Category Archives: grant writers

Four Grant Writing Ethical No-No’s

There are actually many ethical issues involved in grant writing, many more than I expected when I first began my journey as a professional grant writer. Here are four of the most common ethical issues you need to avoid if you are a professional grant writer:

  1. Lying in a proposal.  I have to admit that I have always assumed that everyone would know that lying in a grant proposal is ethically wrong, but you’d be surprised how many times I have heard people try to justify it. Don’t try to exaggerate your need for the grant or include program activities that you don’t intend on implementing. Just tell the truth.
  2. Reusing narrative written for another client. It’s very tempting, especially when you’re overworked and tired, to just lift some narrative that you wrote for another client for the same grant last year to put in someone else’s narrative this year. Don’t do it.  If you get caught (especially by a reader scoring the grant), you risk not being funded, but it’s just plain wrong anyway. If you are being paid for original narrative, write original narrative.  If you can’t think of another way to say what you need to say, don’t take the job.
  3. Poaching funding sources.  I heard this horror story when I met with a local non-profit administrator last week. A private funding source had invited the non-profit to submit a proposal.  This particular funding source does not accept unsolicited proposals.  The non-profit asked its grant writer (an outside consultant) to write a proposal to this funding source.  The grant writer wrote a proposal and submitted it. A couple of weeks later, the non-profit administrator got a phone call from the funding source saying that the grant writer had actually submitted several proposals – the one the funding source had requested as well as proposals on behalf of several other organizations the grant writer worked with.  None of these other proposals were part of the solicitation.  The grant writer had just taken it on herself to try to squeeze in some of her other clients in competition with the client making the original request.  I’m sure she assumed they would not know or find out.  To make matters worse, the representative from the funding source told the non-profit administrator that of the several proposals submitted by that grant writer, the weakest one from from the original agency requesting the work. The non-profit organization that originally asked the grant writer to submit the proposal was ultimately not funded.
  4. Telling a client that they can pay for grant writing services out of the grant when they can’t. There is some debate in the field about whether charging a contingency fee for grant writing services is ethical or not.  Some people insist that contingency fees are unethical, but then call it a “bonus” for getting funded and call that ethical. The real issue, though, is not whether or not it’s a contingency fee, but where that fee comes from. If you tell someone they can pay the fee out of the grant when they can’t, you have essentially lied to them. Very few funding sources allow you to pay for grant writing services out of a grant itself (there are, however, some that do). 

The bottom line is that integrity matters. Trying to cut ethical corners may seem like a profitable decision at the time, but in the end it is not the way to build a successful grant writing career.

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The Detail Dilemma of Grant Writing

There are many things that make grant writing a challenging endeavor.  One of those things is something I call the “detail dilemma.” Knowing how much detail to include about your need, your project design, your activities and your evaluation is not always obvious.  In fact, it is one of the things that new grant writers struggle with most.

On the one hand, you need to provide enough detail to make your plans perfectly clear to the readers and to thoroughly address the scoring criteria.  On the other hand, you usually also have a page limit pressing against you and keeping you from providing as much detail as you might like to include.

It makes it worse when the guidance from the funding source is nebulous.  I participated in a webinar this morning during which a funder was providing guidance for a grant due next week.  This one has no page limitation for the narrative (a very rare situation), and lots of terms like “describe thoroughly” and “provide detail about” in the RFP.  When asked for some guidance, the funder’s representative simply replied, “Well, don’t write too much, and be succinct, but you need to describe your plan thoroughly and provide enough detail so the readers will feel comfortable about how you addressed the scoring criteria.”

Leave it to the government to provide a non-answer to a perfectly legitimate question. Sometimes you just want to yell, “Can’t you give me a straight answer?”

So, what do you do?

