I write.  I communicate with people as much as I need to to gather the information I need to put together a high quality proposal, but hours and hours are spent alone with my notes and my computer. The process is so separate from the ultimate result (changing lives) that it’s very hard to see sometimes, especially when I’m backed up against multiple deadlines, and I’m tired, and my client is being difficult (yes, it happens at times).

Because I also serve as a program evaluator, I have the incredible honor of being able to see the result of my writing efforts. I get to see programs in place that weren’t there before, services that weren’t offered before, and yes, I get to meet people whose lives are forever changed for the better because of those hours I spent in isolation doing what I do best.

So, the experience yesterday will provide some good motivating fuel for my writing for a while.  When I’m tired of writing and I want to quit or I want to take a shortcut or two instead of giving it my best effort, I’ll remind myself that I’m not writing, I’m changing the world.

——————————–

Related Post: The Real Payoff

The Grant Goddess’ Online Learning Center opens in a few days! Keep checking back here or visit GrantGoddess.com to see the link on the home page.

Want to supercharge your grant writing?  Become a member at GrantGoddess.com! You’ll have access to a huge selection of grant writing, program evaluation, non-profit development, and research tools.

Yes, It May Be "Old School," but Plan Before You Write

I think the ubiquitous use of word processing computer programs has made people forget the importance of planning before you write.  In the old days of grant writing using a typewriter, you really had to think through your writing first because correcting errors was not very easy.  Even when it became easier to correct minor errors, you couldn’t move paragraphs around or restructure the text without retyping the whole page or section.

So what did we do back then? We developed an outline before we started to write.  We did the research, fleshed out the ideas, and filled in the outline until we were pretty sure about what we wanted to write and the order in which we wanted to write it. Then we wrote a first draft – sometimes by hand, sometimes on the typewriter. Revising the first draft consisted of marking it all up and then carefully retyping the document with all of the re-writes and corrections made.

Sure, it seems like it’s a lot easier to compose on the computer, and it’s absolutely easier to make changes, but it has also created a generation of really lazy grant writers and program developers. Instead of really developing the ideas in a proposal and drafting an outline for a plan before writing, folks just start writing with a few ideas in place, knowing they can fill in the rest later. The result is often incomplete, disjointed ideas, and plans that don’t make logical sense.

Also, even  though it’s easy to make changes using a computer, reworking a 50 to 100 page program narrative with multiple complex design changes is definitely not easy. In fact it’s easier just to hold off on the writing until the planning is complete and the ideas have been solidly developed.

Many of those early steps in the writing process – like outlining – may seem like a throw back to the old days of typewriters, but they are really not.  They are the cornerstones of idea development. They can make the difference between a really good grant proposal and a sloppy one.

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Would you like some great grant writing resources that can help take your writing to a higher level?  Become a member of GrantGoddess.com.

Yes, It May Be "Old School," but Plan Before You Write

I think the ubiquitous use of word processing computer programs has made people forget the importance of planning before you write.  In the old days of grant writing using a typewriter, you really had to think through your writing first because correcting errors was not very easy.  Even when it became easier to correct minor errors, you couldn’t move paragraphs around or restructure the text without retyping the whole page or section.

So what did we do back then? We developed an outline before we started to write.  We did the research, fleshed out the ideas, and filled in the outline until we were pretty sure about what we wanted to write and the order in which we wanted to write it. Then we wrote a first draft – sometimes by hand, sometimes on the typewriter. Revising the first draft consisted of marking it all up and then carefully retyping the document with all of the re-writes and corrections made.

Sure, it seems like it’s a lot easier to compose on the computer, and it’s absolutely easier to make changes, but it has also created a generation of really lazy grant writers and program developers. Instead of really developing the ideas in a proposal and drafting an outline for a plan before writing, folks just start writing with a few ideas in place, knowing they can fill in the rest later. The result is often incomplete, disjointed ideas, and plans that don’t make logical sense.

Also, even  though it’s easy to make changes using a computer, reworking a 50 to 100 page program narrative with multiple complex design changes is definitely not easy. In fact it’s easier just to hold off on the writing until the planning is complete and the ideas have been solidly developed.

Many of those early steps in the writing process – like outlining – may seem like a throw back to the old days of typewriters, but they are really not.  They are the cornerstones of idea development. They can make the difference between a really good grant proposal and a sloppy one.

—————————-
Would you like some great grant writing resources that can help take your writing to a higher level?  Become a member of GrantGoddess.com.

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Two Great Opportunities for Grant Writing Resources Are Slipping Away

Two big opportunities are coming to an end in the next few days, so I thought I’d send out an announcement so you can take advantage of them before it’s too late.

First, the opportunity to become a member at GrantGoddess.com for the early-bird membership rate of $9.99 per month (or $99.99 per year) ends on Monday.  Beginning June 1st, the membership price will go up to $19.99 per month (or $199.99 per year).  It’s a bargain at the regular rate, but why miss this great chance to lock in the reduced pri9ce forever?

