Hello friends,

I trust that everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday. We are running full tilt into the Christmas holiday, so remember to be kind and stay hydrated. 😊

I have a reader request for this post, and since we love suggestions, I will answer that request. The request was for more detailed information on beginning the grant writing process if you have never written a grant. So, I will try to be more thorough about how this process goes for me. Everyone who writes has their own system, but I will share how I get things moving along, and you can take what resonates and leave what does not. I suspect this will get long but I hope it’s helpful. As you will see, most of the process and the associated stress level will be based on the amount of pre-work you do. If you are organized, develop a process, and remain consistent, you will find writing anything to be very rewarding.

To illustrate this best, I’ll use my meeting this week as an example. I have been asked to become a contracted grant writer for a local non-profit. So, we began with an introductory meeting. During the meeting, I did very little talking. I asked them to talk about who they are and what they are handling in the project, and then I asked the group to share what plans/work had been done on the project already. They have been working on some reno work on the building and are sending me their plan and budget for completing the project. AKA, that budget is key to understanding what kind of funding we will need.  Before this meeting, I had conducted a little internet recon work because historic restoration was not my area of expertise, back to the meeting. I brought my handy pen and paper and took notes about where they were already getting funding, which they thought might be good options. I did throw out some of the suggestions I had gotten during my recon to see if they already had contacts or might be planning to use those funds for another part of the project. Pro Tip if someone you are working with has a connection, a warm introduction is always better than a cold call. If they can do an email introduction, a phone call, or a lunch intro, it almost always works better than just cold-calling and trying to introduce yourself. I also want to make sure that I am not tapping resources that partners have earmarked for a different part of the project because the chance of getting multiple grants or donations is unlikely.

So that is my first step. I like to meet with those involved in the project to get their thoughts about the scope of work and what parts of that project they see me fulfilling. In the example, we aren’t going to be jumping right into grant writing most likely; we will be looking at some solicitation letters to get operating funds while grant season is in a lull. After the first of the year, we (I) will start developing multiple funding applications that will hopefully yield funds during the late spring or early summer.  Remember, grants are cyclical and take time to run through the evaluation process. If you need quick cash, you are NOT looking for a grant; you need a donation. 

Step 2. This is the part where I come back and start researching. Really examining the funding sources to ascertain their process and, most importantly, their deadlines. In my research for this organization yesterday, I was able to determine that one of the sources we discussed will work for one project, but a new offering would be good for a larger project that the same group is spearheading, so I just passed that link and info along.  The one that my project does qualify for, unfortunately, is no longer accepting Letters of Intent. I don’t think I have talked about what an LOI is, but some funders ask for a letter to let them know that they should be expecting an application from you and a tiny bit about what the project might be about. Most funders that ask for this letter are trying to predict what kind of reviewers they may need, how much time will need to be allocated for review, and how much funding will be requested. It’s really for planning purposes. I have seen fewer funders asking for an LOI, but you must submit it before the deadline, or your application will likely not be submitted. Pro Tip: sometimes, you can contact the grant manager to determine if you can submit a late LOI, and if they don’t have many applications, they may allow it.

Step 3. Determine your partners and start working on your letters of commitment or Memorandums of Agreement. This process is often time-consuming because it has to be negotiated, approved, and signed by various people. Busy schedules always complicate the timeline for getting these letters back. Pro-Tip: If you have discussed the terms of their partnership, write the letter yourself. It is extra work, but write and send a basic text for their review. If they like it, they slap it on letterhead and send it for signature. If they want changes, ask them to let you see it again before you send it for signature. Then, give the okay, and they move forward on their end. Please DO NOT wait until you are a week from submission to get letters done…trust me it is way more stressful than necessary.

