Steering Your Way To A Winning Grant

by Cheryl C. New
Article from Technology & Learning magazine

Suppose you're a teacher or administrator in a school with very little extra funding for things like computers, Internet hook-ups, software, digital cameras and other technology. You would like to get a grant to install all these things in your school. Do you write one proposal simply asking for equipment and send it to a list of funders? Not if you're going for grant funding. Why? Because grant makers are trying to solve problems. They're focused on one or more deficiencies or barriers. They want to fund one or more projects that have the possibility of overcoming the deficiency, breaking down the barrier, and solving the problem.

Each funder has a pot of money dedicated to solving particular problems. So why don't they just spend money solving that problem? Why doesn't the grant maker who wants to end world hunger just give money to the poor to buy food? Because they don't have enough money to make a significant impact that way. It would take billions to accomplish that mission. What they do have is money to fund projects or model programs that might solve a portion of the problem and lead others to follow suit so that through their combined efforts, the problem can eventually be overcome. They're looking to spend their money on the best investments-the projects with the most promise.

We're not saying it's impossible to get grant money to fund your equipment. But, you do have to think through and articulate how you're going to use that equipment to help children learn something or do something better.

Start With a Project

To start the project development process, ask yourself some questions. What are the barriers that get in the way of the learning process? Are they social problems, mental process problems, or lack-of-experience problems? Identify the specific challenges you see in your work with your target population (your students).

To Be sure that you're focusing on the real problem and not just a symptom. For example, say there is a lack of achievement in your seventh-grade science class largely because of widespread inattentiveness. Inattentiveness is a symptom. Not being able to understand the material in the available texts and lacking alternative resources are problems that can cause lack of attentiveness. Your project should tackle the cause, not the effect.

After you have a list of real problems to solve, choose one and focus your creative efforts and expertise as educators on a technique, a process, or curriculum change that has a good chance of overcoming a barrier and providing at least a partial solution to the problem. Bring together a team of colleagues to help you.

Suppose you decide to develop a project based on the real problem that a large number of children in science classes are underachieving and inattentive because the available material is too complicated or at too difficult a reading level. One possible solution is to redesign the science curriculum to meet the needs of underachieving students by providing access to more readable materials and encouraging independent research and experimentation. We don't have space in this article to fully develop the project design, but you can see where it's likely to progress.

What tools are you going to need to accomplish your project solution? You might need computers and Internet access. You might need software and reference books. How about field trips to local science-related sites? The list of needed resources grows as you build your project.

Never lose sight of the need to focus on the project rather than the equipment and materials. The grant maker is only interested in your equipment needs as they directly relate to and support the successful completion of your project. Ask for just enough for the project-no more and no less.

Finding the Right Funds

Now that you have a good project idea with enough details, you can start looking for a matching funding source. You don't need to purchase a whiz-bang, $99.99 book that tells you "where you can find $15,000 for a computer." A person who could do just that would be too rich to need to be selling a book. And anyhow, much of the information is out there for you to find for free on the Web or at your local library. For example, you can find the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (federal funding) and Foundation Center Directories (foundation funding) at any public library or online at www.gsa.gov/fdac and fdncenter.org, respectively. Potential corporate funders can be researched using the Dun & Bradstreet or Wards Business directories. You can also search the Dun & Bradstreet databases for a fee at www.dbisna.com.

While directories provide a good overview of funding sources and can save you time, it's a good idea to go deeper and find the information yourself so you know what's out there, what it means, and what it can and can't do for you. Then, when you understand the primary resources and references, you can make better use of one of the many good compiled directories available.

Before you even begin writing a proposal, you have to target sources that seem like a good match for your project. Write or call funders that seem appropriate and get as much information about them as you can. Ask for a Request for Proposal or proposal guidelines, a copy of a newsletter, and a list of past recipients of funds. Read available articles about the funder and review their Web site. Here are some common-sense things to keep in mind when looking for a match:

* Eligibility. Is your organization legally and philosophically eligible for funding?

* Geography. Is your organization in the right geographical area for funding? Some funders limit their giving to certain regions of the country or to cities in which they have a corporate presence.

* Subject. Is the subject of your project-the problem you are trying to solve-one that interests the funder?

* Support. Does the funder support what you need? For example, if the funder does not support training and the central piece of your project is professional development, then you're not a match.