Members get unlimited access to articles, webinars, videos, and other resources on grant writing, grant seeking, program evaluation, and non-profit development. This summer, we’ll be offering our first, full-blown online grant writing course, and members will get the first chance at registration and a dramatically decreased registration fee.  Go to the member information page to get more information and to sign up before June 1st.

As if that’s not enough, if you become a member between today and 11:59 p.m. on May 31st, I’ll also give you a FREE copy of my book, 101 Tips for Aspiring Grant Writers!  If you live within the United States, I’ll pay for shipping, too!

And here’s another opportunity — If you go to our Grant Goddess Facebook page and click on the “Like” button at the top of the page by midnight tonight (5/28), you’ll have a chance to win of TEN free books I’ll be giving away! Tomorrow morning, I’ll be randomly selecting 10 friends/fans from that page and contacting them to send them a free 101 Tips for Aspiring Grant Writers book!  If they live in the U.S., shipping will be free, too.

Our Grant Goddess Facebook page focuses on electronic and multimedia resources for grant writing.  We post grant tips, sources, inspiration, and other interesting tidbits. It’s 100% free and it’s focused on providing information, not selling anything.

So, act now to take advantage of these two great opportunities before they slip away forever.

Two Great Opportunities for Grant Writing Resources Are Slipping Away

Two big opportunities are coming to an end in the next few days, so I thought I’d send out an announcement so you can take advantage of them before it’s too late.

First, the opportunity to become a member at GrantGoddess.com for the early-bird membership rate of $9.99 per month (or $99.99 per year) ends on Monday.  Beginning June 1st, the membership price will go up to $19.99 per month (or $199.99 per year).  It’s a bargain at the regular rate, but why miss this great chance to lock in the reduced pri9ce forever?

Members get unlimited access to articles, webinars, videos, and other resources on grant writing, grant seeking, program evaluation, and non-profit development. This summer, we’ll be offering our first, full-blown online grant writing course, and members will get the first chance at registration and a dramatically decreased registration fee.  Go to the member information page to get more information and to sign up before June 1st.

As if that’s not enough, if you become a member between today and 11:59 p.m. on May 31st, I’ll also give you a FREE copy of my book, 101 Tips for Aspiring Grant Writers!  If you live within the United States, I’ll pay for shipping, too!

And here’s another opportunity — If you go to our Grant Goddess Facebook page and click on the “Like” button at the top of the page by midnight tonight (5/28), you’ll have a chance to win of TEN free books I’ll be giving away! Tomorrow morning, I’ll be randomly selecting 10 friends/fans from that page and contacting them to send them a free 101 Tips for Aspiring Grant Writers book!  If they live in the U.S., shipping will be free, too.

Our Grant Goddess Facebook page focuses on electronic and multimedia resources for grant writing.  We post grant tips, sources, inspiration, and other interesting tidbits. It’s 100% free and it’s focused on providing information, not selling anything.

So, act now to take advantage of these two great opportunities before they slip away forever.

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

So THIS is Going Paperless? Really?

I just had a giggle-fit reading the small print in a federal grant Request for Proposals (RFP) when I got to the part about the Paperwork Reduction Act and the government’s estimate of how many hours it should take to complete this grant application.  Clearly, whoever wrote this little ditty of a paragraph that has been pasted into thousands of federal RFPs over the years has never written a federal grant.

This one says that it should only take 40 hours to put this application together. I spend more than 40 hours just chasing down the information and doing the research I need to do to start writing.  I wonder if the developers of the recent Investing in Innovation (i3) grants considered the hours it would take to thoroughly read through the over 450 pages of RFP, FAQs and other guidance in their time estimate. I wonder how many trees gave their lives for that innovative program?

Then I look around my office at the piles of paper, and as I wonder how a person could actually figure out how many trees died in this “paper saving endeavor,” I think “Paperwork Reduction Act?”  Seriously?

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m all for preserving the environment and conserving paper, but I really think we use more paper since the world has started going paperless.

Think about it.  The information age and the ease of sending information over the internet means that more and more resources are available.  And even though most of those come in electronic form, what do most of us do with all of the PDFs?  Print them.

Why? So we can take them with us to read later.

Isn’t that what all these mobile devices (iPhone, Netbook, Laptop, iPad, Kindle) are for? Yes, but the screen is too small or it’s too hard to browse through the document electronically, or looking at a screen all day and all night hurts my eyes…or…or….or….

Sure, we get fewer bank statements in the mail, but I actually get more junk mail.  In fact, I get five times as more junk mail because now I get more paper junk mail that comes in the mail as well as all the email spam. The email spam isn’t paper, but it’s just as annoying.

There are more paper inserts in newspapers, too, even though fewer people are subscribing to them.  Maybe local advertisers can afford more inserts since overall circulation is down.

I am amused when I read that the inserts are made out of recycled paper because I know I’m just going to put them directly into the recycle bin without looking through them so they can get recycled and an advertiser can make more inserts that I won’t read, and so on, and so on, and so on..  It seems to me that we could save a bunch of effort by just not printing them at all.  Why don’t we make those advertisements paperless?

If the government is really so concerned about going paperless, why won’t the IRS do it?  The IRS is actually generating more paperwork than before, and everything I get from the IRS comes with pages of useless gobbledygook.  We are supposed to file electronically so they have less paper to deal with, but why won’t they return the favor?

