Get Grants!

About This Course

Here's good news if you're a grant writer—even in lean times, there's plenty of money out there! In this course, two experts who've raised millions of dollars in grant money will tell you how to develop successful, fundable grants.

First, they'll walk you step-by-step through the process of grant proposal writing, revealing the "must-have" proposal elements and the seven deadly sins you need to avoid. You'll learn to recognize what makes a project attractive to a funding agency and see how to create a compelling case. In just a few weeks, you'll be prepared to convert an idea into a complete, well-developed package.

In addition, you'll discover how to target the best funding agencies for your project and learn insider secrets for approaching them in the right way. You'll also see how to follow up on a proposal, and you'll find out when it's possible to turn a "no" into a "yes."

Whether you're interested in writing grant proposals as a career or in obtaining funding for your organization, this course will give you the grant-writing skills you need to outshine your competition. Highly recommended for development professionals, educators, non-profit agency staff members or volunteers, and anyone else involved in fundraising for a large or small organization.

While the skills you'll learn during this course are transferable, we do want to emphasize that the focus of this class is on obtaining grant funding for non-profit organizations.

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 Bo Morton and Janet Levine.

The two instructors for this class have over 20 years of experience in grant writing.

Janet Levine has been involved with grant writing and fund raising since 1988. Currently the Vice President for University Advancement at a public, urban university, she has been a fundraiser and administrator at a number of colleges, universities and other non-profit organizations. In addition to her work experience, Levine has her Masters of Business Administration from Pepperdine University and a B.A. from Hofstra University. Her articles on fund raising and management appear in a number of magazines and journals. She also teaches classes in grant writing, fund raising and non-profit management.

Bozena (Bo) Morton, a college Director of Grants Development and Management, has been involved in developing grants for non-profit organizations and community colleges for over 12 years. Under her leadership, the Grants Office at her college annually generates millions of dollars in grant funds for various college programs. She has developed successful proposals for many government and private grants. Morton has conducted training sessions for faculty, administrators and staff at community colleges and non-profit agencies on topics including finding appropriate funding sources, program planning, proposal writing, project management, and compliance issues.

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

Each year, nonprofit organizations receive billions of dollars from grant-making entities. How can your organization ensure that some of this money comes into your coffers? The goal of Get Grants is just that, and this lesson will you get started. The first step in getting grants is guaranteeing that you have a fundable project. What's that? You'll find out in this lesson. We'll also talk about how to take an idea and develop it into a proposal.

Friday - Lesson 02

This lesson will provide you with the anatomy of a grant proposal. You'll learn the eight parts of a typical grant and in what order you should develop them. And then, because time is always of the essence, we'll examine how you create a workable timeline so you never frantically work on a proposal only to discover that you missed the deadline. And finally, we'll go into detail on the first part of the proposal—the introduction or, what we might call your section on bragging rights.

Week 2

Wednesday - Lesson 03

Today, we'll get to the heart of the proposal, or the why. The problem statement or needs assessment is where you'll be convincing the funding source why you need their support. But ah, there's a hitch: Funders don't particularly care about things you lack or things that would make you happy—they care about funding projects that address issues or resolve unmet needs that mesh nicely with their priorities. It's a tall order, but after this lesson, you'll have a very good handle on how to detect a real need and then write a concise, clear, and well-documented need statement that makes funding agencies take note.

Friday - Lesson 04

Perhaps the most confusing part of a proposal is figuring out the difference between goals and objectives. But never fear, in this lesson we'll examine the difference so that it becomes crystal clear. We'll see how these goals and objectives flow from the need statement and then flow into developing the specific measurable outcomes grant makers require. By the end of our discussion, you'll never commit the commonly made mistake of confusing activities with objectives or objectives with goals.

Week 3

Wednesday - Lesson 05

Accountability. It's a word that's been cropping up more and more, especially from grantors who want to ensure that their support is being used in a meaningful way. Evaluation is another word that you hear a lot in the grant-writing world. It's the way you show the grant makers that yes, the outcomes of your project are what they want to support. Today you'll learn about evaluation types and the purposes of each of them. More to the point, by the end of the lesson you'll be able to design evaluations that clearly demonstrate how your outcomes support your goals and the goals of the funding source.

Friday - Lesson 06

In this lesson, you'll learn how you're going to reach your grant destination. We'll talk about methods and activities. What are those? Simply stated, they're things that you'll be doing from the moment you receive your funding in order to reach your goal. Planning these steps can be a daunting task, but you'll see how to create a detailed roadmap so that you never get lost. You'll also understand how to match your activities to the objectives we developed in Lesson 4. By the end of this lesson, you'll be over the hump and on your way to getting grants.

Week 4

Wednesday - Lesson 07

Numbers, numbers, numbers. If you're a numbers person, this lesson about the budget will be right up your alley. If you're not, this lesson will do the seemingly impossible—demystify the budget process. We'll go through each of the budget categories and explore and define the more confusing budgetary terms. Best of all, you'll get good models for both budget form and budget narrative. These will be of immeasurable help—especially when you work on a major federal grant.

Friday - Lesson 08

Grant writers frequently overlook two parts of the proposal. But after today, you'll never make this common mistake. Dissemination and future funding, while not always required by the funding agency, are vital pieces in convincing funders that their investment in your project will be maximized. You'll find out today what these two parts are and how you can best present them in your proposal.

Week 5

Wednesday - Lesson 09

Although we're not yet finished with the class, we're at the point of the proposal process where we sum it all up. In this lesson, we'll look at the summary and how to go about giving this piece its due. We'll also talk about query letters and pre-proposals, discussing what they are, when you use them, and how to make them effective. And, while we're wrapping up the proposal, we'll also examine how to make successful first approaches to funding sources.

Friday - Lesson 10

Okay. You've written a great grant—now you need to send it out and get it funded. So today we'll talk about researching funding sources. By the end of this lesson you'll know who funds government programs and where to get the best information. You'll also know where to find out about private foundation and corporate funding. Finally, you'll come to understand the sometimes arcane language of guidelines and how best to extract the details you need.

Week 6

Wednesday - Lesson 11

Image counts. At least that's the lesson we all get from Hollywood. So, as a grant seeker, what's the image you want to present to your funding sources? That's what we'll explore today. The tips you'll get—including ways to assemble and package your grant—will help you present your proposal in the very best light. We'll review what supporting data you'll need and talk about what you have to do after you've submitted your grant.

Friday - Lesson 12

We've talked about image. Now we'll look at how to make your proposal a star. In this lesson, we'll cover writing style—what works and what doesn't. You'll find out the seven deadly sins of grant writing and how to avoid them. And, though it may seem an odd time to do this, we'll talk about how to decide if your organization is grant ready. Finally, we'll discuss ethical grantsmanship and why it's the only kind of grantsmanship you'll want to practice. By the end of this lesson—the end of this course—you'll be well-equipped to get out there and get grants!

Requirements

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).