Grant Writing Tips & Tricks
Planning
Read the Directions (multiple times)
Grant notifications, announcements, and guidelines are your road map to writing effective, fundable applications. Make sure you meet all grant requirements such as eligibility, geography, and funder priorities. Answer all the questions, address required activities. Answer all questions and address required activities in your application.
Find your “Why”
Define, for yourself, why this grant is a good fit for your organization and project. Understand what you hope to accomplish with the project. Make sure your “why” is a good fit with the funder’s priorities.
Allocate Time Wisely
Creating strong grant applications takes more time than you think. Review all application requirements and set realistic timelines for getting the application written, reviewed, and submitted – ideally before the due date.
Do Your Research
Gather information about the funder and examples of successful applications. Find out if projects like yours have been funded in the past. Research demographics of the communities/individuals impacted by your project. How will the completion of this project improve their lives? Why is this important? Research project methodologies, equipment specs., economic impacts, etc. Ample data helps you write a well-rounded grant proposal.
Define Sucess
Create SMART Goals & Objectives
Project Goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time Limited. This template from Substance Abuse Mental Health Service Administration will help you develop solid goals and objectives for any project. Strong, well thought out goals are critical to developing an effective project evaluation plan.
Develop Clear Evaluation Plan
In today’s competitive grant climate, tracking the number of individuals served is no longer sufficient to secure funding. Funders what to see the measurable IMPACT of the project they fund—an evaluation plan is essential. An evaluation plan will outline the goals and objectives of a project, as well as the evaluation methods that will be used to measure progress toward those goals. The plan should include a timeline for evaluation, budget information, and resources such as funding and staff.
A logic model is an excellent way to map project inputs, output, activities, and impacts. It provides a clear, concise visual representation of the project, making it easier to identify areas of improvement and justify the proposed project. Some funders may require a logic model as part of their grant application process.
Common evaluation methods include pre-and post-tests, qualitative data collection such as observation, key informant interviews, and journals. Budget analysis and participation numbers can also be used to measure impact. Using a combination of these methods can strengthen your application.
Be Realistic
When setting project goals, make sure they are achievable. Grantmakers can often recognize unrealistic goals or outcomes. Overpromising and underdelivering can damage your organization’s reputation and limit future funding opportunities.
Level-up Your Proposal
Show Strong Partnerships
Most funders want to see applicants with strong community and agency partnerships. Map out your partnerships in advance. Determine which partners will support the project and request partnership letters from each. You may want to create a letter template for each partner which outlines the key information you want included.
Highlight Your Organization’s Qualifications
Explain how and why your organization is qualified to carry out your proposed project. Detail past successes, technical expertise, and organizational capacity. Provide enough details about your organization to demonstrate why you are the best fit to complete the proposed project. Use the grant guidelines and/or announcement to ensure you address any required capacity elements.
Define the Need
Once you identify your project, you will create a needs statement justifying the project. Assume the grant reviewer knows nothing about this problem or conditions driving your project. Describe why your project meets an urgent need. Why is this important? Who will benefit? How will they benefit. Also, Identify community stake holders.
Back It Up with Data
Use recent, valid, and compelling data to illustrate the need. Use comparative local, state, and national data to articulate the need and efficacy of your project. Other data sources can include results from your past work, results of a similar project done by another organization, industry reports, etc. Pick data points that demonstrate the importance of your project and work. When writing federal grants, use data compiled by the granting agency when possible.
Align Your Budget and Project Narratives
Make sure that the project budget is a direct translation of the narrative in fiscal terms. Your budget narrative and project narrative need to tell the same story.
Leverage Other Funding Sources
Outline additional project funding sources such as other grants, loans, sponsorships, in-kind donations, or even volunteers. This is particularly important for federal grants requiring matching dollars.
Ask Questions
If you don’t understand something about the grant requirements, ask. Federal grant announcements usually have an email account dedicated to questions. Private foundations and other non-governmental funders are generally happy to answer questions about applications, deadlines, priorities, etc.
Proofread (Often)
Check Grammar And Spelling
Grammar and spelling errors stand out to grant reviewers and may negatively impact scoring.
Check Your Math
Math errors and incorrect calculations can disqualify your applications from funding. Check and DOUBLE check.
Have An Outsider Read the Final Draft
It can be very helpful to have someone unfamiliar with your application review it. The reader can tell you if the proposal reads well and is understandable to a lay person.
