A Bi-Monthly Newsletter

Volume 6, Issue 3, May 2003

Careers & Education

STC WVC Home > Newsletter Table of Contents > Learning to Write Grants

 

 

Learning to Write Grants

By Teresa Boze

Grantwriting Comes of Age

Not-for-profit organizations, usually with an IRS 501(c )(3) status, rely on the success of grantwriting proposals for their source of funds. Grantwriting is creating proposals that seek funds for an organization from a source that is governmental, corporate, or a private foundation.

The grant-money machine is a megalith. It is fueled by the ever-burgeoning need for grant dollars, the complexities of grant applications and acquisitions, and the hot competition for grant money available at a blood-to-turnip ratio. Grantwriting demands are outstripping the abilities of those who are responsible for acquiring funding and are not specifically schooled in the art.

That Ugly Duckling May Be a Grantwriting Swan

One of the most common problems technical writers face is the accusation that their jobs do not directly bring in revenue. One of the most common problems not-for-profit organizations face is the specialization that grantwriting requires of their staffers. This specialization just so happens to be indigenous to the technical writing field. It is a “your peanut butter in my chocolate” situation in that grantwriting has become, well… technical.

In response to the widening gap between skills and money, academia has initiated grantwriting course work and certifications, technical writers have developed and marketed their grantwriting skills, and not-for-profit organizations have created and solicited for positions in grantwriting.

PSU to the Rescue

Portland State University offers two programs with grantwriting courses. The Center for Excellence in Writing (CEW), and the Institute for Non-Profit Management (INPM) developed grantwriting courses that prepare students to hit the ground running as successful grantwriters.

The CEW course is community based learning. All activities, from project inception to submission, happen in a real world environment. The objective is to get the project funded by the work done in the course. The course is traditionally offered in the summer term. During the term, the student meets with the instructor as necessary. Students present the completed grant proposal to the director of the CEW who reviews it. If the proposal is not submittable, it is returned to the student for re-work. The CEW assures that the grant proposal will not get out the door until it meets the criteria that deem it fundable. The course syllabus advises that, since this is a real world project for all the marbles, work on the grant might extend beyond the standard term length.

In the INPM courses, students also produce full grant proposals. However, there is more focus on higher levels of management and public policy. There is one intensive section given over a weekend that occurs monthly, and a standard term-length course that meets one evening a week. Structured classroom time allows for question and answer sessions during class. The course model is a proposal to a private foundation, but accommodates students working in public agencies seeking government funding.

Both programs emphasize:

  • Project planning and feasibility assessment—What do you want to fund, is it fundable and by whom, and can you do the planning and preparation to meet the deadlines for funding?
  • Organizational awareness—What is your organization’s mission, what does its financials look like, and how will you keep the project continuously funded and account for the funding you receive?
  • Collaborative team work—What staff at your organization and funding agency do you need a rapport with, what kinds of information will you need from them and in what form, and who do you need to partner with in the community?
  • Structure—What are the steps in the process, what and who are involved in those steps, and what format does your targeted grant funder require?

It is estimated that preparing a grant for federal funding takes 80 to 120 hours. The planning phase for your garden-variety grant proposal is 80 percent of the work, and the actual writing is 20 percent. When you are done with the grantwriting course work at PSU, you are a grantwriter.

Hanging Out Your Shingle

Many successful grantwriters get that way through contracting to organizations in need of their services. There is a double-edged sword in this arrangement that is to your advantage. Here is how it works.

Funders want to know how a project will be sustained once it is funded. They also want to know how this funding will help the organization achieve its mission and improve the organization itself. That means doing organizational planning and development for the organization to prepare it to address the funder’s concern, and thus make its project more attractive to fund. Be prepared to assess an organization in advance to offer them the package they really need.

Contributing PSU Faculty

The following faculty provided e-mail interviews during the first two weeks of the spring term at PSU.

W. Tracy Dillon
Director, Center for Excellence in Writing
tdillon@pdx.edu

Sharon Hasenjaeger
Program Coordinator
hasenjs@pdx.edu

Deborah Krause
Grantwriting Instructor for the INPM
dlkrause@usa.net

Michael Wells
Grantwriting Instructor for the INPM
mkwells@uswest.net

Handy-Dandy URLS

The following are websites that the faculty interviewed for this article suggested as resources:

Teresa Boze is enrolled at PSU seeking a B. A. in English. She also has a B.S. from the University of Illinois, where her undergraduate research contributed to a Guggenheim Award winning project. Her previous employment includes project support in Chicago and Portland for Hewlett-Packard, WebMD, PGE Gas Transmission NW, Montgomery Wards, and Zurich America. Her interests include tech writing, online tools, creative non-fiction, astronomy, gardening, and about everything else that requires one to look up, down, or inside. She can be contacted at teresaboze1@attbi.com.