Category Archives: competitive grants

Grants Mean Change

It’s important to understand that grants mean change and that there is a predictable process to change within an organization. I learned when I was in a leadership position that it’s difficult to change a light bulb without stepping on someone’s toes so major changes require determined effort and planning.

There are many models for change process but the one I like best is an inverted bell curve with highs on both sides and a low in the middle.  In this model, people enter into the change process on a high with “uninformed optimism.” This is akin to the kind of the high you feel when your grant is funded.  WOOHOO! We just won a million dollar grant! But wait, as Forest Gump would say about getting a lot of money, it’s merely “One less thang.”

There are a bunch of other “thangs” still in play, like all the reasons you needed the funding. All the needs are still there, just as real and ever more pressing.  Only now you’re expected to solve them, you have to put staff and processes in place to do that.  It’s a lot of work.
Realizing that getting the grant doesn’t solve the needs is when people in the change process enter into the “informed pessimism” stage where all the difficulties involved in making the change emerge.  There are a plethora of challenges including new staff who need training, integrating new programs and staff with existing ones, etc. New staff in a new program tend to get overwhelmed and need a lot of direction for a while. Plus, they’re people so they need to be supervised, and list could go on and on…
Then as things get sorted out a little bit the bell curve usually takes an upswing. Optimism returns little by little as problems are sorted out, needs are being met, services are delivered, positive feedback and data are encouraging, the change becomes incorporated into the organization.
In planning a grant program, consider these important aspects of the change process:
  • Does the model fit your agency culture?
  • Do you have the right people for the work?
  • Do you have a plan for giving clear roles and responsibilities to everyone involved?
  • Are you prepared to give proper authority to those involved to ensure performance?
  • Prepare a plan to help existing employees adapt and grow with guidance.
  • Prepare a communication plan that encourages input and keeps people informed.

About the time you sort out all the change a grant creates, it is probably nearing the end of its funding cycle.  When a funding cycle ends, you may need to seek other funding, reduce the program scope, or phase out the program entirely.  Change is a natural cycle that grants create for an organization.  Boards and leadership need to understand how to lead a change process in order to successfully manage grants.

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

Ten Quick and Easy Ways to Make Any Grant Application Better

A professional grant writer pays attention to detail. Grant scorers can testify that there is a big difference between a professional’s grant application and one that is thrown together by an amateur or a committee. My experience reading grants confirms that a professional’s grant is a whole lot easier to score.  I appreciate that about professional grant writers when I am scoring grants.

Your already know that your job as a professional grant writer is to get your client funded. Accomplishing this goal requires that your grant makes the job of person scoring it easier. You can help ease the scoring of your grant by paying attention to details.

Here are a few suggestions that will improve your grant applications. Some of these suggestions are easier than others but all of them are easier than making a call to your client to tell them a grant was rejected.

1. Create a logic model for the grant program before starting to write the narrative. Include as an attachment if allowable.
2. Create a table of contents that follows the key narrative headings, required forms, and all other mandatory components described in the RFP. Do this even if it is not required.
3. Add consecutive pagination throughout unless the Request for Proposals (RFP) includes directions about pagination.
4. Ask someone to review your narrative who is not involved in the writing.
5. Use the scoring rubric included in the RFP to grade your narrative.
6. List objective numbers in a column beside each item in your budget.
7. Add explanatory text for each graphic, chart, and table.
8. Add an introductory paragraph that “sets the table” for the reader before jumping into the RFP outlined narrative.
9. Add a detailed management plan for both the grant and a separate one for the evaluation. If there’s no room for these in the body of the narrative, add them as attachments if allowable.
10. Use proper formatting for all citations.

Your grant applications will be more competitive if you do these ten things. It may not seem easy to add steps to the grant development process, but my goal in writing this is to make it easier for you to get funded. Good luck with your proposal!

Related Posts:

Top Five Mistakes of Novice Grant Writers

How Can You be a Better Grant Writer? Part I

How Can You be a Better Grant Writer Part II

Ten Quick and Easy Ways to Make Any Grant Application Better

A professional grant writer pays attention to detail. Grant scorers can testify that there is a big difference between a professional’s grant application and one that is thrown together by an amateur or a committee. My experience reading grants confirms that a professional’s grant is a whole lot easier to score.  I appreciate that about professional grant writers when I am scoring grants.

Your already know that your job as a professional grant writer is to get your client funded. Accomplishing this goal requires that your grant makes the job of person scoring it easier. You can help ease the scoring of your grant by paying attention to details.

Here are a few suggestions that will improve your grant applications. Some of these suggestions are easier than others but all of them are easier than making a call to your client to tell them a grant was rejected.

