Writing Grant Proposal

Ofelia teaches third grade in an inner-city school with a large immigrant population. She asks each child to read aloud to their families every night for 20 minutes. Recently three parents have shyly thanked her and admitted they don’t read English as well as their children. They read too well to enroll in the literacy program at the library but not well enough to help their children when they stumble with a word. One mother said she was afraid she didn’t always understand the information that came with medicines for her child’s asthma and asked Ofelia to read it for her. Another mother asked if she would consider teaching parents how to help their children with homework. Ofelia would love to do this, but she’ll need teaching materials, training for herself, and money for child care if this is going to be an ongoing project. Her classroom budget has no money for programs like this, and she doesn’t want to charge the parents. Maybe she can get a grant to at least try out the idea.

Michelle is a pre-med student interested in finding ways to help her grandmother who is having increasing difficulty moving around because of her arthritis. Michelle is not sure if she wants to go into research or clinical work, but she’s being encouraged by a favorite faculty member to write a grant proposal and explore some options.


Boyd is a junior faculty member at a land grant college; he wants to establish a small but significant place for himself. He concentrated on corn breeding in graduate school, but an infestation of corn borers played havoc with some of his experiments. Now he’s wondering if he should shift his focus a bit and concentrate on controlling or at least managing his enemy. To do that, he’ll need to find money outside the department’s current budget.

You and thousands of other people like Ofelia, Michelle, and Boyd have both personal and professional reasons for considering writing an application for a grant. You may have some reservations about your chances of getting money this way, but a persistent project that needs funding keeps swimming just outside your consciousness. You’ve seen the ads that promise easy money, and you’re more than skeptical about their promises. You may have heard that grant writing is difficult, and you wonder if you have the skills that are needed. In spite of these hesitations, however, you’ve decided it’s time to at least explore the idea of finding a grant to underwrite a project that is important to you.
Congratulations! You’ve taken two important steps toward writing a successful grant proposal.

1. You have a passion for solving a problem, helping someone else, or filling a gap in either services or knowledge that won’t go away.
2. You are looking for a guide because you know this is new territory that shifts quickly, and you want to follow basic steps without any false promises.

As you browse, and later read this book and complete the suggested activities, your passion will be needed to complete the myriad small, but time-consuming tasks that are part of the proposal-writing process. Your idea will become the kernel of a research or social service project that forms the core element in seeking and receiving a grant award.

Anyone Can Write a Grant Proposal
This is true. If you are comfortable with a computer, can organize your thoughts in writing, know how to follow directions, and are patient, you have the basic skills needed for completing a funding request. It helps if you’re curious, able to work under tight deadlines, and have access to a copy of Adobe Acrobat Suite (the expensive version), which is helpful in filling out the increasing numbers of online submissions.

Grant Writing Is Simply Filling in a Form
This is F-A-L-S-E in capital letters. Although that is sometimes the last step in applying for funds, writing is the smallest part of preparing a grant proposal. My first Head Start proposal took more than 200 hours to prepare. Now I estimate a proposal for a new client or a government grant will still take between 75 and
80 hours. That’s because there’s a lot more to asking for a grant than the writing.

Even the one-page ads that promise an easy path to fast cash list several steps in the process. As the chapters in this book demonstrate, the basic parts of “writing a grant” include:
• Defining a fundable project
• Demonstrating a need for the project and justifying its expense
• Showing that you or your group is the appropriate agent to implement the research or program
• Refining the proposal with details of objectives, activities, staffing, partners, and evaluation
• Researching and prioritizing funding sources
• Creating a realistic budget that supports the goals of the project
• Writing the narrative
• Preparing a presentation that meets the funder’s requirements

It’s wise to estimate your first submission for a major grant will take a minimum of three months and may require even more time if critical elements are not in place. For example, if you have a clear picture of projects you want to fund, have a reputable connection with potential collaborators, and have identified a handful of funding sources, two months may be enough to prepare a letter of intent or a simple proposal. If, however, you’ve operated solo up until now, have no idea of how many teens will show up for a drumming workshop,
or haven’t done a literature search to see how many other people are working in nanotech drug delivery, you’ll want considerably more time to collect the information and connections you need.
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