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!