Here’s the advice I give to others (and the advice I try to follow myself):

  1. Assume that your reader knows nothing about your organization and what you do.  You need to provide enough detail for someone who knows nothing about you to understand a) who you are, b) what you are planning to do, and c) how you plan to do it.
  2. Provide more detail in sections that will gain you higher points. Remember, it’s a numbers game.  It’s a subjective numbers game, but a numbers game nonetheless.
  3. Provide more detail in the first several pages, regardless of how many points are allocated for the first section.  The first few pages that the readers see set the tone for their attitude for your whole proposal.  You need to start off strong sounding competent and like you have thought it all through.
  4. If you have no page limitation, or if you have more room left than you have already used, ask yourself, “What additional details I can provide that would help the readers select this project over another?”  Then add to your narrative accordingly.
  5. Read through your proposal to make sure it is focused on the scoring criteria.  Sometimes, writers fill their proposals with information they think is interesting, but that has little to do with what the funder wants to know.  I call this extra stuff “grant noise”. Keep the grant noise to a minimum.  Focus on what the funder is asking and choose a simple project design. Sometimes pulling out all the “noise” helps you see where you need to add detail.
  6. Give your proposal to someone who has not been involved in the development of the project, and ask their opinion.  If there is anything that they think is unclear, add more detail to clarify the point.  This is definitely a time to “check your ego at the door.”  Even if you think you said it clearly, if your friendly reader needed more explanation, the funder’s readers probably will,  too.

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Want more grant writing tips?  Try 101 Tips for Aspiring Grant Writers and consider taking an online grant writing seminar or course through the Online Learning Center.

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

The Detail Dilemma of Grant Writing

There are many things that make grant writing a challenging endeavor.  One of those things is something I call the “detail dilemma.” Knowing how much detail to include about your need, your project design, your activities and your evaluation is not always obvious.  In fact, it is one of the things that new grant writers struggle with most.

On the one hand, you need to provide enough detail to make your plans perfectly clear to the readers and to thoroughly address the scoring criteria.  On the other hand, you usually also have a page limit pressing against you and keeping you from providing as much detail as you might like to include.

It makes it worse when the guidance from the funding source is nebulous.  I participated in a webinar this morning during which a funder was providing guidance for a grant due next week.  This one has no page limitation for the narrative (a very rare situation), and lots of terms like “describe thoroughly” and “provide detail about” in the RFP.  When asked for some guidance, the funder’s representative simply replied, “Well, don’t write too much, and be succinct, but you need to describe your plan thoroughly and provide enough detail so the readers will feel comfortable about how you addressed the scoring criteria.”

Leave it to the government to provide a non-answer to a perfectly legitimate question. Sometimes you just want to yell, “Can’t you give me a straight answer?”

So, what do you do?

Here’s the advice I give to others (and the advice I try to follow myself):

  1. Assume that your reader knows nothing about your organization and what you do.  You need to provide enough detail for someone who knows nothing about you to understand a) who you are, b) what you are planning to do, and c) how you plan to do it.
  2. Provide more detail in sections that will gain you higher points. Remember, it’s a numbers game.  It’s a subjective numbers game, but a numbers game nonetheless.
  3. Provide more detail in the first several pages, regardless of how many points are allocated for the first section.  The first few pages that the readers see set the tone for their attitude for your whole proposal.  You need to start off strong sounding competent and like you have thought it all through.
  4. If you have no page limitation, or if you have more room left than you have already used, ask yourself, “What additional details I can provide that would help the readers select this project over another?”  Then add to your narrative accordingly.
  5. Read through your proposal to make sure it is focused on the scoring criteria.  Sometimes, writers fill their proposals with information they think is interesting, but that has little to do with what the funder wants to know.  I call this extra stuff “grant noise”. Keep the grant noise to a minimum.  Focus on what the funder is asking and choose a simple project design. Sometimes pulling out all the “noise” helps you see where you need to add detail.
  6. Give your proposal to someone who has not been involved in the development of the project, and ask their opinion.  If there is anything that they think is unclear, add more detail to clarify the point.  This is definitely a time to “check your ego at the door.”  Even if you think you said it clearly, if your friendly reader needed more explanation, the funder’s readers probably will,  too.

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Want more grant writing tips?  Try 101 Tips for Aspiring Grant Writers and consider taking an online grant writing seminar or course through the Online Learning Center.

Grant Research Includes Reading a Grant Sample

“Nothing succeeds like success” is an old proverb, but it applies well to grant writing today. Grant writers who want to be successful know what is wanted by the grant maker and one great way to do that is to read a grant sample of proposals that were successful in previous competitions.

Now you might be saying to yourself “Whoa! You’re talking about plagiarism,” and I’ll say y’all are wrong about that. I’m talking about reading for the purpose of research only, certainly NEVER copying or creating derivative works.

