Optimus Template

Here's another question we've received through the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it :

Q: I have been put in charge of writing a grant for my organization. Am I on my own, or should I bring in the help of others?

As much as you can, bring in the help of others! You should never be completely “alone” on a grant. While you may be alone in writing the grant (after all, one human brain provides one consistent, coherent voice), you are not the sole content provider. Getting the grant out the door will take the help of many other people and partners.

The following people and organizations should be consulted when writing a grant:

Project staff: The staff specific to the project will know the details of the program that you plan to operate. They can probably best share the project or organization’s goals, objectives and activities. You should work closely with project staff throughout the duration of the writing process. If no project staff will be hired until after the grant is received, consult internal staff for these details.

Internal staff: Often, a grant will require you to have consulted with administrative staff and to submit an approved budget. Internal staff members are familiar with the administrative pieces necessary for the grant submission to go off without a hitch. This includes your organization’s human resources department and accounting department. These staff members should be consulted throughout the grant writing process.

Partners and Collaborators: If you are submitting a grant where collaborative partners are required, you will want to consult with them early and often. I recommend meeting with them early in the grant writing process so that they can prepare their letter of support of MOUs that will aid in your detailing what they will do. Understanding their role in the program, including what resources and expertise they bring to the table, will benefit your proposal.

Evaluators: Some grants require an external evaluator to assess the program’s success at meeting its goals. The evaluators and your project staff should be in communication to ensure the program has measurable components. In fact, you might even have the evaluator write up the evaluation plan. Most will usually do this for free in exchange for being the evaluators if the project is funded.

Each of these groups has information and background knowledge crucial to completing all grant components. However, there is one other important item to consider. While these other people and organizations will have a lot of information, everything they offer might not be relevant to the grant. Consult the RFP for the information that will be used in scoring the grant. This is the information that you should seek from the above partners, and it should be the only information that makes its way into the narrative.

Want to learn more about the Novice Grant Writer? Click here. Have a questions about grant writing you would like answered right here on the blog? E-mail thenovicegrantwriter@smartgrantwriting.com to submit your questions today!

The final area of a grant narrative that tends to take on a life of its own is the description of project activities. Often, applicant agencies are serving the community through so many different activities that it can be tempting to share every single one in a grant narrative. However, sharing lots of activities with many details can become very confusing for a reader. It is your job as the grant writer to organize the required details about project activities into a reader-friendly format.

I can liken writing this section the right way to packing for a trip.

When I am packing for a trip, I do not take out my entire dresser drawer and dump all of its contents into my suitcase. Instead, I take the time to select the items that I will use on my trip, I fold them all nicely, and I pack them in an organized fashion. This should be your strategy for detailing your program activities in a grant narrative.

If I am going on a trip to the beach, I make sure I pack the appropriate items (shorts, flip flops, sunscreen) and avoid packing the inappropriate items (mittens, parka, rain boots). A funding agency has a specific focus, and it wants its money to serve specific needs. Only discuss those activities that serve those needs. While your organization may have many activities that serve the community, you only need to share in the grant those that are relevant and appropriate for this funding agency. Do not include extras.

Once you have identified appropriate items, you need to organize them. As tempting as it is to save time by throwing all of my clothes into my suitcase without folding them, I regret it later when I get to my destination and have to try to find my specific outfits.

In grant writing, if you just throw in all of the activities your organization does into your activities section without regard to prioritization and organization, you’ve put the burden of deciphering the information on the grant reader. Things can get confusing very quickly—and a confused grant reader is a frustrated grant reader. Activities should be neatly described using reader-friendly strategies, including bullet points and bold type. The only details mentioned should be those most relevant to meeting the goals and objectives.

The selected activity descriptions, like all other parts of the grant narrative, should be the appropriate breadth and depth for the requirement of this grant.  Any other details are just taking up room in your suitcase.

So, what did you think of our week’s theme, “Going Overboard?” If it was helpful, let me know in the comments—I’m considering other themes for the future. Also, continue to ask questions via This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . I’m loving the questions I’m receiving, and will be answering many of them very soon! Thanks!

Today we continue our week’s theme of going overboard. Another place in a grant a writer tends to “overdo it” is in the organizational capacity section.

A funding agency will often ask for a description of the applicant organization’s capacity to meet goals; after all, it is important to determine that an applicant has the integrity and ability to do what it claims in a proposal. However, many internal staff members tasked with writing a grant can often be tempted to share way more information about their organization than is really being asked.

To narrow down the potential directions this section can go, the following items, and only the following items, should be discussed:

-Organizational History: You should provide a very brief history of the organization, including your mission. This history should focus on the time spent trying to remedy the identified needs through organizational efforts. This should be 2 paragraphs, tops.

