I just recorded a new episode in the Tips from the Grant Goddess podcast series. You can view it by going to our helloWorld site or you can click on the icon below and veiw it right now!
This episode is all about gathering effective MOUs and letters of support for your grant effort. The video is about 15 minutes long.
I just recorded a new episode in the Tips from the Grant Goddess podcast series. You can view it by going to our helloWorld site or you can click on the icon below and veiw it right now!
This episode is all about gathering effective MOUs and letters of support for your grant effort. The video is about 15 minutes long.
I just published two new grant-related articles. The first is End of Year Grant Management Tips. The article provides some down-to-earth tips for addressing the last quarter of your grant year.
The second article is What Comes Next If Your Grant Was Not Funded? This article gives some good tips for moving forward from a grant rejection notice.
I published these on HubPages where I have also published several other articles (or hubs, as they are called on HubPages). Feel free to add comments after you read them.
Take a few moments to check them out!
I just published two new grant-related articles. The first is End of Year Grant Management Tips. The article provides some down-to-earth tips for addressing the last quarter of your grant year.
The second article is What Comes Next If Your Grant Was Not Funded? This article gives some good tips for moving forward from a grant rejection notice.
I published these on HubPages where I have also published several other articles (or hubs, as they are called on HubPages). Feel free to add comments after you read them.
Take a few moments to check them out!
I mentioned it a few weeks ago, but the webcam contest is here now!
The purpose of the contest is to give our readers a chance to interact with us…and maybe win something, too!
Our May 2008 contest focuses on the interaction between your right brain and your left brain. Specifically, we want you to write and submit haiku poems that have something to do with grants. Your haiku could be about getting a grant, administering a grant, evaluating a grant, looking for a grant for your program, or even the frustrations of writing a grant. ANYTHING associated with grants! The word grant does not need to appear in the haiku.
What is a haiku?A haiku is a type of poem that has three lines. The first line has 5 syllables. The second line has 7 syllables. The third line has 5 syllables. That’s it.
What can you win? One winner will receive a free webcam and a 30 day free trial to helloWorld, a web-based social networking site that can help you easily create live video broadcasts, video podcasts, video email, video blogs, and more! Click here to check out helloWorld.
Submit your haiku by replying to this post or replying to the “May 2008 Contest” thread in our forum. You will have to register to the forum to reply. If you prefer, you may email your entry to Veronica@grantgoddess.com. If you choose to enter, your email information will not be shared or sold, and you will not be subjected to a bunch of spam.
Entries will be accepted between April 18, 2008 and May 31, 2008. The winner will be announced by June 6, 2008.
If you are the winner, you will be asked to submit your full name and address (which will remain confidential) so we can send you your prize. Failure to do so within 15 days will result in the loss of your prize and we’ll give the prize to the next ranked winner. The winner will not be charged any fees, shipping costs, etc.
y entering this contest, you agree that a) any haiku you submit is your original work, b) you give your permission for your haiku to be posted on the Grant Goddess web site, and c) you will receive no compensation for the posting of your haiku. You also agree that our decision regarding the winner is final.
You may enter as many times as you wish!
If you have any questions about the contest, you may send me those via the email adress above, too, or you may reply to this post with your question and I’ll ansswer it here for everyone to see. I’ll do my best to get you a timely response.So, it’s time to get creative!
Start writing those haiku!
I mentioned it a few weeks ago, but the webcam contest is here now!
The purpose of the contest is to give our readers a chance to interact with us…and maybe win something, too!
Our May 2008 contest focuses on the interaction between your right brain and your left brain. Specifically, we want you to write and submit haiku poems that have something to do with grants. Your haiku could be about getting a grant, administering a grant, evaluating a grant, looking for a grant for your program, or even the frustrations of writing a grant. ANYTHING associated with grants! The word grant does not need to appear in the haiku.
What is a haiku?A haiku is a type of poem that has three lines. The first line has 5 syllables. The second line has 7 syllables. The third line has 5 syllables. That’s it.
What can you win? One winner will receive a free webcam and a 30 day free trial to helloWorld, a web-based social networking site that can help you easily create live video broadcasts, video podcasts, video email, video blogs, and more! Click here to check out helloWorld.
Submit your haiku by replying to this post or replying to the “May 2008 Contest” thread in our forum. You will have to register to the forum to reply. If you prefer, you may email your entry to Veronica@grantgoddess.com. If you choose to enter, your email information will not be shared or sold, and you will not be subjected to a bunch of spam.
Entries will be accepted between April 18, 2008 and May 31, 2008. The winner will be announced by June 6, 2008.
If you are the winner, you will be asked to submit your full name and address (which will remain confidential) so we can send you your prize. Failure to do so within 15 days will result in the loss of your prize and we’ll give the prize to the next ranked winner. The winner will not be charged any fees, shipping costs, etc.
y entering this contest, you agree that a) any haiku you submit is your original work, b) you give your permission for your haiku to be posted on the Grant Goddess web site, and c) you will receive no compensation for the posting of your haiku. You also agree that our decision regarding the winner is final.
You may enter as many times as you wish!
If you have any questions about the contest, you may send me those via the email adress above, too, or you may reply to this post with your question and I’ll ansswer it here for everyone to see. I’ll do my best to get you a timely response.So, it’s time to get creative!
Start writing those haiku!
