Grant Writing.

I've been asked by my employer if I would like to go to a couple of training sessions to learn how to write grant requests. They've got me signed up for two sessions. I did find this website with what seems like some valuable information: http://www.npguides.org/

Is there anyone here with experience that can offer some further insight or advice? Do you enjoy doing this or is it/can it be really difficult?

How THAT for a non-answer?!

It depends on your organization and why they're seeking grant funding. If they're just trying to "generate revenue" you're going to have a difficult time getting awards (funders can smell that a mile away), but if your organization is working on some innovative programs and can show results, you'll have an easier time. It also helps to have an organization where the staff are genuinely engaged in seeking grant funding -- you'll want a program director who's really motivated, so you're not writing these things on your own.

That was a great answer. Told me a lot, really. Gives me some things to think about. :hi:

Statement of Need -- be able to show that what you're proposing is going to do a lot of good for a lot of people.

Supporting Data -- be able to show that preliminary work in your area has shown some promising results. Even family foundations are not willing to throw money at "it sounded like a good idea at the time" programs. On a related note, be prepared to have a way of demonstrating your results if you're funded.

Sustainability -- if you're talking about a long-term, ongoing program, funders REALLY LIKE to see a plan for sustainability. That is, once my three year grant for vaccinating inner city children expires, the program will continue without the sponsors funding because...

Good point! I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!

http://www.seanet.com/~sylvie/grants.htm

Additionally, you can find information under the learning section of the foundationcenter.org site. They call the grants proposals, but it's the same thing.

http://foundationcenter.org/

As far as the actual process goes it depends wholly in my opinion on how much you believe in the project as well as if the people running it have any sense at all. The latter is, far too often (imo), not the case. x(

resource that site is.

I also subscribe to their database on CD-ROM. They are a wonderful, professional organization and I couldn't do my job without their site or information.

Nice and concise list of information. This is going to be very interesting, I think.

Check these out.

http://foundationcenter.org/getstarted/learnabout/proposalwriting.html

Great, great stuff. Good luck!

I'm taking two sessions. The first will be a basic session and for the second session a few weeks later, they ask you to bring your own proposal to analyze. Sound like I'm going to have some work to do in those couple of weeks.

This information will go a long way in helping me be prepared. Much appreciated! :hi:

Use it!

It depends on your writing skills and the support your agency gives you, I think. I have written grants for my agency, not the big Many hundred thousand dollar grants, but the small local ones, and they were easy for me. The big ones, I have seen, and they are written as a team effort with several people involved. I would not want to write those any other way.

Write in a concise manner. Know who the reader is. Be able to speak about the need and the impact that you intend to have. That's my insight into this anyway.

Once you get the formula down, they practically write themselves. That's been my experience anyway.

I just would not want to do it. The pieces on the running of the agency, financial status, etc., I really do not know much about, and like to keep it that way. And especially where the OP is at, hell where I am at, with regards to experience, you need help to write the 100 page grant request.

When I write a grant request, it's more of a formulaic request to formalize a cultivation that is already in place.

I think the longest one I wrote was about 25 pages. We've discovered that the grantee usually doesn't read the entire thing, so we've culled down our grant requests quite a bit.

in the multiple hundred thousand dollar range. The grants as written are usually in the 70-80 page range.

on the smallish, local scale, too. I'm an avid reader, and my current job involves some editing and publishing, so I think I will do fine with the actual nuts and bolts of writing. It's the structure and dynamics of writing the proposal that's needed.

Thanks for your input, too! :hi:

If the granting body is a local foundation, for example, they usually like to hear about community impact, working with the local resources, things like that.

Feds want a lot of detail and research saying why this is needed, and your evidence to say why what you are doing will meet that need. I think they actually want to just kill trees but that's me.

Those are just some examples of what I mean when I say write to your audience, and may not hold true for your purposes.

And my helpful hint, if they say they want it to be no more than X pages long, for the love of God do not write more than X pages.

Good luck with this!

Great advice. I'm really not sure who my target grantmakers will be yet. This all came up really fast, like on Friday, so I need to touch base with management on all of the details and goals.

Tulsa library grant writing training? I've done that. Worthless for the most part. The only good thing is that this program does show you how to use the resources the library has available. Of course, you can only access most of that information from Central library. If you are going to do grant writing plan on spending a fair amount of time there doing your research.

Without fail the folks who went through the training with me were trying to get grant money for their church or for their business. Basically they were just looking for free money that would benefit them or their faith.

I've done a bit of grant writing. I did not enjoy it. Why? Lots of research. Preparation of materials can be tedious because you have to make sure you conform to all the requirements in both content and format. I found it stifling. And then there is the simple fact that there is lots of competition for grant money which means that more often than not your efforts will fail.

Maybe it is just me. Some folks seem to enjoy doing grant writing.....



edit to fix spelling and to add that most of the grant writing I did was for large grants having national scope.....

I can see how it could be a little stifling but I can see it being a stimulating challenge, as well.

and then go use the library. They do have some very good resources.

Good luck.

in particular did you find useful there? I'm still in the dark about a lot of this but I can see where there might be a possible need for some demographic information.

they have are some electronic databases to help you identify available grants, resources and foundations that might have funds available for your purposes.

They do have demographic information - which seems to be print information. It is available comercially and I would try to get your company to purchase that information - especially if you are going to be preparing multiple grant proposals. They only have a single print copy available in the reserve area at Central Library. So it is shared by everybody doing grant research, business plans and school projects. So far as I know it is not available in the branch libraries. Sales and Marketing magazine publishes demographic and market area information annually. It is beyond my personal budget but it might easily be justified by your employer. They publish two issues each containing different information and I think the cost for both of them is about $500.

Thanx, CB!

If you have a chance to be on panels or committees that judge submitted proposals, volunteer to be on it. *even if* you have not submitted one yet. That is truly the best way to learn.

or be in the position to be on any panels or committees but it does sound like a good idea to sit back and listen to the analysis of those more experienced. I have a feeling that will be what much of the second session will consist of. Thanks! :hi:

not to hear what others more experienced think, but rather to go through the act of evaluating proposals yourself. You will see excellent and poor ones and just know what is possible is an education in itself. To be put in the position of writing down an evaluation of other proposals, while painful, is the best way to learn proposal-writing, honest. I also thought I didn't have the time to devote to it, before I did it.

We had a whole office (three full time plus two part timers I supervised) responsible for this activity alone.

Successful grant writing is HARD. Your organization must be committed to allowing you the time & resources to do the writing right or they're just wasting their time. It's not "easy money" like lots of orgs thing it'll be.

Once you have a system down, plan out putting in about 100 man hours per grant. Before then, expect to spend about twice as long.

Given all those caveats--yes, definitely go for it. It's also a very enriching experience and it makes you a better manager and a better program designer once you learn all the little things that make a program successful.

emphasizes the time commitment involved. One of the managers is attending with me so it would be great if everyone has that understanding from the onset.

Thanks for the caveats. Those are useful, too. :hi:

She works for a non-profit camp for mentally handicapped campers, and that's where a lot of their money comes from. I'm pretty sure that for her, it's both challenging and rewarding to see the money go toward this great place when she gets the grants. From what I gathered, 1/2 of it is choosing the right grants to apply to and 1/2 is using the right language and making the right points.

Good luck with it! :)