What’s the Value of a Mini-Grant?

Mini-grants are grants for a relatively small amount of money.  Some people call a grant a mini-grant if it is for less than $1,000.  Others think it’s a mini-grant if it is for less than $10,000. There’s no formal definition, but you get the point, right?  Mini-grants are small grants.

Because they are small, they don’t get the respect they deserve. Large grants of $100,000 or more are sexy and get lots of attention, and people clamor to complete proposals for the big grants, but some mini-grant awards are granted with relatively little competition. 

Why?  People look for a big dollar solution to multiple problems rather than multiple smaller dollar solutions. This is a mistake. It’s like jumping off a boat into the ocean before you know how to swim.

Mini-grants are the wading pools of the grant world. They provide you valuable grant writing experience.  When you do well, you are rewarded with a payoff that can help you fund something your organization needs. When you fail, you learn a lesson without having invested hundreds of hours to learn it.  And with each failure, you get a little better.  With each mini-grant success, you gain a little confidence.

Then you move from the wading pool of mini-grants to the deep end of the big pool, and you apply for some mid-size grants. Success gives you the skill and confidence you need to fish in the big ocean of large grants.

The first grant I wrote was a mini-grant. It was a five page application, and I struggled with it for a week. The 30-75 page applications I write now contain most of the same components as that first mini-grant, but they feel different. The only real difference is that now I know how to “swim.”

So, what’s the real value of a mini-grant? Mini-grants can give you more than a few hundred or a few thousand dollars.  They can give you the experience and confidence you need to succeed with larger grants in the future.

That makes them very valuable.

Become a member of grantgoddess.com to have access to Mini-Grant Central in the new CRR Forum!

Don’t Let Opportunity Slip Away

The charter member rate for membership in the GrantGoddess.com Member Site expires in 7 days (January 31, 2010). Those of you who follow our blog know that I do not use it as forum for selling stuff.  We’re pretty committed to keeping it as a useful resource for you.  However, I’m breaking my own rule in this case because of the incredible opportunity that will have passed you by if you miss the charter member rate.

We just launched the new website and the member site earlier this month.  We’re offering membership for January ONLY at a ridiculously reduced rate of $5.95 per month (or $59 per year).  On February 1, the rate goes up to $9.99 per month, and in June, it will go up again to $19.99 per month. 

But those who join now at the charter member rate will never see an increase in their membership.  Never.

For just about the price of a Venti Mocha you can have access to an abundance of grant resources, tips, and training – and the collection of resources is growing every day.

So, do yourself a favor and take a look at everything that you get for your membership.

One more thing……On February 1, we’ll be holding a drawing.  One of our charter members will receive a FREE annual membership.  That’s right.  Join at the really low charter rate and win a chance to get a year free.  You can’t beat that.

If you have any questions, just ask.

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

Don’t Let Opportunity Slip Away

The charter member rate for membership in the GrantGoddess.com Member Site expires in 7 days (January 31, 2010). Those of you who follow our blog know that I do not use it as forum for selling stuff.  We’re pretty committed to keeping it as a useful resource for you.  However, I’m breaking my own rule in this case because of the incredible opportunity that will have passed you by if you miss the charter member rate.

We just launched the new website and the member site earlier this month.  We’re offering membership for January ONLY at a ridiculously reduced rate of $5.95 per month (or $59 per year).  On February 1, the rate goes up to $9.99 per month, and in June, it will go up again to $19.99 per month. 

But those who join now at the charter member rate will never see an increase in their membership.  Never.

For just about the price of a Venti Mocha you can have access to an abundance of grant resources, tips, and training – and the collection of resources is growing every day.

So, do yourself a favor and take a look at everything that you get for your membership.

One more thing……On February 1, we’ll be holding a drawing.  One of our charter members will receive a FREE annual membership.  That’s right.  Join at the really low charter rate and win a chance to get a year free.  You can’t beat that.

If you have any questions, just ask.

End on the Last Page

This is my one of my favorite grant writing secrets – not because it’s brilliant, but because it always brings a quizzical look to peoples’ faces.

Here’s the deal. If you are allowed 25 pages of narrative for a grant proposal, you need to end your proposal on the 25th page. Everyone else will.  If yours is shorter, the readers will notice that you didn’t use all of the space allocated to you and that everyone else did.  Then the readers will start flipping through your proposal trying to find what you left out.  Once they start looking for something missing, you’re done – because they will find something missing, some detail that isn’t clear enough.

So, if you find that you are finished with a grant narrative and you haven’t ended on the last page, go back and add more detail to your proposal. Where could data make your case stronger?  What element of your program design could be described more fully?

