Category Archives: writing

Five Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Grant Objectives

Here are the most common objective writing mistakes:

  1. Not establishing a target. Simply saying that your participants will “show growth” is not a target. How much growth, according to what measure?
  2. Not identifying how growth will be measured. If you say that there will be a 20% growth in parent knowledge of how to help their children at school, you need to cite your measurement tool. I would also recommend that you be much more specific in how you set the target. Are you talking about 20% growth in the number of parents who reach a cutoff score on a particular assessment or are you referring to a gain of 20 percentage points in the average score of parents on the assessment you identify? Those are very different targets and they are measured differently. Do you see what I mean about being specific?
  3. Not identifying a timeline for achievement of the objective. You have set a target, but you also need to give a timeline. Will it be achieved each year? Each quarter? By the end of the project? The further out your timeline is, the more important it is to also establish short term benchmarks.
  4. Setting a target that is too rigorous. Many people think that they will be most likely to get funded if they set the their targets really high or if they target 100% achievement. The problem with that is that a) you may get the grant, but you have doomed yourself to failing to meet your objectives before you even start; and 2) grant readers are more sophisticated today than they were 15 years ago. They are on the lookout for objectives that are not possible to achieve.
  5. Setting a target that is too low. Other folks go the other direction, and they try to set a really low target so they will definitely be able to meet it. This is commonly done by establishing a target that measures a percentage of a number. For example, to say that there will be a 50% gain in the number of parents who show growth on a particular assessment could be a very low bar to meet, even though it sounds high. If only 2 parents showed growth between pre-and post assessment prior to your grant, you could meet that objective by showing a gain of one parent who showed growth (total 2 parents) after the grant is funded. Don’t try to cheat. Think about what results you want to achieve and what services you are willing to implement to help you get there, and set your targets accordingly.

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You might also be interested in:

Five Tips for Writing Good Grant Objectives

——————————–

Check out the Grant Tips iPhone App for over 100 grant writing tips you can really use!

Five Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Grant Objectives

Here are the most common objective writing mistakes:

  1. Not establishing a target. Simply saying that your participants will “show growth” is not a target. How much growth, according to what measure?
  2. Not identifying how growth will be measured. If you say that there will be a 20% growth in parent knowledge of how to help their children at school, you need to cite your measurement tool. I would also recommend that you be much more specific in how you set the target. Are you talking about 20% growth in the number of parents who reach a cutoff score on a particular assessment or are you referring to a gain of 20 percentage points in the average score of parents on the assessment you identify? Those are very different targets and they are measured differently. Do you see what I mean about being specific?
  3. Not identifying a timeline for achievement of the objective. You have set a target, but you also need to give a timeline. Will it be achieved each year? Each quarter? By the end of the project? The further out your timeline is, the more important it is to also establish short term benchmarks.
  4. Setting a target that is too rigorous. Many people think that they will be most likely to get funded if they set the their targets really high or if they target 100% achievement. The problem with that is that a) you may get the grant, but you have doomed yourself to failing to meet your objectives before you even start; and 2) grant readers are more sophisticated today than they were 15 years ago. They are on the lookout for objectives that are not possible to achieve.
  5. Setting a target that is too low. Other folks go the other direction, and they try to set a really low target so they will definitely be able to meet it. This is commonly done by establishing a target that measures a percentage of a number. For example, to say that there will be a 50% gain in the number of parents who show growth on a particular assessment could be a very low bar to meet, even though it sounds high. If only 2 parents showed growth between pre-and post assessment prior to your grant, you could meet that objective by showing a gain of one parent who showed growth (total 2 parents) after the grant is funded. Don’t try to cheat. Think about what results you want to achieve and what services you are willing to implement to help you get there, and set your targets accordingly.

——————————–
You might also be interested in:

Five Tips for Writing Good Grant Objectives

——————————–

Check out the Grant Tips iPhone App for over 100 grant writing tips you can really use!

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

How Can You Be A Better Writer? (Part 2)

Good writers are also avid readers. Be a reader. That’s what I wrote about in Part 1 of “How Can You Be A Better Writer?”

My next suggestion for becoming a better writer is also very simple:

Write.

Write something.
Write anything.
Write often.

Thinking about writing won’t make you a better writer. You have to actually write.

Ideally, you’ll also reflect on what you have written and learn from it. It will also help to have a critical friend review your work and offer feedback. But you can’t do those things until you sit down and write something.

Starting a blog is a great way to get yourself writing. Pick a topic that interests you and get started.

Consider writing some articles that you publish in professional journals or online. Start with one. Don’t get bogged down in all of the detail about where to submit it and how many topics you can think of to write about. Just write.

Another idea to get you writing is to write some mini-grants for a local school or non-profit organization. If you need some help getting started, listen to my radio show on Getting Started with Mini-Grants.

There are many tips and tricks for effective writing that you can use to help you. Some of those can be found in this blog. Still, those tips and tricks will only help you if you actually start writing.

Improvement in writing happens over time. Be patient with yourself. Celebrate small victories along the way – like a compliment on your writing, a funded mini-grant, a published article.

Remember, writing is a craft. It’s part art and part skill. Both the skill and the art are developed over time.

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

How Can You Be A Better Writer? (Part 2)

Good writers are also avid readers. Be a reader. That’s what I wrote about in Part 1 of “How Can You Be A Better Writer?”

My next suggestion for becoming a better writer is also very simple:

Write.

Write something.
Write anything.
Write often.

Thinking about writing won’t make you a better writer. You have to actually write.

Ideally, you’ll also reflect on what you have written and learn from it. It will also help to have a critical friend review your work and offer feedback. But you can’t do those things until you sit down and write something.

Starting a blog is a great way to get yourself writing. Pick a topic that interests you and get started.

Consider writing some articles that you publish in professional journals or online. Start with one. Don’t get bogged down in all of the detail about where to submit it and how many topics you can think of to write about. Just write.

Another idea to get you writing is to write some mini-grants for a local school or non-profit organization. If you need some help getting started, listen to my radio show on Getting Started with Mini-Grants.

There are many tips and tricks for effective writing that you can use to help you. Some of those can be found in this blog. Still, those tips and tricks will only help you if you actually start writing.

Improvement in writing happens over time. Be patient with yourself. Celebrate small victories along the way – like a compliment on your writing, a funded mini-grant, a published article.

Remember, writing is a craft. It’s part art and part skill. Both the skill and the art are developed over time.

New "Tips from The Grant Goddess" Video Podcast Episode

I just added two new video podcast episodes:

Don’t Try to Say Too Much

and

Proofread, Proofread…..Then Proofread Some More

There are several ways you can access the podcasts. One way (and probably the easiest way) is to go to my helloWorld site. When you get there, click on the i-pod icon on the left side of the page. Then you’ll see a list of all the video podcast episodes.

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

New "Tips from The Grant Goddess" Video Podcast Episode

I just added two new video podcast episodes:

Don’t Try to Say Too Much

and

Proofread, Proofread…..Then Proofread Some More

There are several ways you can access the podcasts. One way (and probably the easiest way) is to go to my helloWorld site. When you get there, click on the i-pod icon on the left side of the page. Then you’ll see a list of all the video podcast episodes.