1. Create a logic model for the grant program before starting to write the narrative. Include as an attachment if allowable.
2. Create a table of contents that follows the key narrative headings, required forms, and all other mandatory components described in the RFP. Do this even if it is not required.
3. Add consecutive pagination throughout unless the Request for Proposals (RFP) includes directions about pagination.
4. Ask someone to review your narrative who is not involved in the writing.
5. Use the scoring rubric included in the RFP to grade your narrative.
6. List objective numbers in a column beside each item in your budget.
7. Add explanatory text for each graphic, chart, and table.
8. Add an introductory paragraph that “sets the table” for the reader before jumping into the RFP outlined narrative.
9. Add a detailed management plan for both the grant and a separate one for the evaluation. If there’s no room for these in the body of the narrative, add them as attachments if allowable.
10. Use proper formatting for all citations.

Your grant applications will be more competitive if you do these ten things. It may not seem easy to add steps to the grant development process, but my goal in writing this is to make it easier for you to get funded. Good luck with your proposal!

Related Posts:

Top Five Mistakes of Novice Grant Writers

How Can You be a Better Grant Writer? Part I

How Can You be a Better Grant Writer Part II

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

How Much Is Writing Your Own Grants Costing You?

Some costs are easy to calculate.  You look at the price tag on something, and it’s pretty clear. However, most people calculate cost only in terms of the cost of having something, rather than the cost of not having it.  For example, depending on the time of year, you may think that the cost of fresh fruit is pretty high, and that might lead to choose not to buy it. Sometimes, though, you’ll think about the cost to your health of not having that fruit. When you weigh that cost against the dollar cost you have a more accurate picture of the real costs and you can make a more informed decision.

The same thing is true in the world of grant writing. People see the costs associated with hiring a professional grant writer and some decide it’s definitely a worthwhile expense (the smart ones) while others decide that it’s just too much and they’d rather do it themselves.

So, can you afford to hire a grant writer?  Before you answer that question, you need to ask yourself another very important question:  How much will writing your grant yourself really cost you?

First, consider the value of your time. Your time is definitely worth something.  If you’ll be writing the grant proposal during your work hours, you can apply your hourly or daily rate.  If you’ll be working on it beyond work  hours during your personal time, you’ll need to assign a value to that time also.  What is an hour of time with your children worth to you? We’re talking about opportunity cost here. If you’re working on the grant, you’re giving up time that could have been spent on something else. Everything is a trade off.

Next, you’ll need to calculate the value of the time of anyone who will be assisting you – administrative assistants, accounting clerks, collaborative partners, etc. Their time counts, too

Then, figure out how many hours the project will take you to complete. This is not easy task.  I can tell you for certain that it will take you more time than you expect.  So, once you have calculated the number of hours you expect to spend, add 30%.

When you multiple the number of hours by the hourly rate, you’ll have an estimate of the cost, in dollars, of writing your own grant.  At this point, most people realize that hiring a professional grant writer is definitely worth it, but we haven’t even come to the most expensive part of the equation.

If you are successful with your grant application, the expense will seem worth it, right?  But if you are not successful, your decision to do it yourself will have cost you not only the time involved in preparing the proposal, but the amount of the grant award itself.

The truth is that professional grant writers who write grants for a living (as opposed to those who do it as a side job or as a hobby) have a much higher success rate than the average, so your chances of actually getting the grant are higher when you use a real professional than if you do it yourself.  That risk vs. success factor should also be calculated into your decision.

The next time you think that hiring a professional grant writer is too expensive, ask yourself how much doing it yourself will really cost you.

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Related Posts:

Grant Writing Training at Taco Bell?

Gauging the Success of a Proposal Writer

Grant Writing is a Team Sport

————————————

Get a free e-book on Non-Profit Grant Writing to help you with your work.

————————————

How Much Is Writing Your Own Grants Costing You?

Some costs are easy to calculate.  You look at the price tag on something, and it’s pretty clear. However, most people calculate cost only in terms of the cost of having something, rather than the cost of not having it.  For example, depending on the time of year, you may think that the cost of fresh fruit is pretty high, and that might lead to choose not to buy it. Sometimes, though, you’ll think about the cost to your health of not having that fruit. When you weigh that cost against the dollar cost you have a more accurate picture of the real costs and you can make a more informed decision.

The same thing is true in the world of grant writing. People see the costs associated with hiring a professional grant writer and some decide it’s definitely a worthwhile expense (the smart ones) while others decide that it’s just too much and they’d rather do it themselves.

So, can you afford to hire a grant writer?  Before you answer that question, you need to ask yourself another very important question:  How much will writing your grant yourself really cost you?

