GW Flashcards
Capacity Building
The process of developing and strengthening the skills, instincts, abilities, processes and resources that organizations and communities need to survive, adapt, and thrive in a fast-changing world.
Grant Writing vs Fundraising
Fundraising: How you raise money for
your org.
Grant Writing: Is a type of fundraising activity. Ask foundations or gov’t wntities for support.
Vs. Fundraising which targets individual donors.
Typical fundraising activites
-Building relationships with individual donors
-holding fundraising events
-making public appeals for donations and marketing your organization to the community
Fringe Benefits
Anything that supplements an employee’s salary, e.g., health insurance, bus pass, company car, etc.
Get this number from he org’s bookkeeper or accountant.
Ex// An environmental director has 40k in personnel costs and 20% is fringe, that’s $8k.
Travel Section of Grant App Budget
Common to have conference travel or mandatory trainings as part of a grant app, esp. the bigger ones.
In US, can go to the General Services Administration and it provides the allowable rates for the city you’re travelling to.
Grant Budget Equipment
Tangible property (including information technology systems) with a useful life of more than one year OR it costs more than $5k.
Matters for federal grants, more flexible otherwise. (Vs supplies)
Grant Budget Supplies
Ex//printing paper
Something you consume during the life of project.
Useful life of less than one year OR costs less than $5k.
Grant Budget, Contractual
All costs related to sub-recipients (AKA anyone not on your own payroll)
Ex// if doing a marketing study, you might contract out with a professional services firm to do that work. You’d get a quote from them. You have a contact with them to do that service for you, so it’s contractual.
Grant Budget, Construction
Expenses related to the renovation, construction of a new building, alteration of a building.
Grant Budget, Other
Anything that doesn’t fit in the other sections.
Ex// equipment rental fee, etc.
Grant Budget, Indirect Costs
Expenses of doing business that are not readily identified with a particular grant, contract, or project.
Get this number from the bookkeeper or accountant.
Depends on the funding source you pursue; usually there’s a cap on the amount of allowable indirect costs (e.g., 10% max).
(Sometimes you have to figure out how to attribute indirect costs if the cap is below the number you arrived at.)
Geant Budget, Cost Share AKA Match
Detailed list of the cost sharing being made by the applicants or partners to help pay for the total project costs.
Cash Cost Share: encompasses all contributions to the project made by the recipient, sub recipient, or vendor for the costs incurred and paid for during the project.
If the item is reimbursed, it is cash cost share.
Ex//cash, personnel, fringe benefits.
Ex// PM and 50% of their time is going toward this project. They make $100k so $50k. That’s a real expense; you can count it as a match.
In-Kind Cost Share: Encompasses all contributions to the project made by a sub recipient or vendor (NOT the applicant) that represents donated items or services.
Sub recipient: project partner
Ex// project partner says we’ll donate some time to help with education and outreach OR we’ll donate the meeting rooms for the next 3 years (i.e., you can use this space for free).
NOTE: anything in the cost share tab MUST also be listed in the Project Budget. (Because all expenses you say you’ll pay need to be in the project budget!).
-Project Budget: TOTAL of ALL Costs
-Cost Share: list of all items pulled FROM the Project Budget that you as the applicant (i.e., the org applying) or your partners will cover
Budget
A financial plan for your project, itemized to show the breakdown of major expenses.
Budget Process i.e., the steps)
Iterative Process!!
Step 1: Enter costs (guess)
Step 2: Research costs by looking online and getting quotes
–If you can, check with the funding agency to confirm all expenses you’ve listed are eligible.
*Often you can’t figure this out with funding guidelines alone.
Ex// They won’t pay for laptops, but this isn’t stated outright.
Must know that so your grant app isn’t turned down because of that & so you can find another funding source for the laptops.
Grant Writing Process, Steps
- Read Funding Guidelines (print out)
- Prepare Narrative Schedule
- Develop a Grant Schedule
- Host a Kick-Off Meeting
- Develop Your Budget
- Prepare Key Attachments
- Write Your Narrative
- Use AI!!
- Persuasive Writing
- Submit Your Application!
Key Attachments
All grants include different attachments. Only the most common attachments will be listed in these flashcards. Yield to the funding guidelines to ensure all attachments are prepared as required!
Resolution (a key attachment)
A resolution to submit a grant is required either when you apply or when you’re receiving funding.
A resolution is approved by the highest in command at your organization authorizing the grant to be submitted.
It’s approval from the highest in command at your organization, saying yes, we approve this, we are behind this.
(You don’t want to submit a grant proposal and the board of directors/city council/tribal council/etc. don’t have a clue.)
*Sometimes a resolution includes what your cost share will be, so it’s key that you do your budget early!!
*Keep in mind that the approvers (i.e., the board of directors/city council/tribal council) may only meet once a month, so you must have resolution ready way in advance to get it in front of them. You do NOT want to have to scramble and beg for an emergency meeting for them to approve the resolution.
Resolution Rules
-Follow the directions carefully in the grant guidelines
- determine if the resolution requires a specific match
-give yourself plenty of time to get these docs signed
-the resolution must always be on the organization’s letterhead
Letters of support (key attachment)
Letters from stakeholders and partners in support of tour grant application, urging the funder to support the application.
*If pursuing a federal grant or a more competitive grant, you want a custom letter for that funding pursuit that calls out that “we support the city of Detroit in pursuing this environmental protection agency brownfields grant”. Name the program, the year, etc.