* Money. After looking at the average award, does the budget amount you plan to request match up? If you want $500 and the awards are mostly in the $10,000 range, your project is not likely to be funded. The converse is also true.

* Time. If you need three years to bring your project to self-sufficiency and the funder will only provide support for six months, you're not a match.

* Deadline. If you're just starting to think about a project and you have two weeks until deadline, then you should plan to submit a proposal next year.

Proposal Planning and Development

Once you've determined that a funding source is a match, further develop your project by writing down the content needed, the publishing requirements, and the key points you need to make in light of all the materials you have reviewed and your discussions with representatives of the targeted funding source. We recommend and train our workshop attendees to outline their projects. Here are the general steps to take:

1. Determine the four or five main steps to complete your project.
2. Under each main step, make a list of smaller activities or strategies that lead to the accomplishment of the main step.
3. Now, put the main steps in order.
4. Finally, sort the smaller activities in the logical order that they would have to be done.

Use this outline to determine every resource you'll need to do your project. Include personnel, travel, facility use, supplies, equipment, renovation fees, reference books, and contractual arrangements.

After you've completed your resource list, determine what you are contributing to the project and which elements any partners are contributing. Separate out the costs for the items that you're requesting from the funder. (It may be that you will write many proposals to a number of funders to support various aspects of a given project.)

These are the costs that you'll include in your budget request. Make sure that all of your budgeted items come entirely from your outline of the project.

Writing the Proposal

Writing is only about 10 to 20 percent of the effort in a successful grant-seeking effort. Although the planning, project development, research and analysis takes up a lot of time, unless you go through all these steps, you'll have nothing to write about. Grant makers don't fund good ideas; they fund well thought-out, measurable, doable projects.

While we can't analyze each part of a full-blown proposal in one article, here are some guidelines to help you as you write:

* Follow the directions of the funder to the letter. You must-it's not optional-adhere to the directions of the funder when writing your proposal. It's been reported that over 60 percent of all proposals received by funders are eliminated immediately because the writer failed to follow directions.

* Make it easy for them. Use the same headings and terms as the funder. They may or may not know your jargon, so don't use it. You won't acquire funding if you confuse the reader.

* Write persuasively. Market your project confidently to the funder. You want to convince the reader that you believe in your project and that it can be done as you describe it. Don't write the proposal like an undergraduate term paper and don't beg. Write with confidence and expression, but not with overblown dramatics.

* Write descriptively. As you write, pretend you're talking to someone about your project and trying to help him or her understand what you're trying to do. Describe your project using clear, simple sentences. Stay away from lofty, complicated language. There are no magic words or phrases that make one proposal more likely to win over another.

* Proof, edit, proof, edit and proof again. Have several outside readers proof the document for content, clarity, grammar, spelling and formatting errors. There is no excuse for these kinds of mistakes in a grant proposal. If you're sloppy with the proposal, it signals to the reader that you'll be sloppy with the grant money.

* Pay attention to the details. If you have to write a synopsis of 500 words, don't go to 501. Yes, it matters. Keep your margins in line and your type size 12 point (unless otherwise stated). Use a serif font for text and a sans serif for headings.

* Mind your proposal package. Make sure that the pages of all the copies are in order and that every part of every copy is included. Be sure that the copies will not slide around in the box and get crushed. Most funders don't want binding so figure out another way to keep copies together using folders or large envelopes.

* Focus on the project, not the technology. Almost any funding source, whether it's federal, foundation, corporate, state, or local, can potentially fund technology. If you put technology in its place-as a tool to accomplish the project-you can get technology funding even from sources that do not see themselves as focusing on technology.

A Final Word

What we've written in this article is a very short course in grant seeking. We strongly suggest that if you're serious about grant seeking, you read more and attend a workshop or seminar to get further information.

If you receive an award after you write your first proposal, then great! Keep those projects coming and refine your grant-seeking skills. If at first you don't receive an award, ask for the reviewers' comments, analyze what you could do better, revise appropriately, find another matching funder, and go for it again. If the reviews are encouraging, resubmit your proposal to the same funder. In fact, keep a number of partially developed projects on the shelf, ready for those proposal requests with impossible due dates. The important thing is to keep at it. After all, grant seeking is a process, not a one-time event.