Grantsmanship: From Ideas to Fundable Proposals for Manageable Projects

By Steve Brandick

This is a practical guide to proposal writing for both novices and veterans that is organized around Eight Lessons-Learned by a highly successful grantmaker over a twenty years period. Purchase includes access to online tools that help clarify ideas and pull together the information needed to write proposals that the funder and the reviewer will appreciate and that also serve as blueprints for the implementation of strong programs that are built to last.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Dec 10, 2012
• ISBN: 9781626757035

Book preview

eBook Version Copyright 2012 by Steve Brandick

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommerical uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, contact the publisher at the address or email below.

Library of Congress Control Number: TX0007635320

Published by Boney Mountain Arts

850 Kenmore Circle

Newbury Park, California 91320

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Cover Photography by Steve Brandick

Contents

How to Use this Book

Introduction

Lesson Learned 1–A clear vision is critical

Lesson Learned 2–Grantese is a fairly simple language to master

Lesson Learned 3–Answer these critical questions before you start.

Lesson Learned 4–Take care with the GateKeepers

Lesson Learned 5–All funders want some of the same information. Get it ready.

Budget Narrative Example

Lesson Learned 6–Strong partnerships take effort, but are worth it.

Lesson learned 7–Writing a strong proposal requires multiple personalities (or better yet, a Dream team)

Lesson Learned 8–There are always grant opportunities if you know how to search the web

Exercises and Supplements

Index

How to Use this Book

This book can be used in a number of ways. First, you can read through it to get a general sense of what it takes to write a proposal without doing any of the exercises. If you have experience in proposal writing, you can scan it using the Table of Contents and the Index to focus on the issues that interest you the most, those where you may need to strengthen your skills. If you are new and want to get a general sense of how to write a proposal, read through the guide one time. It’s not that long. Then focus on Lesson Learned 5–All funders want the same information, get it ready and Lesson Learned 6–Strong partnerships take time, but are worth it. This is the heart of any proposal. If you have a specific proposal that you need to write, get a hold of the instructions for the proposal and use Lesson Learned 6 to guide you through them.

There are exercises, examples and supplemental information related to many of the lessons in this book. Because you cannot print anything in the eBook, I have posted these document as PDF’s on the Boney Arts website. You can go to ePublications and create a free account which will allow you to view and download them. In the eBook, the exercises are presented as questions to answer with the following button that will lead you to the documents on the Boney Arts site:

NOTE: If you open these documents on an eReader such as Kindle or iPad, you will be able to view them, but you will not be able to use them as intended. To work on them, you need to use a devise that allows you to download the documents, type on the fillable PDF’s and print or save your work.

Introduction

One day in 1993, my boss called me into her office and told me that I would be writing a grant proposal to fund scholarships for future teachers. She said the application was due in eight weeks, handed me a fifty-page document that contained the application instructions and told me to get started right away. I walked back to my cubicle wondering how I was going to get this done. I had never written a grant proposal before. Not a big one, not a small one, not any kind of one. The next eight weeks were excruciating. I had to unravel the fifty pages of instructions, collect information from willing and not-so-willing sources, write the narrative, prepare the application, and make sure that it was submitted with all the necessary documentation before the deadline. On top of that, my boss was a perfectionist who gave me little direction, but lots of criticism. No matter how perfect I thought I had it, she would always find something small that needed fixing, and she was one of those people who could glance at a page and see the misspelled word or extra space. As aggravating as that was, it turned out to be a blessing. I learned from the start to get it perfect.

I submitted the proposal and it was funded. I cherished the letter from the State of California notifying me that my efforts had been rewarded, but the real payoff came when I held an orientation meeting for the scholarship recipients. As I walked to the front of the room to address the group, it hit me. Here were twenty-five people who would be able to fulfill their dream of becoming a teacher as a result of my work. The endless hours of writing, the non-stop frustrations collecting data, the continuous edits, the stress of deadlines. It was all worth it. I was hooked.

Over the years, I have written many grant proposals. Amazingly enough, the majority of