Services:
Wisdom comes with age,” my famous Grandfather used to say.
Now that I have written grants for some three decades, I am starting to believe him.
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Below is a quick primer on grants that you can always use.
Grant Writing
Grant writing is a science and an art. Often close relationships, friendships and politics are involved in grant decision making. Knowing your audience can be key.
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Some foundations have a less formal process. Often in these situations it is very important to know the decision makers involved. In other cases, there are multiple individuals that score your grant proposal, and do not even know each other. Some grant graders may be in other states. Some of them are true experts and leaders in their field, and others may not be as well versed in the area of the grant request.
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In a grant opportunity with the Arizona Department of Education for school safety technology equipment we were able to spend a considerable amount of time understanding the grant parameters. There were multiple individuals grading the grants. We were given no unfair advantage but were able to ask questions, like any other interested applicant. Out of 153 grant applicants, there were ten grant winners chosen, and we wrote four of the winning grants.
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Sometimes the grant funding that a nonprofit foundation is looking for does not exist, or the next grant cycle is far away. However, there is nothing wrong with “creating” your own grant opportunity.
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In another case, we helped passed Arizona state legislation funding $3 million in first-time education technology grants. Six state of Arizona government grants were awarded under this program, and we were fortunate to help write two of the winning grants. The grant that finished in seventh place, and out of the money, we found alternative corporate funding, now approaching $4 million, and helping 54 schools.
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Grant writing is often collaborative since large grant proposals have so many significant parts including budgets, vision and history of the organization, program details, a public relations plan, demographic analysis, project planning, program evaluation and outcomes. Grantors have been increasing the number and detail of questions and information they wish to have for their grant application proposals.
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When foundations say they have “streamlined” their grant process, this can often mean that they have automated it and standardized the application process. It does not always mean the grant application is any easier for You to fill out and win. That is why it is always important to have someone “on point” who can bring together the different parts of the grant proposal into a complete package.
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The grant writer "on point" needs to write an overall grant request that “reads well” throughout. Grant applications need to make consistent sense to grant evaluators and grant committees, whether they are amateurs or professionals in the field involving the grant request. Being “on point” for a grant application is something we do well.
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Grant Research
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about finding grant funding opportunities is there is no “one stop shop” place to go to find “all the grants.” Grant writers live in constant fear that they “missed something” and did not identify a grant proposal opportunity until it was too late.
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There are numerous sources for grant funding opportunities for nonprofit organizations through private foundations, corporate business foundations, and local, state, and federal government agencies. Let’s not forget wealthy individuals – who sometimes give through family foundations – and sometimes not!
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Grant research is a very tedious and time consuming process that is often better outsourced. The good news:
We know how to do it!
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Perhaps the biggest mistake that grant applicants make is writing the grant request exactly for something they want, instead of exactly what the grantor wants. Understanding the grant application and what the grantor is looking for is critical.
Business Consulting
Grant Consulting provides an overall planning aspect to the grant process and nonprofit grant funding opportunities. CFO’s of nonprofit organizations have a budget to manage, people to pay and programs to support. We understand these dynamics because we started on the spending side of nonprofit organizations before moving exclusively into the fundraising side.
Unfortunately, there is often a disconnect in nonprofit foundations between the spending and fundraising sides because they do not fully understand the details and nuances of each other’s areas of expertise.
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Often nonprofit organizations depend on more than just grants to sustain their efforts. Individual donors, direct mail, online fundraising, telemarketing, high dollar clubs, annual events, and sustained memberships are just some of the things that organizations do to help run their operations and programs. Online fundraising is expected to grow from $5 billion a year to $95 billion by the year 2020.
We actually have experience with many of these different aspects of fundraising, and can understand how these programs fit into your grant efforts as an overall budget.
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