At this moment, I really want to go back to the pre-paperless era.  I would have less paperwork to deal with than I do now.

———————————–

There are only 7 more days to get your GrantGoddess.com membership at the discounted, early-bird rate!  Check out the membership benefits and join before the rate goes up.
 Visit http://grantgoddess.com/members.html

So THIS is Going Paperless? Really?

I just had a giggle-fit reading the small print in a federal grant Request for Proposals (RFP) when I got to the part about the Paperwork Reduction Act and the government’s estimate of how many hours it should take to complete this grant application.  Clearly, whoever wrote this little ditty of a paragraph that has been pasted into thousands of federal RFPs over the years has never written a federal grant.

This one says that it should only take 40 hours to put this application together. I spend more than 40 hours just chasing down the information and doing the research I need to do to start writing.  I wonder if the developers of the recent Investing in Innovation (i3) grants considered the hours it would take to thoroughly read through the over 450 pages of RFP, FAQs and other guidance in their time estimate. I wonder how many trees gave their lives for that innovative program?

Then I look around my office at the piles of paper, and as I wonder how a person could actually figure out how many trees died in this “paper saving endeavor,” I think “Paperwork Reduction Act?”  Seriously?

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m all for preserving the environment and conserving paper, but I really think we use more paper since the world has started going paperless.

Think about it.  The information age and the ease of sending information over the internet means that more and more resources are available.  And even though most of those come in electronic form, what do most of us do with all of the PDFs?  Print them.

Why? So we can take them with us to read later.

Isn’t that what all these mobile devices (iPhone, Netbook, Laptop, iPad, Kindle) are for? Yes, but the screen is too small or it’s too hard to browse through the document electronically, or looking at a screen all day and all night hurts my eyes…or…or….or….

Sure, we get fewer bank statements in the mail, but I actually get more junk mail.  In fact, I get five times as more junk mail because now I get more paper junk mail that comes in the mail as well as all the email spam. The email spam isn’t paper, but it’s just as annoying.

There are more paper inserts in newspapers, too, even though fewer people are subscribing to them.  Maybe local advertisers can afford more inserts since overall circulation is down.

I am amused when I read that the inserts are made out of recycled paper because I know I’m just going to put them directly into the recycle bin without looking through them so they can get recycled and an advertiser can make more inserts that I won’t read, and so on, and so on, and so on..  It seems to me that we could save a bunch of effort by just not printing them at all.  Why don’t we make those advertisements paperless?

If the government is really so concerned about going paperless, why won’t the IRS do it?  The IRS is actually generating more paperwork than before, and everything I get from the IRS comes with pages of useless gobbledygook.  We are supposed to file electronically so they have less paper to deal with, but why won’t they return the favor?

At this moment, I really want to go back to the pre-paperless era.  I would have less paperwork to deal with than I do now.

———————————–

There are only 7 more days to get your GrantGoddess.com membership at the discounted, early-bird rate!  Check out the membership benefits and join before the rate goes up.
 Visit http://grantgoddess.com/members.html

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Like a Penny Looking for Change….

The first instructor in my Masters program was a hysterically curmudgeonly character. In our first class, he described his many years of dealing with troublesome people. He detailed how these “people” caused for him a string of ailments from spastic colon to heart attack. He had developed a wonderful vernacular for leadership that could have filled a third or fourth volume of “The Portable Curmudgeon.”

My grouchy professor shared these gems with us:

  1. “Get your loving at home” – He wasn’t talking about “wide stances” in airport stalls or flying off to South America to some concubine. HEAVENS NO! (although it would certainly apply) He was referring to the fact that we had to be OK with people not appreciating us when we took a stand, when we said “no,” and when we said “yes.”
  2. “Like a penny looking for change” – Which simply referred to someone who was clueless about where they were, what they wanted, or how to go about getting it.
  3. “People you supervise are going to take out unresolved issues with their fathers (or mothers for women) on you” – So whenever I got a particularly undeserved and nasty response from someone to a decision, an evaluation, or anything else I did, it helped me to think about it that way, “What did your parents do to you?”
  4. “When you’re getting run out of town, get out front and present you’re leading a parade.” – Now this he admitted was Abraham Lincoln’s statement but he put it to good use and reminded us that as leaders we could run afoul of the politics of the situation and to be aware of our surroundings.
  5. “Don’t pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel.” – Another great quote borrowed from someone else. In other words, make friends of the media. Today it should be something like, “Don’t pick a fight with someone who buys bandwidth by the terabyte.”

I wish I had video tapes of our classes, or at the very least my notes from the class so I didn’t lose any of his sayings. Unfortunately, these 20-plus years later, I don’t even remember his name; but, his amazing crusty personality stuck with me, as did many of his quips and barbs. His cranky sayings spring to mind at times when I run into people with an unresolved daddy complex, or are an aimless and wandering penny.

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You might also enjoy Bless His Cotton Socks, another post by Derek.

Don’t forget to check out GrantGoddess.com for grant writing tips and grant sources.