1. Writing A Grant—From Start To Finish
Workshop 3:
Preparing Your Grant Proposal
Educational Resource Development
& LCC Foundation
April 4, 2017

2. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
Last week we discussed:
Elements of a successful grant proposal
Identifying an appropriate grant project idea
Developing your project idea
Writing a case statement
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

3. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
This week we’ll explore:
Moving from case statement to grant proposal
Steps to preparing a competitive grant proposal
Project partners vs. work team
Planning tools—SWOT analysis and logic model
Narrative, evaluation, budget, visuals
Time to work on your grant proposal idea or case statement
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

4. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
Personal reflection
What was your experience generating a project
idea and beginning to draft a project plan or
case statement?
What went well, what could have gone better?
What did you learn?
What next steps would you
take?
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

5. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
Moving from case statement to grant
proposal
Identify potential funder(s)
Identify and Establish Grant Planning Team
Project partners (key stakeholders)—
internal/external
Identify grant writing lead
Contract With outside consultants, if appropriate
Grant Writers
Project Evaluators
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

6. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
Identifying project partners
Does the partner have a fundamental impact on your area’s/the college’s performance? (correct answer: yes)
Can you clearly identify what you want from the partner? (correct answer: yes)
Is the relationship dynamic—that is, do you want it to grow? (correct answer: yes)
Can you exist without or easily replace the partner? (correct answer: no)
Has the partner already been identified through another relationship? (correct answer: no)
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

7. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
Preparing a work team and timeline
Note: Project partners and a work team members are not
necessarily the same thing, though there will be overlap
Work team members
Work team leader(s)
Major milestones and dates
Who will do what
Additional comments
Proposal ready for internal review one week before due date
Proposal submitted at least one day before due date
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

8. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
Using a SWOT Analysis
Strengths
(internal)
Weaknesses
Opportunities
(external)
Threats
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

9. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
Developing a Logic Model
Logic models are a systematic, visual way to present and share relationships among the program resources you have, the activities you plan, and the changes or results you hope to achieve.
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

10. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
Planning the narrative
Follow the narrative requirements detailed in the RFP
Identify research needed
Identify internal/external information sources
Note who on the work team will gather what types of information
Note who will write each section of the draft
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

11. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
Grant narrative sequence
Put information in the same order as in the
RFP (request for proposals)
Include all information requested in the
RFP’s instructions
Do not include information not requested in the RFP’s instructions
In Federal grant RFP’s, check both the
application content and the reviewers’ criteria—
they can differ.
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

12. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
Good story telling
Craft your narrative for the
reader (formal; informal)—
make it relevant
Use settings, characters,
antagonists, and resolutions
to pull the reader in
Include pertinent, engaging
support (individual or
community stories, similar
successful programs, data, research, etc.)
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

13. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
Write to your audience
The 7 C’s of Effective Communication
Complete—Conveys all the facts the reader needs
Concise—Uses the fewest possible words
Considerate—Steps into the shoes of others
Clear—Emphasizes one specific message or goal
Concrete—Documents with facts and figures
Courteous—Respects the reader and their priorities
Correct—Reads precisely and accurately, with no
wrong words, grammatical errors, or typos
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

14. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
Project evaluation
A funder may not always require project evaluation, but include it in your planning. The funder will want an evaluation component in the final report, whether or not it’s required.
Project evaluation can:
Determine overall effectiveness in meeting goals and objectives
Determine at what level of quality activities are being implemented
Identify strengths and weaknesses in implementation and effectiveness
Lead to changes for improvement
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

15. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
Online project evaluation resources
W. K. Kellogg Foundation Evaluation Handbook
directory/resource/2010/w-k-kellogg-foundation
evaluation-handbook
Imagine Canada Project Evaluation Guide for
Nonprofit Organizations
/projectguide_final.pdf
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

16. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
Visual impact
Graphics provide clarification, simplification and emphasis. They reinforce the text, and vice versa.
Charts, graphs, tables, maps, photos
Headers and subheaders
Color and font
Use judiciously for impact
Be mindful of page limits
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

17. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
The importance of the budget
The budget is the application’s meat and bones
Delineates who will deliver the project, what’s
needed to deliver it, and what it will cost
Documents organizational buy-in through
in-kind support
Documents you will have enough funding to
deliver the project
The budget, budget narrative, and project
narrative must be consistent
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

18. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
Planning the budget
Expense:
Direct costs (project specific)
plus
Indirect costs (non-program staff, facilities, etc.)
Income:
Project specific income (grants; other $)
In-kind (non-cash)
Expense and Income must match
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

19. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
Calculating costs
Personnel (existing and projected, estimated hours or percentage)
Fringe benefits (existing and projected)
Consultants (not grant writers!)
Travel (approved rate)
Equipment (per item; document)
Supplies (per item; document)
Tuition (per student)
Other costs
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

20. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
Calculating income
Requested grant funds
Other anticipated or received grant funds
Donations (cash or in-kind)
Course Fees
Tuition
Refreshment and merchandise sales
Advertisement sales
Organization matching funds
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

21. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
LCC Grants Finance
Anita Lycos, ext. 9807
Judy Koos, ext. 9785
Barb Farr, ext. 1737
Contact ERD to set up a Grants Finance meeting
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

22. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
Using a grant application checklist
The application may provide one
Federal grants can be inconsistent—check for
requirements not included on the checklist
You may need to construct one
Make sure checklists contain everything
needed in the application
Get multiple readers to review, especially people outside the process
LCC’s grant approval process can catch errors
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

23. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
Top 10 reasons a grant is declined:
Does not meet funder’s priorities
Does not serve funder’s geographic area
Incorrect application format
Difficult to understand
Outside of funder’s grant award range
Unknown credibility of applicant
Project lacks urgency or impact
Narrative, budget, and timeline are not consistent
No more money available this grant cycle
No evidence project will become self-sufficient
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

24. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
To consider for next week’s workshop:
Research a potential funder for your project idea
Build on your Project Idea or Case Statement and asses what information you would need to include for that funder
Consider who you might include:
as a project partner
on the work team
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea

25. Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea
Contact ERD and the LCC Foundation:
ERD
Jeanne Donado, Grant Development Coordinator
ext. 1307
Vivian Keeney, Grant System Coordinator
ext. 1581
LCC Foundation
Dan McKean, Executive Director, ext. 1987
Peggy Hellwig, Scholarship and Operations
Coordinator, ext. 1989
Developing Your Grant Proposal Idea