This course reviews the basic steps in drafting a grant proposal for funding, including planning, researching and writing a grant as well as best practices for following up with potential funders.
The course outlines the different types of funders, what a grant seeker should consider when developing a project idea and how it could be funded, understanding how a proposal will be reviewed and the financial concerns of funders, what typical elements are included in a grant proposal, and managing the relationship with a funder, whether the proposal was successful or rejected.
In this lesson we will focus on the different types of funders and how they typically provide support to projects and organizations. We’ll look at what they’ll expect from you and your organization, and we’ll discuss how you can leverage your assets to make yourself more attractive to funders before you start to approach them. It’s important to note that grant writing is never about the needs of your organization. Funders want to know about the need being served in the community.
The purpose of grant writing is to convince an organization or person to fund your proposal. Taking the time to properly plan and research before you begin will make writing the grant more efficient and organized.
The planning stage is the first point in the grant-writing process. You should already have your organizational structure in place necessary to achieve the goals of your project. You should know what you hope to achieve with your project and who it will benefit, the amount of money you’ll need, and how you’re going to use it.
The planning stage is where you need to think about what kinds of funders exist and how your project matches with their goals and objectives. Make a determination, too, if you have enough time to go through a proposal writing and submission process at all — given your project schedule, and taking into account the review process of the funder as well. Part of planning will be assessing whether writing a proposal for funding is feasible or if you should consider crowdsourcing or other resources. It’s worth noting that the average time from writing your proposal to receipt of a check is usually 6 to 9 months. If you need money immediately, a grant proposal is not the way to go.
In the planning stage there are a few things we should know about funders. The first is who the funders are, and the second is what each funder typically wants from your organization. There are multiple types of funders — individuals; corporations’ marketing departments; corporate foundations; private, community, family or independent foundations; and government grants or contracts.
Let me briefly describe each.
Individual donors are people who give you money or in-kind donations. In-kind donations are things that may support your organization that aren’t money like computers, office space, software, etc.
