In my previous post, I stressed the importance of reading carefully when writing grants. The Narrative portion of the grant is where you tell the story of your project. This breaks down the who, what, where, when, and how. Here are some questions you should ask yourself as you assemble your application.
1. What are you trying to accomplish and why? The Narrative will generally start with a Statement of Need. Tip: Strong Statements of Need include proof of your why, such as statistics, historical comparisons, local studies, and reports. Imagine this as the equivalent of your commercial playing sad music and showing poor, abused animals to garner your financial assistance. (Those commercials are marketing genius). That is what your Statement of Need needs to do so that you can use the remainder of your narrative to talk about how you will save the puppies and why we (the grantor) should trust you with their funding.
2. Is there local data to support your Statement of Need? Tip: reviewers need and want local data to show that the issue you assert is an issue in your area of service. State and national data can show trends, and that is always good, but it doesn’t shine a light on your local needs. This will also help you to show that your program did, in fact, impact the issue if local data changes. There are many places where you can get data depending on your issue, but data is a great way to substantiate your need. Pro Tip: put that data into a simple but colorful graphic or table and earn some brownie points. This can also be a way to fill pages if you have a significant page limit; consequently, it can also be used to save space if space is tight.
3. Did you answer ALL questions listed in the funding opportunity guidance? Tip: The applications often have questions under each section. Yes, they often seem to be repetitive in other sections. Yes, it would be best if you addressed it in every section. Generally, the questions are asked slightly differently if asked more than once, but you must address them whenever requested. Otherwise, your score will be marked down for failing to respond. Pro Tip: Highlight the questions while reading through the funding announcement. This will help you not to miss something.
4. Do you have partners on this project? Are they clear about what portions of the project they will be responsible for? Tip: Partnership Agreements or Memorandums of Agreement are great ways to outline responsibilities and establish accountability. (Don’t know what those are or how to start them, reach out) Grant applications usually ask for letters of support or commitment. Pro tip: Get letters of commitment. The letters of support are great, but reviewers and funders want to see how those supporting you will do that. Letters that say, “We hope they get the funding,” are very different than saying, “We hope they get the funding, and we are prepared to help them by doing XYZ.”
5. Did you detail what your partners will do in your Narrative? Tip: be clear in your narrative about who is doing what, which should align with your letters of support/commitment, and your budget and budget narrative. Reviewers and grantors will be looking for the connections.
6. Proofread and pre-read. Tip: I cannot stress enough the importance of having fresh eyes read your application. (Lucky for you, this is a service you can hire me for.) Whether you hire me or not, you need someone with experience who can read your text, make notes, pick out grammar and spelling errors, and indicate areas that need clarity. These things could cost you points in a review if left unchecked, and in competitive grant applications, every point is critical.
At the risk of telling you all my secrets, I will stop there. Remember, you can always reach out if you need a grant writer, a workshop, or just someone to do your proofreading. I would love to help you. It’s imperative that if you have a project to get off the ground soon, you want to get your funding the first time you apply. Otherwise, another opportunity to apply with that funding source could take six months to a year.
Happy writing, Wordy Friends,
~Tiffanie