Optimus Template

Whether you are a novice grant writer or full-fledged expert, “writing” isn’t the only piece in “grant writing.” In the past ten years of grant writing, I’ve learned the hard way that a thoughtful, well-written grant proposal can be jeopardized by waiting until the last minute to take care of other important proposal and submission details. Here are five “early bird” items you don’t want to be doing at the last minute—both for your sanity and potential success:

1. Look for data to demonstrate the need for the project. Your grant proposal’s chances rest upon your ability to present hard data to justify the need for your proposed project. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a grant writer forge ahead on the rest of their proposal on the assumption that such data exists, only to find out it doesn’t. Find data for your needs statement ahead of time. If you can’t find any, there is no reason to write the rest of the proposal.
   
   
2. Create a budget. Some people seem to think that since the budget usually comes at the end of a grant application, creating it should be saved for last. My pet peeve as a grant writer is to carefully write a tedious grant narrative only to have a client hand me a budget at the last minute. This causes me to do a lot of revising to make sure the narrative is aligned with the budget, which often has new pieces (like consultants, equipment, etc.) that were not part of the original planning. A grant proposal, at its core essence, is a request for money. Your entire grant narrative should justify this request. Since funders don’t want to read about expenses in your budget that are not referred to in the narrative, its best to create your budget first, then write a grant narrative that justifies it.
   
   
3. Make arrangements to get required signatures. Have you spent several weeks of your life writing a grant proposal, only to notice on the day of the deadline that the application requires the signature of someone on vacation? I have. When you first begin a grant project—nay, when the RFP is first released—read through the grant application and carefully look for any forms that require signatures. Make arrangements to get these signatures way ahead of time. This includes signed memorandums of understanding and letters of support from collaborative partners, as well as submission cover sheets.
   
   
4. Do a literature review to justify your methods. It’s getting more and more common for funders to ask for research citations to justify your practices. Research citations and a corresponding reference section are very hard to fake, especially if the funder is familiar with the literature on the topic. If your proposal requires a research base, allow yourself time to artfully weave up-to-date citations into your proposal to support specific ideas. Funders will be able to tell if you throw some references together at the last minute or borrow some from an old grant proposal.
   
   
5. Edit your proposal to fit within the page limitations. Most grant proposals, especially state and federal grants, have specific page limitations. Find out what they are ahead of time and give yourself plenty of time to cut your proposal to the proper size. It’s easy to butcher a great proposal and carelessly cut out important information if you have to start chopping out pieces under tight deadline pressure.

What “early bird” items do you think are important? Share your comments below!

When I first began working as a grant writing consultant, I had some unusual success. Back then, I did not understand why my grant writing efforts were so successful. I was writing grants for school districts and I had no experience or background in the field of education. However, my lack of experience in education actually worked to my advantage in writing grants for schools. The reasons for my success are the same as the reasons you should consider hiring an external grant writer, no matter what field you are competing for grants within.

Here are three good reasons to hire an external grant writer:

Focus: People who work within an organization are usually very busy.  Employees at most non-profits and school districts usually wear many hats and handle many responsibilities. This is especially true for the type of employee who would be experienced enough to be chosen to write a grant. An external grant writer can focus on grant writing. For example, when I wrote grants for schools, I was able to get up and spend my morning energy on writing the education grant proposal, while busy teachers or principals I might be competing with for the same grant were busy during the day. They were either squeezing in writing time between other responsibilities, or writing after hours when tired.

Objectivity: Grant writers within an organization are usually very passionate about the projects they are proposing. This passion can lead to saying too much or sharing too many details about certain aspects of the project that are not relevant to the grant (or at least not as relevant as the questions being asked in the RFP).  An external grant writer is better able to make objective decisions about how much detail to include in each section. Since an external grant writer does not have any emotional attachment to the project (other than really, really wanting you to get the grant!), her or she can more easily edit out parts of the narrative that do not contribute to answering the funder’s questions.

Unfamiliarity: Perhaps the biggest advantage of the external grant writer is unfamiliarity. Although familiarity with an organization and its projects can be a good thing, many who write grants for their own organizations make the mistake of assuming too much familiarity on the part of the grant reader. They use too much jargon and too many acronyms commonly understood by people internal to their organization or industry. This jargon is often confusing to a grant reader that may not share this common background. You already knew this, but confusion does not equal grant money.

Since I was unfamiliar with schools and education when I first started grant writing, I had my clients spell out everything for me so I would understand it.  This included defining educational jargon and telling me what every acronym stood for.  This really paid off. The reduction of jargon and acronyms made my proposals very clear to grant readers and led to higher scores.

Those are just some of the good reasons to hire an external grant writer. Do you know of any biggies that I left out? Disagree? Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

I’ve run into a few clients lately who want to apply for a grant for, say, $300,000 when the funding agency is giving up to $500,000. The client’s program could definitely make use of the extra $200,000, so I had to convince them that there is little, if any, benefit to asking for less money than the total potential funded amount.

I would always suggest asking for the full amount if the size and scope of your proposed project can justify it. Some grant applications have guidelines pertaining to the percentage of the full amount you are eligible to ask for based on the number of people your project will serve. But always ask for the full amount that you are eligible for within the guidelines.

