GRANTHACKER 101 ways to

produce great grant

proposals

1,001 (!)

101

TOP GRANT HACKS

Training and Professional Development

#GrantChat

jmgrants.com@JM_Grants

@estherjames

@fdncenter

LinkedIn groups for fundraisers

Time Manageme

nt

Eat your frog

Morning pages

Meditation

Timer

FreshBooks

End the day with to-do list

Planner Pad

Focus

Shorter meetings

Walking meetings

LeechBlock

Pocket

Hootsuite

Workspace

Dual monitors

Standup desk

Standup desk with dual monitors!

Treadmill desk

@DianeHLeonard

Information

management

Evernote

Google apps

Dropbox (or Box, or OneDrive)

Asana

Remember the milk

Proposal creation

Excel

PicMonkey

Wordcounter.net

Writing

Voicemails

Proofreader (a person!)

Grammarly

Prospect Research

Inside Philanthropy

National Center for Charitable Statistics

Meet the funder events

Niche funder directories

FADICA (Foundations & Donors Interested in Catholic Activities)

Google alerts

Ask your funders for referrals

Meet with your politicians

Banks in your community

Apply early in the year

Funder relationshi

ps

The telephone

Social media to say thanks

Thank you notes

Your currency is information

And most importantl

y...

Take frequent breaks!

THINKING LIKE A

COPYWRITER

1 – Understand your role

Remember, as a copywriter, you are not a creative artist;

you are a salesperson.

Your job is not to create literature; your job is to persuade people

to buy the product.– Bob Bly, The Copywriter’s Handbook

2 – Understand your audience

What keeps your funders up at night?

Address that need, concern or fear in your proposal

What features of your organization or project do they care about?

3 – Follow BFD formula• Beliefs – What is funder’s attitude

towards your organization? • Feelings – How does funder feel

about major issues in their field? • Desires – What changes does funder

want that you can help them achieve?

4 – Use emotional triggersFunders may give: • To be appreciated• To feel important • To make work easier/for convenience • To be distinctive• To gain knowledge • Out of fear• Out of guilt

5 – Focus on the uniqueOn its most basic level, the advertising profession involves taking a product, studying it, learning what’s unique about it, and then presenting that “uniqueness” so that the consumer is motivated to buy the product.

– Alvin Eicoff, Chair, Eicoff & Company

6 – Develop the USPUSP = Unique Selling Proposition • What makes your product

(organization/project) different? • Proposition is one that the

competition can’t, or doesn’t, offer• Is there an important benefit that you

have previously overlooked?

7 – Create a swipe file• For copywriters, it’s a collection of

promotions that you turn to for reference when creating your own marketing materials• For grant proposal writers, it’s a

collection of proposals that you turn to for reference when creating your own fundraising materials

8 – Use an outlineAn outline will help you to stay motivated and on track to continue writing the proposal!

• Get outline approved by higher-ups before tackling proposal writing

9 – Start with lots of information

Copywriters begin with at least twice as much material as they end up using in final version of the ad. • A warehouse of facts to choose

from makes it easier to select the most important facts to describe

10 – Take ownership of information

Copy and paste (or retype) all relevant interviews and background materials about project or organization. Advantages: • Get perspective on project• Get ideas to market it to funder• Locate source information quickly as

you write

11 – Make it easy to readWhen a person reads your copy, it is not his job to try to figure out what you mean.

It is your job to explain what you mean in plain, simple English.

Use short sentences, short paragraphs, small words.

Be clear.– Bob Bly, The Copywriter’s Handbook

12 – Write short paragraphs

Long, unbroken chunks of type intimidate readers!•Use subheads to separate

major sections• Leave space between

paragraphs

13 – Write short sentencesShort sentences are easier to read than long sentences• Ideal length for grant proposals: 15 to

25 words• Never more than 40 words! • Break up long sentence by using

punctuation to divide it into two parts

14 – Avoid pompous language

Top offenders: • Utilize • Facilitate• Finalize • Parameters • Prioritize • Substantiate

15 – Avoid jargonRules of thumb: • Don’t use jargon when writing to an

audience that doesn’t speak your special language. • Don’t use a technical term unless 95% of

your readers will understand it. • Don’t use a technical term unless it

precisely communicates your meaning.

16 – Be concise

How?•By rewriting!

