Advanced Grant Proposal Writing

About This Course

Do you know the best way to present information in a grant proposal? In this course, an experienced grantwriter will show you how to research and write winning proposals that get funded. You'll become proficient in the proposal format used by the vast majority of public foundations. Learn what to do--and, more importantly what not to do--on your cover sheet, narrative, background page, and your stakeholder and third-party evaluation plan.

You'll also discover the quickest and most efficient ways to gather the information you'll need to develop your proposal’s attachments, including information on your organization's structure, administration, and finances.

And you'll gain a full understanding of the criteria funders use to determine whether your grant proposal gets funded or rejected. You'll become expert at ferreting out corporate, foundation, and government grantmakers, and you'll know how to tailor your responses to information found in the peer review criteria.

Before the course is over, you will have discovered a number of significant finishing touches that can give your project the edge over others. You'll know the best type of paper to use, which buzzwords to include, which fonts work best, which types of graphics to include, and a variety of formatting techniques that will make your proposal more competitive. You'll also learn about the importance of obtaining community and political support before submitting a proposal to any government agency.

About The Instructor

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Beverly Browning.

Dr. Beverly A. Browning has been consulting in the areas of grant writing, contract bid responses, and organizational development for nearly three decades. Her clients have included chambers of commerce, faith-based organizations, units of local and county municipal governments, state and federal government agencies, school districts and colleges, social and human service agencies, hospitals, fire departments, service associations, and Fortune 500 corporations. Dr. Browning has assisted clients and workshop participants throughout the United States in receiving awards of more than $200 million. Dr. Browning is the author of over two dozen grants-related publications, including Grant Writing For DummiesT, Grant Writing for Educators, How to Become a Grant Writing Consultant, Faith-Based Grants:

Aligning Your Church to Receive Abundance, and Perfect Phrases for Writing Grant Proposals. She holds degrees in Organizational Development, Public Administration, and Business Administration. Dr. Browning is a grant writing course developer and online facilitator for Ed2Go.com; faculty member at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Organization Management and a current member of the American Association of Grant Professionals.

Syllabus

A new section of each course starts monthly. 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 1

Wednesday - Lesson 01

In this lesson, you'll learn the different types of grant proposal formats for corporations, foundations, and state and federal government agencies. This lesson is important because you'll discover who reviews your proposals at each type of funder, what format the proposal review staff expect to receive, and how and why decisions to fund or reject grant proposals are made.

Friday - Lesson 02

This lesson will teach you how to carefully research the funding agencies so you can match your grant funding needs to their interests. You’ll learn how to find and use Internet research sites to identify multiple funders for grant proposal projects. And you'll learn how to spot the funder/project matches that result in a 90 percent or higher funding success rate.

Week 2

Wednesday - Lesson 03

In this lesson, we'll focus on how to prepare the first section of the grant proposal narrative-the research and major accomplishments section. You’ll learn how to sift through organizational documents and write useful information that will answer the dozens of questions that grant reviewers ask when reading your narrative. Most importantly, you'll learn how to avoid the mistakes that can cause your grant proposal to lose points during the initial stages of the funder’s review process.

Friday - Lesson 04

This lesson will teach you how to develop a current programs and activities section narrative template. You’ll also learn where to find the type of information a grant reviewer needs in this section of your grant proposal. And you'll learn how to stay on your toes to answer all of the questions that funders ask when they read this section of your grant proposals.

Week 3

Wednesday - Lesson 05

In this lesson, you will learn how to write accurate and magnetizing copy for the target population served section of your grant proposals. You’ll also learn how to conduct extensive research on your target population and how to order, organize, and write the information for this critical section of your grant proposals.

Friday - Lesson 06

This lesson will teach you how to find the most current information on your organization’s partners in the community, region, and nation. You’ll also learn how to identify potential partners when your organization has few or no partners. Most importantly, you'll learn how to organize and present your partnership information in an appealing format for funders.

Week 4

Wednesday - Lesson 07

In this lesson, you'll learn how to understand the needs statement section from the funder’s viewpoint. You'll also learn the type of information to collect on the target population and your organization in order to glean language for this section.

Friday - Lesson 08

This is perhaps the most important of all our lessons. You are halfway through the main writing sections for your grant proposal narrative and gaining more confidence in your skills. This lesson will teach you how to show the funder that you have a well-thought-out plan for spending grant monies. You'll learn how to look at the program design section from the funder’s viewpoint, how to collect the right information, and how to spot poorly written narrative in this section.

Week 5

Wednesday - Lesson 09

In this lesson, you will learn to understand the thinking patterns of grant funders when they read the management plan section. You’ll also learn how to avoid the most common types of errors made by other grant writers when writing this section, and how to cull the right information from your program staff or administrators.

Friday - Lesson 10

This lesson will teach you how to look at the evaluation plan section from the funder's perspective. You'll also learn how to steer clear of the age-old errors that other grant writers make when planning and writing this section. From learning where to find the information needed to write an award-winning evaluation plan to learning the common terms that funders look for in this section, Lesson 10 hits the target.

Week 6

Wednesday - Lesson 11

At this point, you're nearing the finish line for Advanced Proposal Writing. In this lesson, you will learn the standard definitions you need to know when it comes to planning your budget line items. We'll also look at examples of award-winning budget sections on the Internet. Most importantly, this lesson will teach you how to recover with the funder when you make a glaring budget error.

Friday - Lesson 12

Our last lesson will teach you how to view your entire proposal package from the funder's viewpoint. You’ll also learn how to use words that work, some final formatting techniques, and how to prepare the supporting documentation for your grant proposal-the attachments. This final lesson will also teach you the ins and outs of signatories, copies, and how to mail your grant proposal the right way. Lastly, you'll learn how to follow up on all outstanding items, such as verification of proposal delivery and checking back with funders. Finally, I'll show you the next step to take when your proposal is either funded or rejected.

Requirements

Completion of an introductory grant writing course or equivalent experience. Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins (two free and simple downloads you obtain at http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and Get Adobe Reader).