Yes, as Artistic Director of a theatre company for many years, I have written LOTS of grants. The most important thing you can do is follow every instruction of the grant. Get everything that the grant requires together right away, don't leave anything til the last minute. If they need to see finances, etc., lay them all out clearly on a graph. Do you know anyone who makes good graphs on a computer who can help with this? Do the grant people ask for addendums? Lay them all out pretty.
IMO, having read your writing here, you ARE a very passionate writer. You should have NO trouble there, just speak from the heart. Write everything out you want to say and start rewriting, organizing. Have several trusted, intelligent people read over your writing and give you feedback, can they follow all your thoughts, are they moved by what you write? Just start throwing everything you can think of on the page, and then you can put it all together. See how much you can get done ASAP, today, tomorrow, so you don't leave much to do but odds and ends and final rewrites the last few days!
With practise, you should be OK. First one is the hardest, although writing grants is just plain HARD work, and in all my years of doing it, I never liked it ever, even though we did win quite a few of them.
I don't have any advice, just wanted to say, get going and do your best! I agree w/ Sara and Paula, make it a business case, but also write from the heart, you'll do great!
I have never done any grant writing but I have been considering learning how to for the benefit of my daughter's charter school. Here is a website I have been reading for info, it seems pretty useful and it is free.
Dear Debbie,
Yes, as Artistic Director of a theatre company for many years, I have written LOTS of grants. The most important thing you can do is follow every instruction of the grant. Get everything that the grant requires together right away, don't leave anything til the last minute. If they need to see finances, etc., lay them all out clearly on a graph. Do you know anyone who makes good graphs on a computer who can help with this? Do the grant people ask for addendums? Lay them all out pretty.
IMO, having read your writing here, you ARE a very passionate writer. You should have NO trouble there, just speak from the heart. Write everything out you want to say and start rewriting, organizing. Have several trusted, intelligent people read over your writing and give you feedback, can they follow all your thoughts, are they moved by what you write? Just start throwing everything you can think of on the page, and then you can put it all together. See how much you can get done ASAP, today, tomorrow, so you don't leave much to do but odds and ends and final rewrites the last few days!
With practise, you should be OK. First one is the hardest, although writing grants is just plain HARD work, and in all my years of doing it, I never liked it ever, even though we did win quite a few of them.
Sara
ilovemalcolm
Debbie,
I never wrote a grant application, but I have written a ton of business cases and cost/benefit analyses for Wall St software projects.
I guess your "project" is Isaac, right?
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
Debbie,
I don't have any advice, just wanted to say, get going and do your best! I agree w/ Sara and Paula, make it a business case, but also write from the heart, you'll do great!
Betsy
I have never done any grant writing but I have been considering learning how to for the benefit of my daughter's charter school. Here is a website I have been reading for info, it seems pretty useful and it is free.
http://www.npguides.org/