First, consider the value of your time. Your time is definitely worth something.  If you’ll be writing the grant proposal during your work hours, you can apply your hourly or daily rate.  If you’ll be working on it beyond work  hours during your personal time, you’ll need to assign a value to that time also.  What is an hour of time with your children worth to you? We’re talking about opportunity cost here. If you’re working on the grant, you’re giving up time that could have been spent on something else. Everything is a trade off.

Next, you’ll need to calculate the value of the time of anyone who will be assisting you – administrative assistants, accounting clerks, collaborative partners, etc. Their time counts, too

Then, figure out how many hours the project will take you to complete. This is not easy task.  I can tell you for certain that it will take you more time than you expect.  So, once you have calculated the number of hours you expect to spend, add 30%.

When you multiple the number of hours by the hourly rate, you’ll have an estimate of the cost, in dollars, of writing your own grant.  At this point, most people realize that hiring a professional grant writer is definitely worth it, but we haven’t even come to the most expensive part of the equation.

If you are successful with your grant application, the expense will seem worth it, right?  But if you are not successful, your decision to do it yourself will have cost you not only the time involved in preparing the proposal, but the amount of the grant award itself.

The truth is that professional grant writers who write grants for a living (as opposed to those who do it as a side job or as a hobby) have a much higher success rate than the average, so your chances of actually getting the grant are higher when you use a real professional than if you do it yourself.  That risk vs. success factor should also be calculated into your decision.

The next time you think that hiring a professional grant writer is too expensive, ask yourself how much doing it yourself will really cost you.

————————————–
Related Posts:

Grant Writing Training at Taco Bell?

Gauging the Success of a Proposal Writer

Grant Writing is a Team Sport

————————————

Get a free e-book on Non-Profit Grant Writing to help you with your work.

————————————

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

Relax….and Tell your Story

Sometimes we talk so much about the technical aspects of grant writing that we forget to stress the most important thing – It’s all about telling your story. It’s the story of where you have been, where you are now, and most importantly, where your organization is going. Your ultimate purpose is to communicate your story in a compelling enough way to convince a funder to invest in you. Even in a large federal competition in which readers are assigning scores to sections of your proposal (sometimes they even assign scores to subsections), it’s still about how clearly you can communicate a compelling story.

I have read grants that were technically quite good, but they lacked any feel of authenticity, any sense of genuine commitment to the cause or vision.  On the other hand, I have also read grants that had many technical issues, but communicated a powerful sense of commitment, competence, and passion for the vision.

Don’t get me wrong. The best scenario is to tell a compelling story within the context of a document that is technically superior, but the primary purpose of communicating your story should always been in the forefront of your mind.

The best grants, like the best in any genre of writing, are the ones that read easily, like a story well told. You are left with a clear understanding of what is being proposed, who is proposing it, and why they are proposing it. Technical prowess helps you use language to bring the story to center stage, but it can’t take the place of having a compelling story to tell.

So relax…..and just tell your story.

Relax….and Tell your Story

Sometimes we talk so much about the technical aspects of grant writing that we forget to stress the most important thing – It’s all about telling your story. It’s the story of where you have been, where you are now, and most importantly, where your organization is going. Your ultimate purpose is to communicate your story in a compelling enough way to convince a funder to invest in you. Even in a large federal competition in which readers are assigning scores to sections of your proposal (sometimes they even assign scores to subsections), it’s still about how clearly you can communicate a compelling story.

I have read grants that were technically quite good, but they lacked any feel of authenticity, any sense of genuine commitment to the cause or vision.  On the other hand, I have also read grants that had many technical issues, but communicated a powerful sense of commitment, competence, and passion for the vision.

Don’t get me wrong. The best scenario is to tell a compelling story within the context of a document that is technically superior, but the primary purpose of communicating your story should always been in the forefront of your mind.

The best grants, like the best in any genre of writing, are the ones that read easily, like a story well told. You are left with a clear understanding of what is being proposed, who is proposing it, and why they are proposing it. Technical prowess helps you use language to bring the story to center stage, but it can’t take the place of having a compelling story to tell.

So relax…..and just tell your story.

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

Tips for Preparing Grants with Short Deadlines

In a perfect world, you would have months to prepare a quality grant application for a large federal competition. Wake up now. This is the real world, and if you have 30 days, you are way ahead of the norm.

In many cases, by the time you get approval to submit a proposal, you may have 2 or 3 weeks until the deadline. Under those conditions, submitting a quality application can seem impossible, but it’s not. Here are some tips to help you make it through a big application with a short timeline.