•Delete unnecessary words in editing stage

17 – Include testimonials

In testimonials, others who have used the product praise it in their own words.

Third-party endorsement is more convincing than the organization praising its own product.

18 – Use graphic design techniquesMany readers skim copy, not reading carefully.

Use: • Indented paragraphs• Underlining • Boldface type• Italics • Yellow highlighting• Boxed copy • P.S. (in letters)

19 – Simple layouts are bestWhen designing pages, remember:

• Lots of pictures, tables and graphs discourage people from reading your text

• White space is your friend!

20 – Include a call to action

What is the next step that your fundraising materials are asking funder to take?

•Make it easy for reader to take action.

Which hacks are you looking

forward to utilizing using?

THINKING LIKE A PROJECT MANAGER

1 – You are the leader

Successful project managers know how to… • Take ownership•Be savvy •Have intensity – with a smile

2 – Follow 4 Cs of communication

Your communications should be:

1 – Clear

2 – Concise

3 – Courteous

4 – Compelling – Give them a reason to pay attention!

3 – Project scheduleYour project schedules should be:• Complete – Representing all work that

needs to be done• Realistic – Sensible time expectations • Accepted – With buy-in from team

and stakeholders• Formal – Documented and formalized

4 – Manage project information

• Project repository location?• Who can access it? Who controls it? • Review/revision/approval process?• What changes can be made by each

person? • How can you recover work product in

event of accident or disaster?

5 – Acceptance criteria

Document acceptable criteria for: •each deliverable •each project phase

6 – Be customer-focused

The customer is the funder! • Define requirements from

customer’s perspective• Plan for how customer will

perceive your final product (the grant application)

7 – Small work packagesBreak assignments down into small

modules.

Advantages: • More accurate estimate of time to

complete• Better control… and you’ll have earlier

notice of any problems!

8 – Trust but verify

Assume nothing!•Always perform some level

of verification to make sure that work package meets completion criteria

9 – Never assume

•Err on side of over-communicating•Confirm your understanding•Continuously reset

expectations

10 – Kickoff meetings

Value of the first meeting: •Set expectations•Communicate same message to key stakeholders

11 – Status meetings• Keep everyone accountable and

on their toes• Improve communications• Better manage expectations

Best when assignments are small, with clear completion criteria!

12 – Use checklistsSimple yet powerful! • Capture quality standards• Capture lessons learned from prior

projects• Allow for document verification for all

work packages

13 – Use templates

Their value: •Communicate and control your standards•Greatly improve productivity of team

14 – Mind mapping toolsWhat is a mind map? • A diagram that contains information pieces

(words, ideas, pictures) arranged radially around central theme (key word or idea)

Advantages: • Visual thinking – how our brains really work• Put key information on ONE PAGE!

15 – Beware gold-platingWhen project team adds extras or features to work product – not requested by customer• Work doesn’t have to be perfect – only

needs to meet project specifications • Gold-plating causes schedule delays and

unnecessary risk• Team approach to estimating, planning

helps to control gold-plating

16 – Resolve issues at lowest level

Deal with problems at their lowest level. • Quicker• Cheaper• Get confidence of upper management –

protect their time and engage them only when needed

• But you need to have established “escalation triggers” during planning

17 – Tackle high risks first• Better to know about problem

SOONER rather than LATER• If something isn’t feasible or

acceptable, senior management can decide if project is worthy of time and resources

18 – Improve skills of team

Look for ways for members to: • Improve skills• Build resume

The best way to assign and “sell” work tasks!

19 – Leverage strengths

• Discover team members’ motivations• Consider assigning people tasks

they really want to do – not necessarily what they have highest expertise in

20 – Finish strong

When project closes: •Capture lessons learned•Update organization’s central information repository

• The Copywriter’s Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Copy That Sells, by Robert W. Bly (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2005)

• The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Project Management, by Gregory M. Horine (Que Publishing, 2009)

• “Hack Your Grant Proposal,” estherjames.com – http://bit.ly/1lQcXqQ • “Grant Hacks with @EstherJames” (#GrantChat Twitter chat 04/22/14)

– http://bit.ly/1jrxJye• “13 Paths to Productivity and Satisfaction for Nonprofit Staff and

Consultants” (Nonprofit blog carnival 04/14) – http://abt.cm/1gen2yi

REFERENCES

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