Step 4. Once you have determined the grant you will write, thoroughly read the funding announcement, and identified your partners, it’s time to get down to business. Remember, Read, Read, Read!  This is where your unique process will start to develop. I know that many folks love to work from an outline, and I do a Tiff version of an outline, which is basically the grant application headings with bullet points that I want to make sure that I focus on. I usually do this pencil/paper because I still like paper, but if you prefer to do everything electronically, then do that. How do you know what the bullet points should be? That will vary but here are some starter points for the typical sections of a grant. This is not an inclusive list, but it will give you an idea.

Statement of Need

• History of the area or organization
• Data to show that there is a gap in resources tackling the focus of your grant
• How your program would impact the challenge
• Why do you need to buy this building or do these renovations? How will this project increase the quality of life for your community, or will the economy be positively impacted by this project?

Scope of Work/Program Design

• What things does this grant need to do to impact the problem successfully?
• What will you do with these funds that will “solve” the issue?
• What is the timeline for getting this project done? What is the workflow or system for transitioning individuals through your program?

Partnerships

• Who is working with you on this project?
• What are the partners going to be doing?
• What else has money committed to this project?

** This is a good way to determine who you must collect Letters of Commitment from. I highly recommend getting a commitment letter from every partner, no matter how small their involvement. You don’t always have to send all of those letters (many grants only ask for 3), but if you are sub-awarding or they are contributing a significant portion of the service and sharing in the outcomes, you must have a letter of commitment from them.

Outcomes

• What is the grant requiring in terms of outcomes?
• How are you going to achieve the required outcomes?
• How are you recording this data?
• Are you tracking outcomes outside of what is minimally required?

Pro Tip: You should track at least one thing that is not required. You don’t have to do this, but the grant usually asks for more generic outcomes: people served, jobs created, families helped, etc. So generally, there are some more mission-specific outcomes that you are tracking to see if your program/project impacted like you thought it would.  For example, maybe you must track the number of jobs you create, but you also track what industry those jobs are in and if those were males, females, how old, etc. The data collected can be very beneficial when writing additional grants or showing your history of success. 

Sustainability

In many cases, grantors want to know how you will continue the program or project beyond the end of the grant or how the project that the grant created will move forward in perpetuity.

• What will continue from the project moving forward?
• Are there pieces of the project that your partners are prepared to take on financially to keep the service available?
• Are you applying for additional funding to carry the project forward?
• Will the project be self-sustaining at the end of the grant?  

Capacity

• What kind of work have you previously done that would make the grantor understand that you can handle the amount of money being requested?
• What are your credentials and experience with these types of projects?

Okay, I KNOW what you are thinking…this seems like it will take a long time to do.  The first time you do it, maybe, but once you get a flow, it is easy and will save you a ton of time pondering and editing when you actually sit down to write. The basic rule is to think about what information you would need to be told if asked to give someone a large sum of money. Whatever your answer to that thought, you should include those things in your application.

Once I have my bullet points, I start writing. I wish I had a more exciting writing process, but it’s pretty simple for me. I am sitting on my couch, crowded by my dogs, listening to a Christmas movie on low in the background while I write this post. As someone easily distracted, I generally write in my office, where I’m devoid of distractions. Any grant proposals and work where I need to concentrate fully must be done in isolation.  Outside of that, I need a drink and somewhere comfy to sit. I type all the headings on the page, insert the page numbers, and then start writing about the bullet points I identified. I don’t get too caught up on having the perfect opening words; I know a lot of folks who write both fiction and technical writing, and the introduction is often written much later in the process. Start with bullet number one, make that paragraph one, and let the words fly.

The only other advice I will mention here is that if you are stuck on a section, don’t force it. Take a break or skip to another section. You can always come back. If you force it, you will be able to tell, and in many cases, it can really get you frustrated and derailed. (I have had this happen many times.)

I hope this answers my reader’s question. If not, let me know, and I will try to be more specific.

As always, thanks for reading, and I welcome your feedback.

If you are still looking for some cute Christmas gifts for the word lover in your family, I have a Printify shop with some of my word cloud designs. Feel free to check that out, and feel free to share the blog and shop with all of your friends.

~Tiff