1. Read the instructions completely – before you do anything else. If you have followed my grant writing advice on this blog, the website, twitter, or my BlogTalkRadio show, it seems like you hear me say the say thing over and over again – read and follow the instructions. It’s always important, but when you have little time between when you start the process and when the grant is due, it’s even more important to read the instructions thoroughly from the start. Every day matters, and you really don’t want to find out three days before the deadline that you need letters of support or that the Intent to Apply (due three weeks ago) was required. Trust me on this. Take the time to read the whole RFP start to finish before you do anything else.

2. Make a list of information you’ll need from partners as you are reading the RFP or very soon afterward. Your partners will be able to respond to your needs more quickly if you give them a checklist that they can easily follow. When you have 30-45 days to work, you can develop that list collaboratively, but with a deadline of 2 weeks or less, you simply don’t have the time.

3. Get the partners together quickly to agree on a program design. You can do this through an in-person meeting or a conference call, but assemble as many of the project partners as quickly as possible so you can reach agreement quickly on a project design.

4. If letters of support or Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) are needed, start gathering the as soon as you have decided on a program design. In a normal grant development process, you have the luxury of developing the narrative first, but when the process is accelerated, you need to develop narrative and gather letters concurrently.

5. Develop a budget and the program design at the same meeting, if possible. People usually want to walk away from the program design meeting to work on the budget later, but it will be very helpful to you if you are able to agree on the budget – at least in general terms – at the same time that you talk about the project design. Try putting up some butcher paper and sketching the budget as the design conversation progresses.

Preparing a large grant application in 2 weeks or less can be a challenge. These tips can help make the task a little easier.

Tips for Preparing Grants with Short Deadlines

In a perfect world, you would have months to prepare a quality grant application for a large federal competition. Wake up now. This is the real world, and if you have 30 days, you are way ahead of the norm.

In many cases, by the time you get approval to submit a proposal, you may have 2 or 3 weeks until the deadline. Under those conditions, submitting a quality application can seem impossible, but it’s not. Here are some tips to help you make it through a big application with a short timeline.

1. Read the instructions completely – before you do anything else. If you have followed my grant writing advice on this blog, the website, twitter, or my BlogTalkRadio show, it seems like you hear me say the say thing over and over again – read and follow the instructions. It’s always important, but when you have little time between when you start the process and when the grant is due, it’s even more important to read the instructions thoroughly from the start. Every day matters, and you really don’t want to find out three days before the deadline that you need letters of support or that the Intent to Apply (due three weeks ago) was required. Trust me on this. Take the time to read the whole RFP start to finish before you do anything else.

2. Make a list of information you’ll need from partners as you are reading the RFP or very soon afterward. Your partners will be able to respond to your needs more quickly if you give them a checklist that they can easily follow. When you have 30-45 days to work, you can develop that list collaboratively, but with a deadline of 2 weeks or less, you simply don’t have the time.

3. Get the partners together quickly to agree on a program design. You can do this through an in-person meeting or a conference call, but assemble as many of the project partners as quickly as possible so you can reach agreement quickly on a project design.

4. If letters of support or Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) are needed, start gathering the as soon as you have decided on a program design. In a normal grant development process, you have the luxury of developing the narrative first, but when the process is accelerated, you need to develop narrative and gather letters concurrently.

5. Develop a budget and the program design at the same meeting, if possible. People usually want to walk away from the program design meeting to work on the budget later, but it will be very helpful to you if you are able to agree on the budget – at least in general terms – at the same time that you talk about the project design. Try putting up some butcher paper and sketching the budget as the design conversation progresses.

Preparing a large grant application in 2 weeks or less can be a challenge. These tips can help make the task a little easier.

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

Is this the longest grant season ever, or what?

I was chatting with some folks back in January about the potential for this year’s grant writing season and, at that time, none of us really knew what was going to happen. Would the poor economy cause the grant business to dry up? Would there be more grants than usual because of the availability of federal stimulus money?

I was pleasantly surprised early in the season when so many grants appeared so early. We were submitting federal education and DOJ grants in January, which is a little early, compared to most years. A little bit of stimulus money appeared in the form of discretionary grants, but not much. The season slowed a little in April (I even released the temporary help that I hired for the season) and we thought it was over.

Then came the second wave of releases, and now we’re working on projects that are due in June. A lot of them.

By June I’m usually cleaning off my desk and planning some vacation time (when I’m not at a Giants game, anyway).

This year is a little different. The season keeps going, and going, and going…….which is, of course, really good news. It’s great news for me and my staff. It’s also really good news for any of you who were a little busy worried about things in your organization to get a jump on the grant season this year.

There are still some really good opportunities out there.

Get busy!