A Week-by-Week Guide
It’s important to allow yourself enough time to prepare your grant proposal, especially your first one. The great unknown in preparing a grant is how long the internal review will take. If your executive director is a real stickler who lives to edit someone else’s prose, allow additional time for review.
The following time line assumes you’ve spent at least several months cultivating a range of prospects so that when the right project came along, they were already primed and ready to receive your proposal.
Week 1: Most proposals you write will be for specific projects, so you’ll have to get to know the ins and outs of the project before you can do anything. Allow at least a week to get information from others and digest it. You’ll have time during the inevitable rewrites to continue learning and digesting.
Weeks 2 and 3: Conduct research to find the best funder matches for the project, and write or call for guidelines (if not available on the Internet). This is the most crucial stage in the proposal process. If you haven’t done all your homework, you won’t stand a chance at success.
WORDS TO THE WISE
If you need money in less than three months, you’re better off approaching an individual using a board or volunteer contact. Institutions move slowly.
Week 4: Complete research, checking to see if anyone connected with your organization knows anyone connected with the funder, and review information received from funders.
Weeks 5 and 6: Write the proposal, and share it with program staff and others. Make revisions and more revisions.
Week 7: Make final edits, contact the funder when appropriate, and mail the proposal well in advance of the funder’s deadline.
Week 8: Relax and wait.
Week 9: Make a follow-up call to see if the application was received.
Weeks 10 through 25 or longer: Patiently wait for news from the funder.
Weeks 12 through 52: The check arrives! General rejoicing!
As you can see, grant writing involves a lot more than just writing, but that’s what makes it interesting and challenging for those of us who do it. I love learning about the new projects I raise money for, and it’s so gratifying when a grant is successful and you know it was you who helped buy the books for the library, provided daycare for more kids, or helped people learn to read.
But what makes you eligible for a grant, and what’s a reasonable grant request? You’ll find out in Chapter 2.
The Least You Need to Know
• Asking Mom and Dad for money and approaching a foundation aren’t all that different.
• Grant writing can produce substantial sums for your community center, soccer team, church, or beginning nonprofit.
• Grant monies for charities decline in a down economy—just like everything else—and rise when times are good.
• The grant writer’s best friends are knowledge and passion.
• A good grant writer possesses diplomatic skills, financial acumen, curiosity, and passion.
• From concept to grant check can take six months to a year—or longer.
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