Writing Effective Grant Proposals
Preparing
successful grant proposals to receive funding from corporations or
foundations requires careful research, meticulous preparation, and graceful
writing. Grant administrators tell us that many grant requestors have no
real understanding of the proposal writing process and as a result, their
worthy causes lose out.
If you learn how to avoid the errors that lead to the rejection of your
proposal, you will be better prepared to help the causes you most admire.
This course will walk you through all of the essential steps--including an
important discussion of what you must do when the grant arrives!
In this course, you’ll learn how to become fully familiar with the
institution or project for which you are requesting support. You’ll get
valuable guidance in preparing a background statement and a brief financial
statement to support your request. You’ll also research some charitable
foundation and corporate giving sources.
Then, you'll learn how to put everything together so you can assemble,
write, and submit complete grant proposals to foundations, corporations, and
wealthy individuals for any number of your pet projects.
To enroll in this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Requirements:
Internet access, e-mail, and the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser.
Syllabus:
All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end.
Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course.
You do not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must
complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.
A new section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each
month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to
space the start date for each course at least two months apart.
| Week One |
| Wednesday - Lesson 01 |
| There’s nothing magical about preparing a grant
request, but in this lesson, you’ll learn some easy and fun tricks
of trade that will help you with all sorts of writing projects, even
those beyond grant proposals. And you’ll learn special ways to
practice these tricks! |
| Friday - Lesson 02 |
| Those of us who work for causes we think are
important care about them in a very special way, usually a rather
subjective one. But grantors who deal with literally thousands of
institutions and causes have a rather different way of thinking
about them. In this lesson, you’ll put yourself in their shoes. And
in the process, you’ll learn a great way to describe your own cause
to anyone. |
| Week Two |
| Wednesday - Lesson 03 |
| Now that you’ve tried on your grantor’s shoes,
let's talk about why those grantors look for certain kinds of
information and documents. You’ll learn what these documents are so
you can dig them out and be ready to supply them when you prepare a
grant request. |
| Friday - Lesson 04 |
| There are lots of interesting things to know
about each individual nonprofit organization, but all nonprofits
share one thing: They're not in it to for the money! We all know
that you can measure a good business by its bottom line—whether it
makes money or not. But how do you measure the effectiveness of a
nonprofit that needs money? In this lesson, we’ll start to look into
it. |
| Week Three |
| Wednesday - Lesson 05 |
| The hunt for funding sources is the eternal game
of hide and seek that we all play in this business. How do you find
sources that might be appropriate for you? It’s a game that we can
play in a library or on the Web, but the Web makes it easiest! This
lesson will point you toward the most effective research tools
available. |
| Friday - Lesson 06 |
| Once you find some foundations that you think
might be a good fit for your cause, how do you choose among a field
that might include hundreds? In this lesson, we’ll discuss ways to
sift through these foundations, and in the course of this process,
we may unearth sources you haven’t even considered! |
| Week Four |
| Wednesday - Lesson 07 |
| You've looked at all the possible charitable
foundations that fit your cause, but don't stop there. What about
the corporate world? Corporations have foundations, but they also
have other ways of giving. We’ll talk about packaging your projects
for corporations, then we’ll decide when to ask the corporate
foundation and when to approach them in another way. |
| Friday - Lesson 08 |
| For those of you who are word people, you’ll
learn another way to tell your story—let the numbers do the talking!
People reviewing your proposals will attach great importance to
numbers, so you can’t get away with simply describing a project with
words. In this lesson, we’ll discuss ways of preparing numbers
effectively. It’s not hard to do, and it’s essential to the success
of your proposal. |
| Week Five |
| Wednesday - Lesson 09 |
| By the time you reach this lesson, you’ll have
all the pieces you need for your proposal. Here we’ll fine-tune what
you have. Then we’ll put them all together and add the finishing
touches so you can finally put a complete proposal in the mail. |
| Friday - Lesson 10 |
| Everyone knows that you can’t win ‘em all! But
when you do get a turndown, there are positive alternatives to doom
and gloom. The suggestions in this lesson will help you deal with
those inevitable turndowns. |
| Week Six |
| Wednesday - Lesson 11 |
| Okay, just as you hoped—you did get a gift!
There’s an old saying in this business: Every gift paves the way
to the next. In this lesson, we'll make sure you know just how
to pave that road! |
| Friday - Lesson 12 |
| Now that you have all the elements you need for
your proposal, can you also send it to an individual? Well, not
really—at least not the whole thing. You need to think about what
would interest those individuals and how you can best present it to
them. That’s what we'll cover in the final lesson of this course. I
think you’ll enjoy it and I know you’ll find it useful! |
To enroll in this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Recommended Courses:
Students who enrolled in Writing Effective Grant Proposals were also interested in the following courses:
Advanced Grant Proposal WritingA to Z Grant Writing
Become a Grant Writing Consultant
Introduction to Nonprofit Management
Introduction to Microsoft Excel 2007