Add enough detail so your proposal ends on the last page.

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

End on the Last Page

This is my one of my favorite grant writing secrets – not because it’s brilliant, but because it always brings a quizzical look to peoples’ faces.

Here’s the deal. If you are allowed 25 pages of narrative for a grant proposal, you need to end your proposal on the 25th page. Everyone else will.  If yours is shorter, the readers will notice that you didn’t use all of the space allocated to you and that everyone else did.  Then the readers will start flipping through your proposal trying to find what you left out.  Once they start looking for something missing, you’re done – because they will find something missing, some detail that isn’t clear enough.

So, if you find that you are finished with a grant narrative and you haven’t ended on the last page, go back and add more detail to your proposal. Where could data make your case stronger?  What element of your program design could be described more fully?

Add enough detail so your proposal ends on the last page.

The Relationship Between Evaluation and Grant Writing

While it’s true that evaluation and grant writing are completely separate disciplines, there is an important link between them. Yes, report writing and grant writing both involve writing, but the connection is even more important than that and, unfortunately, it is often overlooked.

The connection?  Data.

The data you gather to evaluate your programs is very valuable for demonstrating both your need for additional funding and your capacity to implement programs effectively.

Even if there is not a grant proposal on the horizon for you, you should prioritize your data collection and evaluation activities very highly. Then, when a grant opportunity comes up that is right for you, you’ll be ready.

When I teach grant writing workshops, I ask participants to imagine that they are grant makers.  You have $5.00 in your pocket to give to someone.  There are many people competing for your favor, and you are charged with a very difficult decision – who should get your $5.00?  You want to spend it well so it will really make a difference.  Everyone has a need, but some people have solid evaluation data to demonstrate not oly what they need, but to prove that when they implement a solution, it is successful in meeting the need they targeted. Wouldn’t you want your money to go to those programs that have powerful evidence of positive impact?

When you get the grant, the loop gets even stronger because you can use some of your grant funds to support evaluation activities, which help you build an even stronger case in future fund raising and grant writing.

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

The Relationship Between Evaluation and Grant Writing

While it’s true that evaluation and grant writing are completely separate disciplines, there is an important link between them. Yes, report writing and grant writing both involve writing, but the connection is even more important than that and, unfortunately, it is often overlooked.

The connection?  Data.

The data you gather to evaluate your programs is very valuable for demonstrating both your need for additional funding and your capacity to implement programs effectively.

Even if there is not a grant proposal on the horizon for you, you should prioritize your data collection and evaluation activities very highly. Then, when a grant opportunity comes up that is right for you, you’ll be ready.

When I teach grant writing workshops, I ask participants to imagine that they are grant makers.  You have $5.00 in your pocket to give to someone.  There are many people competing for your favor, and you are charged with a very difficult decision – who should get your $5.00?  You want to spend it well so it will really make a difference.  Everyone has a need, but some people have solid evaluation data to demonstrate not oly what they need, but to prove that when they implement a solution, it is successful in meeting the need they targeted. Wouldn’t you want your money to go to those programs that have powerful evidence of positive impact?

When you get the grant, the loop gets even stronger because you can use some of your grant funds to support evaluation activities, which help you build an even stronger case in future fund raising and grant writing.

Using the IRS Form 990 for Grant Research

By Derek Link, Non-Profit Consultant

The IRS requires that certain federally tax-exempt organizations file an IRS Form 990 as an annual mechanism for reporting income and expenses as well as other useful information. The 990 form provides information on the filing organization’s mission, officers, Board members, programs, and finances including assets, expenses, income, and grants.

All of this information can be useful to non-profit organizations looking for grant makers likely to make a grant to support their cause. The 990 gives information that is especially revealing for the purposes of grant research. A list of grants is included for that year. This information usually includes:

1. Recipient Agency Name
2. Grant Amounts
3. Agency Address
4. General purpose of the grant

I recommend using the 990 to gather the following information about the grant maker:

  • The range of grants that the agency made that year. 
  • The number of agencies that are similar to yours that received grants and the amounts and purposes of those grants.
  • The geographic locations where the agencies were that received funding.
  • The specific purposes of the grants. Were any of them for the same purpose for which you are seeking a grant?

If the 990 information for the previous year appears to make a grant maker a good bet for funding, I recommend going back one or two more years to review those 990 forms to verify the information.I also recommend looking at the current guidelines and even calling the grant maker (if such calls are allowable) to make certain that the grant you wish to submit will be of interest to the organization.