Reading a grant sample is no different than serving as a reader on a grant scoring team. You learn a lot about how to write a successful grant proposal by reading the work of other successful grant writers.

Here are some of the key things you should look for when you are reading a grant sample.

  1. Program structure including who is served, what kind of services, how much service was deemed acceptable, etc.
  2. What kind of organization got the money, public, private, non-profit?
  3. Who was the target audience? Is there a preference for a certain demographic, geographic area, or municipal size?
  4. What is in the budget? What will the funder actually pay for and what are the relative amounts in terms of budget categories?

Of course there is a lot more to look for including use of language, use of graphics, and use of charts and tables. Remember that successful proposals were those that the readers liked and recommended for funding. That’s the group you want to be in the next round of funding!

Creative Resources and Research offers grant samples that our staff has collected for various competitions at http://grantsample.com/. We also offer some of our own successful proposals there (with identifying information about the client agency redacted).

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Also check out http://grantoutline.com/!

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Grant Research Includes Reading a Grant Sample

“Nothing succeeds like success” is an old proverb, but it applies well to grant writing today. Grant writers who want to be successful know what is wanted by the grant maker and one great way to do that is to read a grant sample of proposals that were successful in previous competitions.

Now you might be saying to yourself “Whoa! You’re talking about plagiarism,” and I’ll say y’all are wrong about that. I’m talking about reading for the purpose of research only, certainly NEVER copying or creating derivative works.

Reading a grant sample is no different than serving as a reader on a grant scoring team. You learn a lot about how to write a successful grant proposal by reading the work of other successful grant writers.

Here are some of the key things you should look for when you are reading a grant sample.

  1. Program structure including who is served, what kind of services, how much service was deemed acceptable, etc.
  2. What kind of organization got the money, public, private, non-profit?
  3. Who was the target audience? Is there a preference for a certain demographic, geographic area, or municipal size?
  4. What is in the budget? What will the funder actually pay for and what are the relative amounts in terms of budget categories?

Of course there is a lot more to look for including use of language, use of graphics, and use of charts and tables. Remember that successful proposals were those that the readers liked and recommended for funding. That’s the group you want to be in the next round of funding!

Creative Resources and Research offers grant samples that our staff has collected for various competitions at http://grantsample.com/. We also offer some of our own successful proposals there (with identifying information about the client agency redacted).

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Also check out http://grantoutline.com/!

Grant Writing Rejection

Grant writing rejection can be hard to take. Nonprofit consultant and grant writing expert, Derek Link, provides some tips on what you should do if your grant is rejected.

One reason that grant writers can fail is by taking on too many low percentage grants that are unlikely to be funded. Selecting grants to write is a delicate thing because as a grant writer you get so many requests from unqualified applicants.

It would be easy to take on lots of contracts from clients you know don’t have a prayer of getting funded, but then your reputation is nothing but a house of cards. Unless you want to move from state to state on an annual basis where nobody knows how unsuccessful you were the year prior, success is important!

Your reputation as a grant writer relies primarily on one thing – getting grants funded. Be prepared for rejection from time to time, because not every grant can be funded; not even the best written ones. Grant rejection is hard to take when you’ve written what you believe to be a good narrative. Getting rejected means doing some damage control with the client as well as preparing for resubmission when the opportunity arises.
Here are some ideas about what to do when your grant is rejected:

  1. Always ask for the readers’ comments. Funding agencies don’t always have the staff to provide these so often your request will be denied. If you do get them, study them carefully and try not to focus on the things that the readers obviously missed. I’ve heard grant writers get all wound up about some reader missing something that cost them points. OK, it happens and it stinks, but move on to why did they miss it? Was it in the wrong section? Maybe it needed to be repeated, bolded, underlined. On the rewrite, make sure that point is easier to find and repeated so even the slowest reader can find it.
  2. If you find that the readers really missed the mark on your proposal, then file a challenge and detail the reasons you think that the readers got it wrong. There has to be a truly egregious error for a negative funding decision to be reversed. Remember, they’ve probably already sent out the notices to all the people who were successful so it’s unlikely they are going to eat crow and reorganize the whole field to fund your proposal. But it can happen, so sometimes it’s worth a challenge. If it’s a federal grant, your appeal needs to demonstrate that a standard other than the approved scoring criteria was applied.  That is nearly impossible to demonstrate.
  3. If you can’t get readers’ comments then it’s a good idea to request copies of some of the winning proposals so you can compare them to what you submitted. Write down the reasons you think that the proposal was rejected and keep it on file for the following submission. It’s better to do it right after you learn why you weren’t funded.
  4. If you planned with a collaborative that meets regularly, discuss the rejected proposal with them to talk about why it wasn’t funded and whether the group is capable and willing to make changes in the proposal design so it is more likely to be funded the next time around.

