{"id":268,"date":"2010-12-14T15:39:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-14T15:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.grantgoddessblog.com\/?p=268"},"modified":"2010-12-14T15:39:00","modified_gmt":"2010-12-14T15:39:00","slug":"the-accidental-grant-writer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grantgoddessblog.com\/?p=268","title":{"rendered":"The Accidental Grant Writer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I wasn’t going to be a grant writer.  No, I was going to be an attorney.  That was definitely my plan as I was growing up.  It was still my plan in college.  That’s what I thought the smart girls were supposed to do.<\/p>\n

Then the twists and turns of life led me to the classroom at the age of 22 and I became a teacher.  I loved it.  It wasn’t necessarily the kids I loved (but yes, I do love children), but it was that moment of epiphany when a child finally learned something new. I loved learning so much that it shouldn’t have surprised me that I would enjoy helping others learn, too.<\/p>\n

It was as a teacher that I wrote my first grant proposal. It was a $5,000 grant for some technology equipment.  Specifically, I wanted a videodisc player (remember those?) and a large screen TV (back before they were in anyone’s home) to help my ELD students have more multimedia experiences (there were no computers in classrooms in those days – only small labs with Apple IIe machines) so they could understand the curriculum better. It required a 5-page narrative and it was very challenging for me, but I did it, and I was successful. The grant was awarded to my classroom!<\/p>\n

Still, even though I had written a successful grant, I didn’t think of myself as a grant writer.<\/p>\n

After years as a teacher, I became a school administrator.  That’s what I thought the smart girls were supposed to do. As a school administrator, I was responsible for overseeing several grants. It was interesting.  I enjoyed starting new programs from scratch, and it was in that capacity that a met a grant writer and program evaluator who became my mentor (Read about the Top 10 Lessons I Learned from my Grant Writing Mentor<\/a>).<\/p>\n

After several years, he asked me to do some grant writing for him on the side.  I discovered that I was pretty good at it, but I was still an educator who also did grant writing.  I still didn’t think of myself as a grant writer.<\/p>\n

A few years later, he asked me to leave public education and to come work for him as a full time grant writer and program evaluator. It was a big step for me, but he told me that’s what the smart girls were supposed to do, so I did it.<\/p>\n

A few years after that, I left his firm and started my own. By then, there was no question in my mind that I was a grant writer; however, there was no point in my life in which I said to myself, “I want to learn how to be a grant writer.”  It just happened.  I stepped from opportunity to opportunity and learned what I could as I went along. There were no classes on grant writing offered in graduate school at that time. No one had even even mentioned it to me as a potential career path.<\/p>\n

It was almost as if it happened by accident.  I was the accidental grant writer.<\/p>\n

(Of course, I know there are really no accidents, but that’s the subject of an entirely different post.)<\/p>\n

Things are different today for folks who have some writing talent who want to make a difference in their corner of the world.  There are online courses in grant writing<\/a> to teach you how to become an excellent grant writer, and there are even courses in how to become a freelance grant writer<\/a> so you can learn the business side of the business. There are courses in colleges and universities, and even certification programs (although a certificate does not guarantee any success; the most successful grant writers I have ever known hold no special certificate). There are blogs, like this one, and websites<\/a> to read to learn about the industry.<\/p>\n

There is so much more support available now than when I started. Tapping into this support, well, that’s just what the smart girls (and boys!) do.<\/p>\n

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Related Posts:<\/p>\n

Grant Writing: A Romantic Misconception<\/a><\/p>\n

Think Positively and Make It Happen<\/a><\/p>\n

So You Want to Become a Freelance Grant Writer: Are you Barking Mad?<\/a><\/p>\n