My last tip is this – if a grant maker indicates that it does not accept unsolicited proposals, look in the 990 form to see who is in charge of the foundation and who sits on their Board of Directors. You may have a contact among those names, or you could know someone who knows someone who would make an approach on your behalf or arrange a meeting. “Six degrees of Separation” can be a useful principle in making contacts that can lead to an invitation to submit a proposal.

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

Using the IRS Form 990 for Grant Research

By Derek Link, Non-Profit Consultant

The IRS requires that certain federally tax-exempt organizations file an IRS Form 990 as an annual mechanism for reporting income and expenses as well as other useful information. The 990 form provides information on the filing organization’s mission, officers, Board members, programs, and finances including assets, expenses, income, and grants.

All of this information can be useful to non-profit organizations looking for grant makers likely to make a grant to support their cause. The 990 gives information that is especially revealing for the purposes of grant research. A list of grants is included for that year. This information usually includes:

1. Recipient Agency Name
2. Grant Amounts
3. Agency Address
4. General purpose of the grant

I recommend using the 990 to gather the following information about the grant maker:

  • The range of grants that the agency made that year. 
  • The number of agencies that are similar to yours that received grants and the amounts and purposes of those grants.
  • The geographic locations where the agencies were that received funding.
  • The specific purposes of the grants. Were any of them for the same purpose for which you are seeking a grant?

If the 990 information for the previous year appears to make a grant maker a good bet for funding, I recommend going back one or two more years to review those 990 forms to verify the information.I also recommend looking at the current guidelines and even calling the grant maker (if such calls are allowable) to make certain that the grant you wish to submit will be of interest to the organization.

My last tip is this – if a grant maker indicates that it does not accept unsolicited proposals, look in the 990 form to see who is in charge of the foundation and who sits on their Board of Directors. You may have a contact among those names, or you could know someone who knows someone who would make an approach on your behalf or arrange a meeting. “Six degrees of Separation” can be a useful principle in making contacts that can lead to an invitation to submit a proposal.

Grant Writing – A Romantic Misconception

By Derek Link, Non-Profit Consultant

The image of a warm fire crackling softly in the background, a golden retriever slumbering at his feet, perhaps even a hot cup of tea steaming beside the keyboard is the image of a grant writer’s days. No stress involved, just bucolic surroundings, creative narrative editing, just an aura of cerebral bliss, day-after-day.

Yeah, right. It’s more like a flue fire roaring, dog barking, cold forgotten teabag in a cup that was hot yesterday, piles of paper with scribbles and spotted with post-its, draft after red-edited draft scattered in loose piles on chairs and couches, and an impending deadline that is literally a deadline.

Grant writing, like most writing, can be romanticized beyond reality. Oh, there’s an art to it all right, but even art is mostly – as artists will tell you – about dogged determination and ongoing stubborn effort. Grant writing is all about striving with narrative to make it say what you want it to say in the way you want it to be said, and all within the confines of a page limit, a specific font size, and between margins of unbending width.

Grant writing is more akin to technical writing than to creative writing. Grant writing necessitates curbing your creative juices in order to stay on point and not stray off into irrelevant and space-stealing witticisms or flowery jibber-jabber. There is an element of creative writing to a grant because for the most part you’re writing about a program that does not exist yet, but effective grant narratives are mostly direct, expository copy in topic-specific, technical language.

I’ve had conversations with people about what I do and I tend to get this dreamy-eyed response from some of them. Their verbal response goes something like, “Oh, I’d LOVE to be a grant writer someday” as they mentally drift off to the study in fuzzy slippers. Their ignorance amuses me because I know the truth, but then I was there at one time myself.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. I am not masochistic and making a living writing grants as some form of monastic self-flagellation. I do enjoy it, but it is definitely a love-hate relationship. I love the challenge and hate the deadline. I love the research and hate the restrictions.I love the competition and hate losing. I love the fact that there is a financial reward for the client (and me). I do enjoy grant writing, but the romance was gone forever as soon as I got my first edit and response from my grant writing mentor.

In my pre-grant-writing-career fantasies I had imagined finishing a sparkling narrative, pulling the crisp paper from the typewriter with a flourish and placing it respectfully upon the finished stack, putting a match to my pipe and puffing happily whilst sipping my steaming Earl Gray as Skipper wagged in proper canine admiration.

Sadly, there’s always someone who’s going to inject reality and burst the bubble. In my case it was a short, slightly sarcastic, practical-joker who could brilliantly dissect my narratives and never apologize for the lack of anesthetic. Alas, most unrealistic romantic grant writing fantasies are bound to end that way.

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