Letters of Support Contact List
-Reach out to at least 15-20 orgs
-Need at least 10 letters of support
-Seek ad many diff perspectives, including opposing views–figure out how to get those dissenting voices heard and their concerns handled so they don’t hold anything up.
-If you’re a small org, think regionally. There are orgs at the state-level or province-level. Don’t just focus on community-based orgs.
*Seek diversity! Consider:
-state depts in health and social services, environment, or transportation.
-cultural orgs like museums, heritage centers, or art councils
-neighboring communities
-professional associations
-jobs or skills training orgs
-colleges and educational programs
-other impacted businesses or nonprofit orgs
Narrative
A written description about your project.
It describes the problem you are going to solve, what you propose doing, how you will do it, who will benefit, and why it should be funded.
*Every funder requests this info in a unique way.
Narrative Strategy
-Complete the first draft in no more than 8-10 business days, ideally WAY faster than that (this is a super generous timeline).
Don’t let perfection get in your way–go for incomplete sentences/ general messiness. You WILL edit.
*There should be at least 4 drafts. Sometimes you may have as many as 18 drafts.
Tips on Building a Narrative
*Don’t leave your narrative to track down info in the first draft. Just throw down “x” so you can quickly complete the first draft and track down this info later.
Ex// xx% of the project beneficiaries are low to moderate income. The particular census area we are serving has x times the likelihood of developing respiratory issues.
Consider writing your narraive backeards
Hard parts are often at the end. It’ll get easier as you go.
*Save the abstract and summary for last.
Identify someone you can collaborate with. Find someone who gets some sections from you every 2 days. This will help you stay accountable. Use the collective. You can help someone else stay accountable.
Target 20% more content in your first draft. Ex// if it’s a 10-page narrative your fost draft should be 12-13 pages long so you can tighten it up.
You can record the first draft onto your phone. The has an auto transcribe feature to convert to a text file.
Data-Driven writing for narrative
Helps establish urgency! We need funding now, we can’t wait another year.
Data Sources
-Google (e.g.,from a state report on the cost of living/from divison of public assistance on the state site) & cite the source.
-Facts from the client
-Demographic Data: a MUST. Can get info from the US census data (site)
–factfinder.census.gov
–data.census.gov
Title
Grant Writing Consultant
Agency/Consulting Firm
Tups for Writing Persuasively
- Convince yourself the project is important
Qs to ask:
-Why does this project matter to your community?
-What other things can happen by developing this project?
-What happens if this project is not funded?
-What are the regional implications?
- Be clear on what problem you’re solving. ONE Problem.
3.Answer the narrative questions exactly. Answer each query VERY clearly.
Ex// Describe the project beneficiaries… You must write “The project beneficiaries are…”
- Leverage your grants like dominoes. Say in narrative: If we get this funding from your org, we expect it to unlock x funding from x org because… Could even say “would you support us if we get funding from foundation x?” (No one wants to be the first funder.) Paint a whole picture: these are all the things we’re pursuing, so your investment will go further than the dollar you put into us.
- Present the project team and prove why they are the best.
–focus on while team bc someone may leave
-prove that the team has recent and relevant xp pertaining to the project you’re trying to get funded. (Recent: anything in last 5 years )
**Get copies of ppl’s resumes! You rarely include them but they give you content that you can bake them in the narrative.
Build a Strong Team
-Think beyond your org’s boundaries: who else can we partner with?
-Be honest: if you see weakness on the tram/missing areas of expertise, the funder will too
-Make sure your team has recent (within 5 years) and relevant xp
Work Plan
Have a great plan for project implementation
Must prove that you’ll be ready to hit the ground running when you get funding
Pull together a work plan.
Tips for design
-If your grant is extra competitive, consider engaging a graphic designer on UpWork or elsewhere. Even with strict guidelines , you can still be creative with bold, italics, underline, and size font for headers.
-Add graphics to make the grant easier to understand, including photos, charts, etc.
–can make a project schedule gantt chart woth google table.
(Meredith thinks future grants may be videos. No written text…)
-Package Attachments
–create an attachment list
–identify which attachments need a signature
–keep attachment title simple “Org name_Budget” “Org name_Narrative”
-Independent Review
–Submit entire app to someone not involved in grant process
–all pages are present
–hyperlinks work
–etc.
(Not time for substantive edits–So very key that main stakeholders review ot EARLIER in the process.)
Find a Reviewer
If you don’t have an accountability buddy within your org, find someone in the grant writing collective
If inputting narrative responses into an online form…
Put in word doc first to make sure spell check wtc.
Submission Notes
-Turn application at least 1-3 days early.
-Screenshot your notification that the grant was received and save it in your folder
-Go for a walk/run/etc. after clicking submit.
Team Debrief Meeting
Pol don’t always want to yave one, esp if grant app didn’t end on a good note.
-Host a debrief meeting within one week of submitting the grant app
-Discuss what went well and what could be approved
-NEVER skip the debrief. It’s part of PM excellence
-save your notes in the project folder for review before the next grant
We
We
Persuasive writing
-Ethos (character): Demonstrate that your organization understands the community and can do the work.
-Logos (reason): Demonstrate a logical solution with measured outcomes.
-Pathos (emotion): Demonstrate an understanding of the problem & its effects on the community served.
Use:
-Statistics
-Facts from .gov and .edu sites
-Quantifiable numbers from org (e.g., numbers of past programs and results, number of students that attended reading program and their results, etc.)
-Objective observations
-Direct quotes from community surveys, outreach meetings, etc.
