Studying grant writing is a ceremony of passage for a lot of nonprofit professionals. Many people first dive into grant writing with minimal (and even no) prior expertise.
Writing a grant proposal may look like an enormous, scary job. In spite of everything, you’re presenting your group for judgment with actual cash and assist on the road throughout a time when many nonprofits are seeing drops of their donation numbers.
Whereas that is all true, it’s vital to keep in mind that grant writing is actually only a collection of steps, not a mysterious course of that ends in cash for some fortunate nonprofits and rejections for others.
Profitable grant writing comes all the way down to group, cautious decision-making, and expertise. The extra you attempt, the extra classes you decide up and the higher you grow to be (which is why many organizations depend on grant writing freelancers who focus solely on the craft).
However let’s say you’re working in-house and simply acquired handed your first grant writing task—what subsequent? We break it down into an approachable 10-step course of.
Step 1: Perceive the Grant Panorama and Course of.
First, you’ll want some context to make extra knowledgeable choices. Spend a while studying extra about these key areas of the grant panorama:
- Funders. Personal foundations, public foundations (technically known as public charities), authorities businesses on the native, state, and federal ranges, and firms are the first varieties of organizations that present grants to nonprofits.
- Funding buildings. Grants are available a number of totally different sizes and styles. Funding could be restricted to the precise mission specified by your proposal or unrestricted for normal use. Payouts could be given unexpectedly or offered in installments. The full worth could be a flat sum of money or matched, which means the grant offers a sure portion of your mission’s whole prices (usually 50%). Every of those classes can deliver totally different reporting issues that you simply’ll want to grasp forward of time, as properly.
- The phases of the grant lifecycle. There’s extra to grant searching for than writing a proposal and profitable funding, most notably the post-award steps of grant administration and reporting. Intently following your funder’s reporting pointers not solely ensures compliance and easy payouts but in addition units you up properly for future partnerships.
- The elements of a grant proposal. For those who’re model new to grant searching for, you’ll want to grasp the totally different sections and paperwork that make up a typical proposal. The precise necessities and order will range from grant to grant, however you may usually anticipate to see these sections:
Take a look at Be taught Grant Writing’s introductory information for a breakdown of those frequent parts and paperwork.
Step 2: Overview Your Nonprofit’s Venture.
What are you searching for funding for? The overwhelming majority of grants are restricted, which means they’re supposed to fund particular tasks, packages, or initiatives.
Ideally, your nonprofit already is aware of the brand new tasks that want funding as a part of its broader strategic plan and calendar.
Do not put the cart earlier than the horse—solely apply for grant alternatives that align along with your mission and what you already need to accomplish. Don’t give you new tasks and packages solely for the sake of making use of for a grant. It is a recipe for mission drift, disorganization, and in the end, a much less centered and efficient nonprofit.
Step 3: Analysis Grant Alternatives.
Begin in search of your first (or subsequent) grant to use for.
There are lots of useful sources to take a look at. For presidency grants, depend on the official grants.gov web site. Candid and The Nationwide Council of Nonprofits present useful directories for all kinds of basis grants, as properly.
Memberships and paid platforms are additionally out there and supply further options that may allow you to construct a constant grant funding pipeline. Instrumentl and GrantStation are each in style decisions on this class.
Begin your analysis by discovering alternatives that align along with your mission, supposed mission, worth, and timeframe. Don’t be afraid to place collectively an extended checklist at this stage.
Step 4: Prioritize Your Choices.
Subsequent, start narrowing down your checklist of grant alternatives to those who will give you the best probability of success. A number of standards may also help you prioritize your alternatives, together with:
- Mission alignment between your nonprofit and the funder
- Venture alignment with the grant’s said goal and objectives
- Any current connections you might need with the funder
- Applicant success fee, or the variety of awardees over the full variety of candidates for previous grants offered by the funder
- The prominence of the funder or the niche-ness of the grant (as proxy measures of competitiveness)
- The price of pursuing the grant or the trade-off of time spent making use of for and managing it versus its precise worth or influence in your mission
There’s nobody excellent approach to measure competitiveness, and your consolation zone will range relying on the precise circumstances. One useful rule of thumb we advocate is to prioritize grants with applicant success charges of 20% or higher.
Bear in mind, too, that you would be able to (and may) attain out on to funders to be taught extra when you can’t discover related data on-line or by any databases you employ.
Work by your checklist a number of occasions, narrowing it all the way down to a handful of the perfect alternatives. While you’ve settled in your #1, it’s time to begin making use of.
Step 5: Dive Deep into the Grant’s Pointers.
Your chosen grant’s pointers and necessities would be the basis of all the pieces that comes subsequent. Take your time to learn, learn, and reread them.
Actively search clarification from the funder and skilled group members as wanted. Higher to speculate the time in understanding the rules now than wrestle by the applying course of later and understand you’re off-target!
Step 6: Put together a Narrative Skeleton.
Start by giving your self a strong construction to construct on, one which’s constructed immediately from the said necessities of the grant. This may maintain you on monitor, save time, and lead to a simpler proposal.
We name it the “narrative skeleton.” Work your means by the grant’s pointers and necessities and compile them into an overview.
Use the precise language from the rules because the part headings—it will instantly convey relevance to your funder. Start brainstorming speaking factors and varieties of knowledge to incorporate in every part as you consider them, however don’t fear about filling within the particulars and drafting full sentences but. The objective is solely to put the groundwork with an easy-to-use template that you simply’ll later fill in and polish right into a completed product.
