From Idea to Deliverable: Planning and Executing Your Grant-Funded Project Writing a Convincing Narrative Jolene M. Beiser, MA, MLIS Pacifica Radio Archives

Pacifica Radio Archives’ Grant history  Four National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Preservation Grants  Two Grammy Foundation Preservation Grants  California Audiovisual Preservation Project, Ford Foundation  NHPRC 2-year preservation project  “American Women Making History and Culture: ”

Points to be covered  Finding grants and narrative requirements  NHPRC Narrative overview  Grammy Foundation and NEA Media Arts  What can go wrong  Final tips

Finding grants and narrative requirements  Is this the most appropriate grant to apply to?  Does our project meet grant requirements? Look closely.  Talk to your grant officer!  Start writing early  Walk through the submission: be familiar with all of the documents required well before deadline

Narrative requirements (NHPRC)  Narrative: description of complete proposal  NHPRC: 20 pages, double spaced, 12pt., etc.  Includes  Overview  National significance of collection  How will the project improve access, use, and increase public understanding of American history?  Who is the project’s audience?  Information about your institution: office hours and access to collections  Materials: use standard archival/library language

Narrative requirements (NHPRC con’t)  Includes (con’t)  Digitization  Methodologies: including cost estimates (research metrics)  Work plan, timeline, flow chart  Quantifiable performance objectives  Products to be produced in this project  Skills and qualifications of staff  Publicity and broadening the projects’ reach

Grammy Foundation Archiving and Preservation grants  Online “Letter of Inquiry” (LOI)  5,000 character narrative  Separate dissemination plan and biographies of personnel  A brief description of the project, historical significance, national impact, uniqueness and/or at-risk status, existing project partners and/or financial support, if any.

NEA media arts  Series of questions  Project description, major project activities, selection, key project dates, promotion & publicity, accessibility, project activity type, project objectives, performance measurements, intended beneficiaries.

Pacifica’s 2011 Application Issues: what went wrong  Started LATE  Too much/too little details  Needed further evidence of demand  *Copyright*: lack of clarity  Long term preservation of digital and analog objects  How will the project help the field of archives?

Final tips  Start early  Use your grant officer  Run through entire application submission beforehand  Prepare attachments ahead of time  Leave time for editing