Happy Halloween! This is my favorite holiday, and in honor, I’m sharing 10 grant writing tips to help you make sure your grants aren’t the scariest thing this spooky season.
#1: Keep a grant prospect sheet & update it regularly
One of the best things you can do is to make time regularly to search for grant opportunities. I recommend keeping a spreadsheet with all the important details and sorting the sheet into high-, medium-, and low-priority categories. (You’ll have to analyze each opportunity and research the funders’ giving histories to make these categories.)
#2: Set a goal for how many grants you want to apply for each month
GrantStation’s “State of Grantseeking Report” shows that the more grants an organization applies to a year, the higher their chances of being awarded one. For best results, I recommend setting a monthly goal for how many LOIs and/or grants you want to submit.
This piece of advice pairs nicely with #1 because once you have a grant prospect spreadsheet, you can keep track of due dates. If there is a month without many grants due, then I recommend dedicating your time to opportunities with rolling due dates.
#3: Create a standard grant narrative
I’ve written about this before, but creating a standard grant narrative is the best thing you can do to spend less time working on grants and get better results. A standard grant narrative is a generalized grant proposal that you can update and tailor to specific funding opportunities.
For more on how to get started with one, check out this post.
#4: Develop relationships with funders
I’ve heard from Grant Writing Made Easy students before that following a grant rejection, the funder has told them they were impressed with the application but would have liked to build a relationship with the nonprofit before receiving an application.
This is an essential step of the grantseeking process. And while it may seem intimidating at first, it doesn’t have to be any more complicated than reaching out with an email or a phone call and introducing yourself. You can have some talking points prepared, but let the conversation proceed organically from there.
#5: Keep your finances in order
I get more questions about budgets and nonprofit financial information than any other component of grant writing. This is such a huge topic, but I will say that one of the first things you need to do if you haven’t already is hire an accountant who specializes in nonprofits.
It’s also important to have a bookkeeping software that allows you to separate restricted and unrestricted categories of funding. Most grants will have requirements for what the money can be used for, and it’s likely that your reporting requirements will involve demonstrating that you used the funds according to their guidelines.
#6: Keep your digital world organized
As I mentioned above, one of the best ways to save time and get better results with your grant writing is to create a standard grant narrative. Keep this somewhere in your files you can always access easily.
I also recommend keeping a set of folders of common grant attachments, including names and bios for your board and staff members, photographs, your 501(c)(3) certificate, etc.
Keeping grant materials organized is just one element of keeping your whole organization’s digital environment orderly. You will save yourself time and unneeded stress by investing time upfront and on a regular basis to keep your files organized. Additionally, in the case of turnover in your organization, having a system for where everything is will keep the organization from losing more institutional knowledge.
#7 Keep a document with relevant and updated statistics
As the political, social, and economic landscape changes, you will want to update your statement of need to reflect these changing circumstances. One way to accomplish this is to spend an hour every month or so searching for stats. You can also save news clippings about relevant events to a file.
This goes not only for numbers that support the need for your work, but also for data from your programs. Keep track of how many people you’ve served and other metrics.
#8: Learn to love revision
Even when you have a polished standard grant narrative, you will need to periodically update it and revise it to meet the requirements of each particular grant opportunity.
In order to be successful with grants, you’ll have to be comfortable with revision. I recommend leaving a draft for a day or two before beginning to revise. This way, you will come back to it with fresh eyes.
Another excellent revision strategy is to involve other people in the process, which connects back nicely to my last piece of advice. When you have a community of people to rely on, you can ask them to review your writing. (This is the idea behind our Peer Review Partnership Program in Grant Writing Made Easy.)
#9: Build writing routines that work for you
I know that everyone has varying levels of comfort with writing, and for many people, the blank page inspires a fair amount of anxiety.
One of the best ways to work with your fears is to build routines that make writing pleasurable. Know that you’ll need to take breaks more often than when you’re doing other kinds of work. Find a space that is comfortable for you. And plan rewards for yourself when you accomplish the task!
#10: Find community
Writing tends to be a solitary activity, but one of the best ways to make writing more enjoyable is to find community.
Whether this is within your organization or with a professional connection or through an online course, like Grant Writing Made Easy, meeting people who understand the type of writing you’re doing will provide valuable support.
Registration for Grant Writing Made Easy is not open right now, but you can join the waitlist here!
I hope that you enjoyed these grant writing tips and are able to put some of them into action!