Step 7: Kick Off the Venture and Gather the Mandatory Information
Grant proposals comprise data gathered from throughout a corporation, so that they often require enter from a number of group members and departments. Earlier than you start drafting your proposal, it’s a good suggestion to sync up with the people who’ll allow you to alongside the best way.
Whereas making ready your narrative skeleton, you recognized data that you simply’ll want on your proposal, like influence knowledge about previous packages or projections on your proposed mission. Put together an agenda and invite the people who may also help you collect this data to a grant kickoff assembly.
Throughout your assembly, evaluation the next necessities:
- The grant, the funder, and the rules
- Your timeline and supposed submission date
- The info you want, from whom, and by when
- How you can share data and paperwork with the grant group
- Anecdotes and constituent suggestions that will be useful to collect
That is additionally the time to debate some vital logistics. Your group ought to finalize the price range on your proposed mission as quickly as potential (particularly for matching grants) so that you could embody it in your proposal. Talk about any further documentation required by the grant, and get the ball rolling on securing it quickly. For some organizations, it might take fairly some time to safe official board resolutions, as an illustration.
Reply questions, thank everybody for his or her time, and comply with up as wanted. The secret’s to be organized—nobody needs to be roped right into a mission the place they don’t perceive what’s wanted of them or when.
Step 8: Write Your Grant Narrative.
After your assembly, and as knowledge and enter start rolling in, begin drafting your fundamental grant proposal. Think about these greatest practices to assist make this course of as easy and efficient as potential:
- Begin from the tip and work backward. Most grants finish with the meatier and extra advanced sections, like sustainability plans and budgets. Attempt to sort out these first to each get them out of the best way and to maintain their vital particulars recent in your thoughts as you draft the sooner, extra narrative-driven sections.
- Comply with storytelling greatest practices. Lively language, use of the primary individual, illustrative particulars, actual folks and locations, and a dynamic, optimistic tone all assist your readers higher envision their very own roles in your story and people of your group. Attempt to strike the correct stability of refined however emotionally compelling storytelling.
- Stability your narrative with arduous numbers. Funders are moved by tales, however they’ve to make use of numbers to make choices. Ensure that your proposal makes a balanced case that’s defensible from each the qualitative and quantitative angles. Use knowledge for instance the issue you’re fixing, your progress to this point, and the way a lot additional your new mission will push you towards success.
- Keep centered and impact-forward. Write from a place of energy quite than shortage; that’s, whilst you ought to clearly illustrate the issues at hand, maintain the give attention to the way you’re transferring ahead urgently and deliberately. Tie your fundamental speaking factors again to measurable influence at any time when potential and illustrate them with tangible examples and particulars.
We advocate tackling this step quick and furiously.
For those who’ve deliberate out your timeline properly, you’ll have loads of time to evaluation your proposal, get suggestions, and make revisions, however for now, you need vitality and momentum. For many grants, you need to goal to finish a full first draft in 4 days or fewer.
Step 9: Put together the Full Software.
With an entire draft in hand that you simply’ve combed by and tightened up, it’s time to compile all the extra documentation it’s essential present the funder. These mostly embody budgets, resolutions, and letters of assist. Bear in mind, it’s by no means a foul concept to carefully evaluation your grant pointers one final time to be sure to’re not lacking something.
At this stage, you’ll additionally seemingly need to create a canopy sheet on your proposal that outlines the contents and supplemental supplies.
Step 10: Overview, Submit, and Take a Breather.
Lastly, ask a teammate to fastidiously evaluation your full proposal and evaluate it towards the grant’s pointers. Have them search for any big-picture points, lacking particulars, and clunky language.
Then, make your remaining revisions and submit the grant in keeping with the funder’s directions (ideally not less than a day or two earlier than the official deadline).
As soon as it’s out of your arms, take a breath, let everybody know, thank them for his or her assist, and shake off all of the nervous vitality. We advocate taking a stroll, bike journey, or simply taking an early afternoon to fulfill up with a good friend. No matter works for you!
This 10-step course of has served us and our grant writing college students properly, and it ought to function a useful framework on your first forays into the world of grant writing, too. Comply with its core suggestions and keep extraordinarily organized. If you wish to make your new expertise official, attempt exploring on-line grant writing programs that provide acknowledged certification!
Bonus factors when you go the additional mile on your group—bear in mind the checklist of prioritized checklist of grant alternatives you developed in Steps 3 and 4?
Revisit them to create a coherent Grant Funding Technique, a yearlong roadmap of grant alternatives that may maintain your present and upcoming tasks. This easy train can go a really lengthy approach to streamline your future grant writing efforts and set your nonprofit up for long-term success. Better of luck!
In regards to the Writer
Meredith Noble
Meredith Noble is the co-founder of Be taught Grant Writing, a web based membership for these constructing their careers in grant writing. Her guide, How you can Write a Grant: Turn out to be a Grant Writing Unicorn, is a bestseller for nonprofit fundraising and grants. Her experience has been featured in NASDAQ, Forbes, Quick Firm, Enterprise Insider, and different high publications. She has secured over $45 million in grant funding, and her college students have secured over $627 million – a quantity that grows every day. If Meredith’s not biking or snowboarding in Alaska, she could be discovered curled round a steaming cup of green-tea and a great guide.