It’s a terrible experience to have to give a client disappointing news about a grant being rejected. Your clients put a lot of faith in your writing abilities and failure hurts your reputation as a “grant magician.” A failed grant in the early stages of a client relationship can ruin your relationship with them. Be wise about which grants you write and try to steer clear of lower percentage competitions with a client until you’ve had some success and demonstrated your competence. Once your relationship has been established, and your abilities are enshrined in the annals of their annual report, then you can survive a few rejections here and there.

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Visit GrantGoddess.com for lots of great tips and ideas to help increase you grant writing success!
 
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Grant Writing Rejection

Grant writing rejection can be hard to take. Nonprofit consultant and grant writing expert, Derek Link, provides some tips on what you should do if your grant is rejected.

One reason that grant writers can fail is by taking on too many low percentage grants that are unlikely to be funded. Selecting grants to write is a delicate thing because as a grant writer you get so many requests from unqualified applicants.

It would be easy to take on lots of contracts from clients you know don’t have a prayer of getting funded, but then your reputation is nothing but a house of cards. Unless you want to move from state to state on an annual basis where nobody knows how unsuccessful you were the year prior, success is important!

Your reputation as a grant writer relies primarily on one thing – getting grants funded. Be prepared for rejection from time to time, because not every grant can be funded; not even the best written ones. Grant rejection is hard to take when you’ve written what you believe to be a good narrative. Getting rejected means doing some damage control with the client as well as preparing for resubmission when the opportunity arises.
Here are some ideas about what to do when your grant is rejected:

  1. Always ask for the readers’ comments. Funding agencies don’t always have the staff to provide these so often your request will be denied. If you do get them, study them carefully and try not to focus on the things that the readers obviously missed. I’ve heard grant writers get all wound up about some reader missing something that cost them points. OK, it happens and it stinks, but move on to why did they miss it? Was it in the wrong section? Maybe it needed to be repeated, bolded, underlined. On the rewrite, make sure that point is easier to find and repeated so even the slowest reader can find it.
  2. If you find that the readers really missed the mark on your proposal, then file a challenge and detail the reasons you think that the readers got it wrong. There has to be a truly egregious error for a negative funding decision to be reversed. Remember, they’ve probably already sent out the notices to all the people who were successful so it’s unlikely they are going to eat crow and reorganize the whole field to fund your proposal. But it can happen, so sometimes it’s worth a challenge. If it’s a federal grant, your appeal needs to demonstrate that a standard other than the approved scoring criteria was applied.  That is nearly impossible to demonstrate.
  3. If you can’t get readers’ comments then it’s a good idea to request copies of some of the winning proposals so you can compare them to what you submitted. Write down the reasons you think that the proposal was rejected and keep it on file for the following submission. It’s better to do it right after you learn why you weren’t funded.
  4. If you planned with a collaborative that meets regularly, discuss the rejected proposal with them to talk about why it wasn’t funded and whether the group is capable and willing to make changes in the proposal design so it is more likely to be funded the next time around.

It’s a terrible experience to have to give a client disappointing news about a grant being rejected. Your clients put a lot of faith in your writing abilities and failure hurts your reputation as a “grant magician.” A failed grant in the early stages of a client relationship can ruin your relationship with them. Be wise about which grants you write and try to steer clear of lower percentage competitions with a client until you’ve had some success and demonstrated your competence. Once your relationship has been established, and your abilities are enshrined in the annals of their annual report, then you can survive a few rejections here and there.

————————————–
 
Visit GrantGoddess.com for lots of great tips and ideas to help increase you grant writing success!
 
