Category Archives: grant outline

Grant Writing Made Easy

We make everything easy these days. Microwave ovens made cooking easy. GPS relieved men from stopping to ask for directions after getting hopelessly lost. Some cars parallel park all by themselves. Debit cards all but replaced checks making it easier to get and spend money.

Most of our lives is so much easier now; it’s about time to make grant writing easy too. Here are ten ideas to make your grant writing easy. Don’t skip a step or you’re going to make your writing hard again!

  1. Hire a grant writer; but, if you’re still determined to write the grant yourself, proceed to steps 2 – 9.
  2. Get a really-really comfortable chair because you’re going to be there a while.
  3. Get a second screen for your computer so you can have multiple documents open at once and still see at least two of them.
  4. Get extra ink and paper for your printer so you don’t have to run to Office Max in the middle of production.
  5. Get a grant outline or write your own.
  6. Get one or two grant samples at http://grantsample.com/ to read before you start to write.
  7. Push the DND button on your phone (that’s “Do Not Disturb”) and let the answering machine handle the calls from sales people and neighbors wondering why your lights were on until 3 AM.
  8. Hit crtl-S every few minutes to save the work so you don’t experience the Prozac-inducing experience of a frozen computer and lost narrative.
  9. Highlight in yellow the areas you need more information about so you don’t forget to go back to them and highlight in green items that you need to remember to put into the budget.
  10. Plan ahead on how you are delivering the finished grant so you aren’t driving it like a maniac to beat a deadline at the last moment.

Even following all of the steps above aren’t guaranteed to make your grant writing easy. When you are writing grants you will find that some narratives just flow easily from your mind while others will cause writer’s block and even the most comfy chair won’t unblock you. If you are really looking for the easy button on grant writing, it’s hiring a professional to do it for you!

This post was written by non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link.
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Want mroe grant writing tips?  Check out our free webinars or sign up for an online seminar or course at our Online Leanring Center.  

Grant Writing Made Easy

We make everything easy these days. Microwave ovens made cooking easy. GPS relieved men from stopping to ask for directions after getting hopelessly lost. Some cars parallel park all by themselves. Debit cards all but replaced checks making it easier to get and spend money.

Most of our lives is so much easier now; it’s about time to make grant writing easy too. Here are ten ideas to make your grant writing easy. Don’t skip a step or you’re going to make your writing hard again!

  1. Hire a grant writer; but, if you’re still determined to write the grant yourself, proceed to steps 2 – 9.
  2. Get a really-really comfortable chair because you’re going to be there a while.
  3. Get a second screen for your computer so you can have multiple documents open at once and still see at least two of them.
  4. Get extra ink and paper for your printer so you don’t have to run to Office Max in the middle of production.
  5. Get a grant outline or write your own.
  6. Get one or two grant samples at http://grantsample.com/ to read before you start to write.
  7. Push the DND button on your phone (that’s “Do Not Disturb”) and let the answering machine handle the calls from sales people and neighbors wondering why your lights were on until 3 AM.
  8. Hit crtl-S every few minutes to save the work so you don’t experience the Prozac-inducing experience of a frozen computer and lost narrative.
  9. Highlight in yellow the areas you need more information about so you don’t forget to go back to them and highlight in green items that you need to remember to put into the budget.
  10. Plan ahead on how you are delivering the finished grant so you aren’t driving it like a maniac to beat a deadline at the last moment.

Even following all of the steps above aren’t guaranteed to make your grant writing easy. When you are writing grants you will find that some narratives just flow easily from your mind while others will cause writer’s block and even the most comfy chair won’t unblock you. If you are really looking for the easy button on grant writing, it’s hiring a professional to do it for you!

This post was written by non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link.
————————————-
 
Want mroe grant writing tips?  Check out our free webinars or sign up for an online seminar or course at our Online Leanring Center.  

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

The Value of a Good Grant Outline

Dr. Beaubien was my ninth grade English teacher, a stern woman with a love of language she managed to inspire in some of us; that, in spite of her inflexible, homework-laden methods.

Dr. Beaubien also placed a lot of faith in what she called the I-form method of writing essays. At the top of the “I” was an intro paragraph followed by three topic paragraphs followed by a closing paragraph. Nice, neat, and organized is how Dr. Beaubien liked her classroom and that’s how she liked our essays.

It’s quite possible that Dr. Beaubien is the person responsible for making me a grant writer. I learned early on the importance of a good outline for writing. Grants lend themselves well to developing an outline; although regretfully, I’ve never come across a five paragraph grant narrative.

The first thing I do when writing a grant is to make an outline of the narrative and add comments and key terms I want to use in the writing. I gather this from a close inspection of the request for application (rfa).

Outlines are a good idea for these reasons:

  1. A grant outline ensures that you follow the rfa or rfp guidelines.
  2. A grant outline helps you sort out your thinking about what you need to gather to write the grant.
  3. A grant outline ensures that you see the big picture so that your narrative all ties together neatly in the end.

Dr. Beaubien had it right, organize your writing. It takes some time and effort to create a grant outline, but there are places online where Creative Resources publishes Grant Outlines for writers to use like http://grantoutline.com/. Whether you decide to create your own or buy one created by our expert writers, a grant outline is a great tool in successful grant writing.

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For a limited time, to celebrate the launch of http://grantoutline.com/, you can get an outline for the current Full Service Community Schools grant competition (complete with expert tips and suggestions) for just $2.99!
Would you like to read some samples of successful grant proposals?  Visit http://grantsample.com/

————————
This post was written by non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link.

The Value of a Good Grant Outline

Dr. Beaubien was my ninth grade English teacher, a stern woman with a love of language she managed to inspire in some of us; that, in spite of her inflexible, homework-laden methods.

Dr. Beaubien also placed a lot of faith in what she called the I-form method of writing essays. At the top of the “I” was an intro paragraph followed by three topic paragraphs followed by a closing paragraph. Nice, neat, and organized is how Dr. Beaubien liked her classroom and that’s how she liked our essays.

It’s quite possible that Dr. Beaubien is the person responsible for making me a grant writer. I learned early on the importance of a good outline for writing. Grants lend themselves well to developing an outline; although regretfully, I’ve never come across a five paragraph grant narrative.

The first thing I do when writing a grant is to make an outline of the narrative and add comments and key terms I want to use in the writing. I gather this from a close inspection of the request for application (rfa).

Outlines are a good idea for these reasons:

  1. A grant outline ensures that you follow the rfa or rfp guidelines.
  2. A grant outline helps you sort out your thinking about what you need to gather to write the grant.
  3. A grant outline ensures that you see the big picture so that your narrative all ties together neatly in the end.

Dr. Beaubien had it right, organize your writing. It takes some time and effort to create a grant outline, but there are places online where Creative Resources publishes Grant Outlines for writers to use like http://grantoutline.com/. Whether you decide to create your own or buy one created by our expert writers, a grant outline is a great tool in successful grant writing.

————————-

For a limited time, to celebrate the launch of http://grantoutline.com/, you can get an outline for the current Full Service Community Schools grant competition (complete with expert tips and suggestions) for just $2.99!
Would you like to read some samples of successful grant proposals?  Visit http://grantsample.com/

————————
This post was written by non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link.

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