Tips on Grant WritingSecondary Reading Interest Council, MRA on February 19, 2013

Basic steps of grant writing

1.Agree on a problem that has a positive and measurable affect on your school or community.

2.Describe outcomes.

3.Design your program as the best path to the outcomes.

4.Locate funding sources. Learn about the process and time required.

5.Tailor your proposal to each possible funding source.

http://www.arc.gov/funding/HowtoWriteaGrantProposal.aspext

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reading?

Agree on a problem that has a positive and measurable affect on your school or community.

a.Involve all stakeholders.

b.Define the problem. (Involve stakeholders.)

c.Describe the problem’s impact. (Show how it has affected the way people live.)

d.Investigate the problem’s possible causes. (Seek formal agreement with as many stakeholders as possible.)

2. Describe outcomes.

a.Identify key outcomes, changes that result from your program’s activities.

• Work with stakeholders to determine 2 or 3 key outcomes.

• Set realistic outcomes

• Set achievable outcomes.

b.Identity outputs, measures of the program’s activities.

• Set output measurements

• Set output measurement timetable.If you can’t measure it, don’t include it.

3. Design your program as the best path to the outcomes.

a.Best is not always easiest, quickest, simplest, or cheapest.

b.Get expert opinions from grant makers.

c.Research what others have done, their failures and their successes. (similar organizations, professional journals, popular press, nearby college or university’s faculty)

d.Get stakeholder buy-in and letters of support (time, money, labor, space, materials, and so forth).

e.Clearly describe your situation with key stakeholders’ and experts’ assistance.

4. Locate funding sources. Learn about the process and time required.a.Start with organizations and people you know, then

target your search by organizations who have gotten similar funding, then by geographic area.

b.Use the Internet to search for several grant makers.

a.Do you want to work with this organization?

b.Does it typically fund organizations and projects like yours?

c.Do you qualify for a particular program?

d.Can you meet all of the grant requirements?

c.Develop a relationship with the Grant Program Officer.

5. Tailor your proposal to each possible funding source.

a.Follow instructions.

b.Study the criteria. Create a checklist from the grant maker’s criteria.

c.Edit carefully.

d.Have a “cold reader” review your proposal.

e.Meet deadlines.

Resources• 1. Agree on a problem that has a positive and measurable affect on your

school or community.

• 2. Describe outcomes.

• http://www.cdc.gov/eval/resources/index.htm

• In Search of Technology Treasures: An Online Grant-Writing Seminar

• 3. Design your program as the best path to the outcomes.

• http://foundationcenter.org/getstarted/tutorials/shortcourse/index.html

• http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/what-do-winning-proposals-have-common

• http://www.mcf.org/system/article_resources/0000/0325/writingagrantproposal.pdf

Resources• 4. Locate funding sources. Learn about the

process and time required.

• “Foundations”

• “Digital Resources for Evaluators”

•5. Tailor your proposal to each possible funding source.

Contact information

• Brad Biggs

• Reading Coordinator, Center for College Readiness

• brad.biggs@minnesota.edu

• www.centerforcollegereadiness.org

•Jan Schendel

•Jan.Schendel@anoka.k12.mn.us