I know – I usually go on and on about how the money should not drive your vision, and how you should develop you vision and your plan first, and then work on finding funding. All of that is still true (and I will probably go on and on about it even more in the future!). However, there is a time when the budget is a critical part of the grant development process.
On the grant I am working on right now – the one that is due in less than 48 hours – that time would be NOW.
I have worked with my client on the vision and the plan development. We have talked about all the different components of the program and what they want to do, but what they actually can do, and how many individuals they can serve, depends on how much money they will have and how they will choose to use it. Until those decisions are made, my writing project is dead in the water.
So I wait.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could implement a million dollar program with $200,000? Yeah, that would be great. But we can’t, so we are forced to make the hard decisions.
Here’s the opportunity cost of waiting until the last minute (i.e., the day before the grant is due) to finalize those difficult budget decisions:
1) The final program design in the narrative cannot be written (or it will have to undergo major revisions) until the budget is finalized. This means that –
2) There will be a last minute rush to double-check all the facts and figures to make sure the budget matches the narrative. This means that –
3) There will likely be more errors than usual in the final proposal because rushing through something at the last minute is not the way to do your best work.
AND
4) Our proofing and editing time is now cut down by every hour that we are delayed at this point. I have lost the chance to put it down and come back for a review 24 hours later. We’ll probably be doing final proofing and editing on the due date, which is never the best case scenario.
How can this scenario be prevented? Move budget development up in the prioritization process. Ideally, the budget should be completed after the vision and program development process and before the narrative is written.
O.K., there are usually glitches in the grant development process and it’s not unusual for all the pieces to come together at the last minute (or close to it). I just feel better when the budget is done a bit sooner.
I know – I usually go on and on about how the money should not drive your vision, and how you should develop you vision and your plan first, and then work on finding funding. All of that is still true (and I will probably go on and on about it even more in the future!). However, there is a time when the budget is a critical part of the grant development process.
On the grant I am working on right now – the one that is due in less than 48 hours – that time would be NOW.
I have worked with my client on the vision and the plan development. We have talked about all the different components of the program and what they want to do, but what they actually can do, and how many individuals they can serve, depends on how much money they will have and how they will choose to use it. Until those decisions are made, my writing project is dead in the water.
So I wait.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could implement a million dollar program with $200,000? Yeah, that would be great. But we can’t, so we are forced to make the hard decisions.
Here’s the opportunity cost of waiting until the last minute (i.e., the day before the grant is due) to finalize those difficult budget decisions:
1) The final program design in the narrative cannot be written (or it will have to undergo major revisions) until the budget is finalized. This means that –
2) There will be a last minute rush to double-check all the facts and figures to make sure the budget matches the narrative. This means that –
3) There will likely be more errors than usual in the final proposal because rushing through something at the last minute is not the way to do your best work.
AND
4) Our proofing and editing time is now cut down by every hour that we are delayed at this point. I have lost the chance to put it down and come back for a review 24 hours later. We’ll probably be doing final proofing and editing on the due date, which is never the best case scenario.
How can this scenario be prevented? Move budget development up in the prioritization process. Ideally, the budget should be completed after the vision and program development process and before the narrative is written.
O.K., there are usually glitches in the grant development process and it’s not unusual for all the pieces to come together at the last minute (or close to it). I just feel better when the budget is done a bit sooner.
Here’s my challenge today… I’m writing a grant (don’t even ask why I am working on Saturday) and I have more needs data than I could possible use. I have a 40-page limit for the narrative and the needs section is worth 20 points (out of a possible 100), so only 20%-25% of my pages at most should be spent on the needs section.
The good news is that I have lots of data. I am usually challenged by not having enough hard data. The problem is prioritizing all this good information.
Here’s what I do:
1) Focus on the main issues. I may have some good data for some of the more peripheral problems faced by my client, but I need to stay focused on the main issues that we will be trying to address with the grant.
2) Decide which data best support those big issues. I have to cut loose (for now) the information that doesn’t make the strongest case.
3) For the data I won’t be using, mention tat it is available, and that it supports the rest of the findings. I don’t do this too much, though, or the readers will question why I didn’t include it all.
4) Use the data evenly. If I have loads of evidence to support one need and only one little stat to support another, I need to be careful. If I use all of what I have for the first issue, it will make the second one look very weak. Sometimes less really is more.
Here’s my challenge today… I’m writing a grant (don’t even ask why I am working on Saturday) and I have more needs data than I could possible use. I have a 40-page limit for the narrative and the needs section is worth 20 points (out of a possible 100), so only 20%-25% of my pages at most should be spent on the needs section.
The good news is that I have lots of data. I am usually challenged by not having enough hard data. The problem is prioritizing all this good information.
Here’s what I do:
1) Focus on the main issues. I may have some good data for some of the more peripheral problems faced by my client, but I need to stay focused on the main issues that we will be trying to address with the grant.
2) Decide which data best support those big issues. I have to cut loose (for now) the information that doesn’t make the strongest case.
3) For the data I won’t be using, mention tat it is available, and that it supports the rest of the findings. I don’t do this too much, though, or the readers will question why I didn’t include it all.
4) Use the data evenly. If I have loads of evidence to support one need and only one little stat to support another, I need to be careful. If I use all of what I have for the first issue, it will make the second one look very weak. Sometimes less really is more.