-Experience: Share your previous experience implementing projects of this size and scope. If you have experience using grant money to operate this project, that is better. Or, if you have previously received grant money from this very funding agency, share your successful fiscal and project management plans. Linking past success with current efforts will help in this section.

-Staff: Provide brief biographies for the project staff (approximately 1-2 paragraphs each). The project director should be identified and described. If you do not have a staff member identified for a position, a brief description of the qualifications necessary for that position should be provided. If grant money will be used as part of the staff member’s salary, indicate how much will be allotted next to their title (e.g., Project Director (.40 FTE)).

-Behind-the-scenes details: Details like who will manage the grant money, time commitments of all staff members, and commitments from collaborative partners should all be provided in this section. However, as has been the theme this week, avoid going overboard with those behind-the-scenes details that do not directly relate to this grant.

This section is a necessary proof of your organization’s past successes and current promise in this area of need. By demonstrating your professional capabilities to execute the proposed project, you are that much closer to getting your project funded.

This week’s theme is addressing common areas of “going overboard” in a grant. The first area we’ll explore is the needs statement.

Many people who work in nonprofit organizations that offer services in the community are very aware of their community’s needs. In serving communities each day, every need is important and it can seem that every organization activity is equal. But, for a grant, only the needs that directly relate to the program you are proposing are relevant.

If you keep going on and on about all of the needs within your community, you likely will make the grant reader respond in one of two ways: fatigue or hopelessness. The reader could feel burdened by your application from the start, or, with an extended statement describing how in need a community is, the reader might feel that the problem is insurmountable. Both of these reactions result in your application being dead in the water.

It takes a lot of discipline to determine needs that should be stated in a proposal; all needs are important in the grand scheme of things, but only some are important enough to be mentioned in your application. So, to best help you get the funding you need to remedy the needs your program will serve, here are a few guidelines to streamline the composition of your needs statement:

-Who: Identify those who will benefit from your project. If you are planning a program that will offer after school physical education opportunities for students in grades 7-9, describe the demographics of the students, the schools they attend, and the community they live in. Give the reader an adequate picture of who will benefit from this service, but avoid giving too much unnecessary detail.

-Focus: If you have identified a need that your program will not directly serve, get rid of it. If your program will not reduce crime or increase test scores, then do not mention high crime rates or low test scores. All needs presented in the needs statement should translate directly to goals and objectives that your program will meet.

-Prove it: Make sure that every relevant need you present has research to support it. Use data. Depending on the identified need, local and national data may need to be included. This data helps further establish that your community needs align with the type of need the funding agency would like to address.

-Give hope: By not making the needs insurmountable, you have set yourself up to present an attainable solution to meeting them. Only briefly describe your solution, as you will have more room in the activities section to ensure each program activity is linked to meeting a need (as well as project goals and objectives).

That should be it. No more, no less.

This week, we will be spending some time talking about the areas of a grant where we tend to go overboard, or overindulge.

Overindulgence can be tempting (mmm, white chocolate chip cookies), but as in life, overindulgence in your grant usually does not end well.

It is very tempting to share needs or activities you are passionate about in a grant application; after all, your passion is why you work for your organization. However, there is a line between sharing what is relevant to the grant and going on and on about certain grant sections that you are more passionate about than others.

So this week, we will discuss three common areas of overindulgence in a grant narrative: the needs statement, the organizational capacity, and the program activities.

In general, here are some key items to keep in mind to avoid overindulgence when writing a grant narrative:

-Time limit: Usually when we begin a grant narrative, we are aware of the looming deadline. You only have so much time to work on the application. With this limited time, make sure you are answering the questions the funding agency wants answered. You don’t have time for anything else.

-Page limit: Grant narratives can only be so long before you begin to go on and on about unnecessary program details—or you exhaust the grant reader. Understanding the limits of a grant before you begin can help you hone in on the most important items.

-Points vs. Passion: Along with the general grant page limit, each section has a page limit—even if it is not explicitly stated. Consider the space limitations for the grant and break down the use of space by the number of points awarded to each section. For example, consider a grant worth 100 points with a 20-page limit. The application’s scoring rubric indicates that the needs statement is worth only 10 points, while the project goals and objectives are worth 25 points. This means that the needs statement should only get one-tenth of the total space, while the goals and objectives require one-quarter of the space. In this example, the needs statement can only justify 2 pages, while the goals and objectives justify 5 pages.

This last philosophy is called the “Rule of Proportion,” one of the 7 Golden Rules I’ve identified for writing a successful grant. For more details on this rule and the other Golden Rules, sign up for the FREE e-book at the sign-up box to the right.

I’m looking forward to avoiding going overboard with you this week!