Introduction
Grant writing is an art form. Why? Because the grant writer who wins the grant is the one who writes the best story of need, and who also comes up with the best plan of action to meet that need.
If nonprofit or social entrepreneur organizations need a grant, there are a few procedures they can use to speed up the process. The first thing is to realize that there is a secret to winning great grants. That secret is that sponsors don’t give the organization money for what the organization wants to do, they give them money to do what they want done.
So what does that look like on paper? Well, it’s a quaint display of writing that lets the funder know that he wants to provide the program, product, or service that he’s willing to pay for. This becomes a marriage, and as you know, without the compatibility of a good partnership between the grantee, the grantor, and the stakeholders who benefit from the services, the marriage, or in this case, the grant funds, cannot be carried out.
Before writing the grant
Before attempting to write a grant, it is important to understand the vocabulary used in the grant writing community. This is as easy as going online and researching grant writing terms.
Second, you want to make sure you meet the regulatory requirements to legally operate your organization. This includes your licenses and permits, EIN number, Duns number, and state and federal recognitions.
When you’ve located your organization’s records and records, you’re ready to organize your team. Your team should include representatives from all stakeholders. When soliciting stakeholder participation, look for partners that complement your program, including potential members, their contributions, and their contact information. Once this is established, you are ready to assign tasks to the final grant team that will help with grant research and preparation.
write the grant
Before you write anything, you want to make sure you have a grant that will go the distance. That means doing what I call the subsidy test. Here are some questions to ask before you write.
1. What is the name of the grant?
2. Who is the awarding agency?
3. What is the identification information of the grant?
4. When does the grant expire?
5. Is a match required?
6. How many grants are you funding?
7. What is the maximum award limit?
8. What is the award floor?
Once you’ve answered those questions and are satisfied with your answers, it’s time to engage your grant writing team. Otherwise, you could waste a lot of time, energy, or money on a grant that just doesn’t fit your situation.
Once you’ve found the perfect grant, you’ll want to determine what the organization’s requirements are and develop your grant components to match.
Although the grant proposal instructions are technical and everyone is different, this is not rocket science. You can take the mystery out of grant writing by understanding that there are really only 4 components to most grants, as outlined below:
Part 1: Executive Summary
Part 2: Narrative
Part 3: Budget and Budget Narrative
Part 4: Supporting Documents
In part 1, the executive summary briefly answers the questions who, what, when, where, why, and how much money you need.
Second, Part 2 or the Narrative fully expands on the answers above and adds the questions about how you will develop, implement, and evaluate the program to meet the needs of your target audience.
The budget and budget description explains in detail how you will spend the money during the grant period.
Lastly, supporting documents will support and verify all of your statements within the grant.
Finally, if you use the tips and tools above, writing your application should be much easier. You can also search for sample grants similar to your project to use as examples using your favorite search engine.
Happy grant hunting!