The very worst thing that can happen is that your proposal will be funded at a reduced amount. Funders are not "offended" or "put off" if you ask for an amount of money that you make a good case for.

What are your thoughts? Do you always ask for the full amount? Has a funder awarded you with less than what you asked for? Please share them in the comments.

Thank you for tolerating the headline based on cheesy ‘80’s lyrics (this grant writer is neutral on The Clash), but the question of what or how many details to put in or leave out of a grant proposal is all too common. Often, it is tempting when grant writing to provide as many details as possible about an organization or project, or give a lot of detail in some sections and not enough in others. When the proposal isn’t balanced, it isn’t good (just like the lyrics that are now stuck in your head—sorry).

Providing too many details happens most when the grant writer is from the applicant organization responsible for designing the project, although this can happen to external grant writers, too (like when the client has a lot to share). This person is likely to write more about the needs of the population and what the project will do to address them.  They also tend to write less on the subject of measurable outcomes to be delivered or how the success of the project will be evaluated. Most people write more about the need because they care so deeply, or share too much about what the project will do because they are excited about their ideas. In grant writing, as in life, it is less exciting to talk about how you will be accountable for tangible results.

Here are three tips to help you share the right amount of detail in each section of a grant proposal:

1. Think of a grant narrative in terms of being a response to specific questions rather than a presentation about all aspects of your project. Read each line of your grant narrative and ask yourself, “How does this answer a question in the application?” If this question is hard to answer, cut out the line. Just as every scene of a movie needs to contribute to the plot to keep the viewer’s interest, every line in your grant proposal should tell the funding agency something they are interested in knowing – by answering a question to score points.

2. Keep the length of each answer in proportion to the point value of the question. Funders tell you how important each question is by how many points they award for answering it. Use the scoring rubric as a guide for knowing how much detail to share. For example, if the needs statement is only worth 20% of the points, don’t spend 40% of your page limitations describing the need for the project.

3. Get an objective third person to help edit your narrative. Grant writers from within an organization have a hard time being subjective because they are passionate about the project. A good safeguard would be to have a third party read the questions in the grant application, the number of points each question is worth, and then read the responses. An objective third person might be a better judge of which information is extraneous and whether or not the amount of information in each answer is proportionate to the point value of the questions.

In grant writing, have you run into the issue of providing too much information in one section and running out of room for all the other sections? Have you lost out on funding  because of a lack of details in crucial areas of a grant proposal? What techniques have you found helpful for maintaining a balance? Share your stories and thoughts with us in the comments.

Smart grant writing includes knowing what to ask for and what not to ask for. Beyond just the program design and meeting the other requirements within the funder’s RFP, you need to work through a project budget.

The quickest way to get your proposal cast into the “circular file” is including the wrong items in your budget. Here are 5 things you should definitely not ask for in your grant proposal – that is, if you are serious about getting funded:

1. Don’t ask for grant money to establish a new non-profit organization.

As a grant writing consultant, I am often approached by people who have obtained 501(c)3 non-profit status and think a grant will provide the initial cash flow to establish their organization. With rare exception, grants are not intended to establish a new organization that does not already have an operating budget. Grants are awarded to established organizations that already have a healthy budget and show the capacity to carry out the mission or interest of the funding agency. If your grant request is too large of a percentage of your organization’s overall budget, it probably won’t be taken seriously.

2. Don’t ask for grant money to pay for the general, operating costs of your organization.

Grant money is made available to meet the needs in society—not the needs of your organization. Funding agencies want to help you fund a new project, not become responsible for your ongoing bills. Although some grants allow a small percentage of funds to pay for indirect costs (or overhead), don’t expect a grant to pay your core expenses like rent, office furniture, and utilities. Asking a funding agency to cover your general operating expenses sends the message that your organization is not financially solvent, and not equipped to implement effective grant programs.

3. Don’t ask for grant money to take over current expenses for existing projects.

Grants are intended to fund new projects or expand existing ones. Most funding agencies will frown on covering expenses for projects already being paid for out of your current budget. Grant funding is intended to supplement—not supplant—items in your organization’s current budget.

4. Don’t ask for anything not on the list of “allowable expenses.”

Grant applications are written with a specific purpose in mind. Read the list of allowable expenses in your grant application very carefully, and make sure all budget items are consistent with the list.

5. Don’t ask for anything that does not clearly relate to the new project you are proposing.

All budget items in your grant proposal should either be mentioned in the proposal narrative or relate directly to the activities described in it. Never mention an item for the first time in the budget section.

So, what should you ask for?

In most cases, funding agencies are not looking to become a source of financial support for needy organizations—or get manipulated into taking responsibility for your ongoing bills. Instead, they are looking to support well-established organizations in their efforts to serve needy populations. Funding agencies want their money to make the greatest impact on society possible, and award funds to organizations with the capacity to use it most effectively.

The right items to include in your grant proposal’s budget are those necessary to establish a new project—additional staff, staff training, curriculum, equipment, or materials—just as long as your requests fall within the allowable expenses in the grant application.

Please share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!