Become a fan of the Grant Goddess and Creative Resources & Research on Facebook!

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Get Your Free E-Book – 12 Secrets of Successful Grant Writers

I am about publish a 20+ page e-book titled, 12 Secrets of Successful Grant Writers. I will be sending it our electronically on Friday, April 23rd. There are THREE ways you can get it FREE on that day:

  1. Become a fan of my new Grant Goddess Facebook Page. The Grant Goddess page will focus on sharing news about electronic grant writing resources. On Friday, 4/23, I’ll send a link to the e-book download page to all fans of the Grant Goddess page on that day.
  2. Sign up to receive our electronic newsletter (e-zine). Go to http://grantgoddess.com/ezine.html and enter your email address to sign up. All subscribers will be sent the e-book link on 4/23. By the way, the e-zine is currently published once a month, but we’ll be moving to twice a month soon. Don’t worry. You won’t be flooded with email and I don’t use that list for any purpose other than the e-zine.
  3. Buy a copy of 101 Tips for Aspiring Grant Writers through my website. Go to http://grantgoddess.com/101-grant-tips-book.html to place your order. Ordering through Amazon doesn’t count for this offer because I won’t know who you are or where to send the e-book link.

You don’t have to do all three of these to get the e-book, just any ONE will do. Of course, if you would like to do more than one, that would be great!

Also, please share this opportunity with anyone else you know who may be interested.

Remember, the e-book will be sent out on 4/23 to anyone who has accomplished any one of the three actions mentioned here by that date.

An abridged, audio version (CD) of 12 Secrets of Successful Grant Writers is available for purchase in our online store.

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Visit GrantGoddess.com to get grant writing tips and resources!

Get Your Free E-Book – 12 Secrets of Successful Grant Writers

I am about publish a 20+ page e-book titled, 12 Secrets of Successful Grant Writers. I will be sending it our electronically on Friday, April 23rd. There are THREE ways you can get it FREE on that day:

  1. Become a fan of my new Grant Goddess Facebook Page. The Grant Goddess page will focus on sharing news about electronic grant writing resources. On Friday, 4/23, I’ll send a link to the e-book download page to all fans of the Grant Goddess page on that day.
  2. Sign up to receive our electronic newsletter (e-zine). Go to http://grantgoddess.com/ezine.html and enter your email address to sign up. All subscribers will be sent the e-book link on 4/23. By the way, the e-zine is currently published once a month, but we’ll be moving to twice a month soon. Don’t worry. You won’t be flooded with email and I don’t use that list for any purpose other than the e-zine.
  3. Buy a copy of 101 Tips for Aspiring Grant Writers through my website. Go to http://grantgoddess.com/101-grant-tips-book.html to place your order. Ordering through Amazon doesn’t count for this offer because I won’t know who you are or where to send the e-book link.

You don’t have to do all three of these to get the e-book, just any ONE will do. Of course, if you would like to do more than one, that would be great!

Also, please share this opportunity with anyone else you know who may be interested.

Remember, the e-book will be sent out on 4/23 to anyone who has accomplished any one of the three actions mentioned here by that date.

An abridged, audio version (CD) of 12 Secrets of Successful Grant Writers is available for purchase in our online store.

———————————–

Visit GrantGoddess.com to get grant writing tips and resources!

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

101 Tips for Aspiring Grant Writers

Yes, it’s finally here!  You can now pre-order a copy of 101 Tips for Aspiring Grant Writers. This 169-page book by Veronica Robbins is divided into 13 chapters, and is designed to walk you through the preparation of a grant application from start to finish.

If you pre-order between now and April 22, 2010 you can get the book for only $8.95 (that’s $4.00 off the $14.95 cover price). All pre-orders will ship around April 23, 2010.

The chapters included in 101 Tips for Aspiring Grant Writers are:

  • General Grant Writing Tips
  • Expressing Your Need for the Grant
  • Goals and Objectives
  • Program Design
  • Management Plan
  • Personnel
  • Evaluation
  • Budget
  • Editing
  • Formatting
  • Assembly and Mailing
  • Ethics
  • Finding Grants

Extra bonus!  Anyone who pre-orders by April 15, 2010 will receive an autographed copy of the book, signed by the author!

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com