GRANT WRITING 101Danell Hetrick, Communications Director, BACC

*www.arkansasobesity.org/news-events/

HOW IS THIS IMPORTANT TO ArCOP’S MISSION?

Thanks to a grant from the Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas, the Arkansas Coalition for Obesity Prevention is excited to offer its 2013 Growing Healthy Communities Regional Summits FREE for up to 975 attendees interested in receiving training from experts and learning: How to Implement Cooking Matters Programs in Your

Community How to Increase Access to Healthy Foods How to Make Your School & Community Healthier How to Lead Walkability Audits How to Make Your Worksite Healthier

In short, grants provide opportunities.

COMMON TERMINOLOGY

Activities: what the program does with its resources in order to fulfill its mission

Budget Period: the interval of time into which the project period is divided

F.O.A (Funding Opportunity Announcement): a publicly available document by which a federal agency makes known its intentions to award discretionary grants or cooperative agreements, usually as a result of competition for funds

COMMON TERMINOLOGY (cont.) Grantee: the organization/individual to which a

grant is awarded and which is responsible and accountable for the use of grant funds

Grantor: the organization/individual providing funding

Matching Funds: the value of third-party, in-kind contributions (non-federal funds) and/or the portion of the costs of a federally-assisted project or program not borne by the federal government

Pre-Application (a.k.a. “Letter of Intent”): statement of the intent of the applicant to request funds; often used to predetermine the applicant’s eligibility

More definitions can by found at usda.gov

FINDING MONEY

National Government (NIH, NSF, NEA, NEH)

State Government (Arkansas Humanities Council, Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, etc.)

Private/Corporate Non-Profits (Walmart, Rockefeller Foundation, etc.)

Grant Pools grants.gov cfda.gov

INSIDE THE GRANTOR’S MIND Why should WE care? Is this plan viable? Has it been done before? Are YOU qualified to do it? What, exactly, will you do with OUR

money?

LITERATURE REVIEW

DO YOUR RESEARCH! Know what has come before, who has tried it, and the outcomes.

Are others working on this right now? Can you team with them? Find a network, a support group.

Don’t know where to start? Hire experts. Find tools. David Saarnio, ASU Center for Community

Engagement tgci.com (The Granstmanship Center) nih.gov (National Institutes of Health)

SCHEDULING/PLANNING

Allow plenty of time! If you cannot possibly meet a deadline, do not waste precious time you could allocate to another opportunity.

Know your window! Letter of intent due date Final solicitation due date

Pay close attention to minute details: How many copies of each packet Letters of assurance Signatures

SELL YOUR PROJECT AND SELF Service-Oriented: know you sponsor’s

goals; mirror key phrases and terminology

Future-Oriented: emphasize work that should be done rather than work that has already been done. Stretch the boundaries of possibility

Sales-Oriented: lead with your most exciting ideas, using active language, and emphasizing your UNIQUE talents

LETTER OF INTENT

Think of this as a mini-proposal. Summarize your proposal while:

Being clear about your funding priorities Speaking to the interests of the granting

agency

THE “MEAT”: YOUR PROJECT DETAILS

Be specific about your objectives and the activities necessary to complete them.

Be particular about what goals you will accomplish during the grant period.

Be explicit about your expected outcomes.

Allow your prose to express your own excitement about the project.

PROPOSAL ESSENTIALS

Follow ALL specified formatting guidelines! Improper formatting will KILL your proposal.

Proofread. Proofread again.

Ask a well-versed friend to proofread. Did I mention proofreading?

KEEP YOUR HEAD UP!

You will win some and lose some. DO NOT stop trying to obtain grant

monies. “Insanity: doing the same thing over and

over again and expecting different results.”—Albert Einstein If a proposal is denied, change it. Do not

keep sending in the same proposal expecting a different answer.

WHEN YOU WIN . . .

Build credibility with funders by being responsible with their money. Ensure tasks are given to responsible

persons who will efficiently and effectively employ the granted funds.

Keep thorough and accurate records of your project.

THE BEST ADVICE FROM NIH “This highly competitive endeavor can

be subverted by poor planning, preparation, disorganization and lackluster presentation.  The successful grantee allows ample time to plan, organize and write a grant application that competes well in the peer review process and ultimately earns funding.”