Learning from Our Mistakes
Grant writing is both an art and a science, requiring equal parts creativity and precision. As I’ve grown as a writer, I’ve certainly made mistakes along the way.
What are the lessons I’ve learned?
Write one proposal at a time
Use a pomodoro timer
Start with the end in mind
Ensure your budget is reflected in your narrative
Give your client plenty of lead time
Tie it all together
#1: Write One Proposal at a Time
We live in a day and age where multi-tasking is seen as a necessity. Crossing off several items from your to-do list almost simultaneously is so satisfying. But this approach can backfire in grant writing.
You must focus your writing (and your energy!) on understanding how to align your proposal in a way that speaks to the funder’s goals. While the content may be similar from application to application, this approach should result in tailoring each proposal to that specific funder’s mission, priorities, and guidelines. Bouncing back and forth between proposals can muddy the waters and make this harder to accomplish.
When I try to work on multiple proposals at once, I find myself having to visit each funder’s website and materials more frequently than if I just focus on one application at a time. What starts off as a time-saving idea turns out to take more time in the long run.
#2: Use a Pomodoro Timer/Technique
Do you ever find yourself down a rabbit hole, not sure how you got there or where the time went? Take control of your schedule and your day by using a structured approach to grant writing. I like to focus on one item for about 25 minutes, followed by a short break. Sometimes I go back to the initial task, and other times, I move on to something else. You’ll likely be more productive and less prone to writer’s block.
You can learn more about the official Pomodoro Technique here. Amazon and other retailers sell productivity timers at reasonable prices, but you can always use the timer on your phone as long as doing so doesn’t serve as a distraction.
Need help keeping your to-do list in order? Consider a project management tool like Trello, Asana, or Monday (Monday is free for nonprofits!).
#3: Start with the End in Mind
Working backward can do wonders for your grant writing! In fact, you may use a tool, such as a logic model, to map out your organization’s services and/or programs (see my blog post on logic models here).
Start by asking, “How will the world or my community be impacted as a result of this work?” Then, work backwards: What larger outcomes will need to be achieved to make this impact? Then, what smaller, short-term outcomes will need to precede these larger outcomes in order to make them possible? You’ve just completed the right-hand side of your logic model.
Next, you can describe the populations you plan to reach and the activities you’ll conduct, choosing evidence-based practices that research and structured evaluations have shown to result in the outcomes you desire. From there, you can list the resources and “inputs” you need to reach these communities and carry out these activities. You might also describe the contexts and external influences affecting your work.
I’m currently working with a client who is still designing their program and is not yet ready to apply for grants. They’re developing a program that provides referrals to free and subsidized mental health care for vulnerable populations.
Here’s a series of questions I’ve asked them to help them work through this process:
How will the community be different as a result of your work? Are you working at the community level or the individual level? First, define your overarching goal or vision, such as eliminating disparities in mental health for BIPOC or LGBTQ+ community members. Then define the specific impacts that your organization will make towards this vision. For instance, are you aiming to improve the collective mental healthcare community’s capacity to provide services? Or, perhaps, is your end goal to increase mental health care workers’ ability to deliver culturally-competent, identity-affirming, trauma-informed care? Maybe, instead, you want to reduce suicide rates in LGBTQ+ teens and young adults? Where you envision the impact determines the focus of your work.
Once you’ve determined the impact(s) you plan to have, what outcomes will lead to that impact? Let’s say they chose to increase mental health care workers’ ability to deliver culturally-competent, identity-affirming, trauma-informed care. The outcomes that might be required to achieve this goal may include:
training more providers that represent the populations you’re targeting,
decreased system-level and individual-level discrimination,
increased sense of welcoming of diverse client populations, or
increased, improved marketing to these populations.
In order to attain these outcomes, what short-term changes will you need to see? This could include evidence-based approaches such as:
scholarships and curricula that promote increased representation of marginalized communities and a focus on their unique issues in mental health education programs,
increased knowledge and awareness in currently practicing mental health professionals surrounding issues important to these populations,
enhanced personal awareness of and purposeful reduction of implicit or unconscious biases, or
increased inclusion of target populations in designing and implementing programs for their peers.
You get the picture from here. The same process would apply if they had chosen, say, to reduce suicide rates in these communities. They can now take a very broad, complex issue, such as mental health disparities in BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities and more clearly define their plan of action. Now, it’s up to you to communicate this effectively.
#4: Ensure Your Budget Is Reflected in the Narrative
Your budget should support and reflect your narrative, specifically the program design and implementation components. It is an extension of your storytelling process. It should tell the funder how you’re going to accomplish your goals with a realistic and reasonable plan.
Your budget will be influenced by the type of grant you’re applying to (capital funds, general operating funds, programmatic funds, etc.), but regardless of the type of funding you’re applying for, the budget should never contain surprises for the funder.
Once upon a time… I had a client who wanted to apply for funding for providing direct mental health services to underserved communities. They repeatedly wanted to add to the project, saying “it’s just another line item in the budget.” However, those line items included major activities that were not discussed in the narrative (and the client had no interest in writing them in).
For instance, they wanted to add a significant community outreach component that employed contractors to reach out to existing mental health agencies and raise awareness of the treatment modality funded by the grant. What were the issues with this?
They cited no evidence that lack of awareness was a contributing factor to lack of clinicians’ uptake of this modality. In fact, they ignored evidence that the modality was not yet fully accepted by the scientific community.
They provided no clear linkage between the raised awareness of this modality and their programmatic activities or goals. The organizations providing direct services would not be the same organizations receiving outreach to raise awareness about the modality.
Their goals for the awareness activities were very different than their goals for providing direct services. While there was some overlap, such as targeting clinicians embedded in low-income communities who served Medicaid clients, the goal for the awareness outreach was to revolutionize mental health care, while the goal for providing direct services was to drastically improve personal mental health outcomes for participants (e.g., decreased diagnoses of PTSD).
Try as I might, the client and I never saw eye-to-eye on this and eventually went our separate ways.
#5: Give Your Clients Plenty of Lead Time
Your clients need time to put together information for you. I try to allow at least 2 weeks. Sending them last-minute requests is sometimes unavoidable, but here are some documents you can have on-hand to reduce the number of urgent requests:
Most recent 990 forms (last 3 years) and most recent financial audit (if available - if not available, see if they have financial statements that have been reviewed by a CPA)
Most recent financial statements (statement of activity and balance sheets)
List of board members including their board title, organizational affiliation, term dates, and contact information
Resumes/CVs of key program staff
Key policies and procedures, like a nondiscrimination policy and conflict of interest policy
A W9 that was signed in this current fiscal year
A copy of their IRS Determination Letter (usually can be found on the IRS website)
An annual report for the previous fiscal year, or at least a report of their activities (programs implemented, number of people served, demographics of who they served, outcomes, etc.)
A line-item budget for the overall organization as well as each individual program
Program flyers or other promotional materials, like videos (if available)
#6: Tie It All Together!
I’ve saved my most important tip for last! Make sure the information flows from one section to the next. I typically think of grant applications in 3 key parts:
What’s the need you are specifically addressing?
What is the organization or program doing to address this need and what impact will they have?
How will they know they’ve been successful as a result of those actions?
These 3 questions comprise the core of the proposal. When done right, it addresses the questions of who, what, when, where, and why. It flows logically from one section to the next.
Of course, there are other components to a successful proposal, like demonstrating the organization’s capacity to carry out the project, describing what makes them unique and different from similar organizations, or addressing how they will sustain the program when the funding expires. This isn’t meant to be a comprehensive list of necessary or recommended proposal components, but this 3-part approach will help you tell your organization’s story more effectively.
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