Today’s Plan:
- Grant Writing 101: A Few Introductory Tips
- Review Time (Groups / Communication)
- Potential Targets Report
- Mini-Exercise #1: What Can I Learn About My Organization?
- Mini-Exercise #2: Using the CRC Database to Identify Potential Funders
- Exercise #3 (Time Permitting): Revising a Grant Application
- Homework
Grant writing 101: A Few Introductory Tips
- It is easier to find funds for “new” projects than for “general operating costs”
- Always be sure to read an RFP / application form extremely carefully and provide exactly what the app / prompt is asking for
- Always scan an organizations website and promotional materials for language and terms
- Your prose must be concise, yet detailed and engaging. Every word or sentence has to count (because)
- Your reader is under no obligation to read your entire proposal. They will likely skim. We have to do everything we can to make the most important part of our application the most prominent and accessible
Review Time
Poudre River Trail Corridor, Inc. (Team Amy)
Current status: Bob has emailed us back materials for review. Amy needs to email Bob and set up a meeting (cc me and I will attend the meeting if necessary, but I don’t think I need to be there).
CWA (Cycling Without Age) meeting was unfortunately cancelled, no update yet on a possible reschedule. Bob has given us three documents to review regarding the CWA grant project, including a 21 page Business Plan (including detailed budgetary information) and a WCF application draft (probably a bit too long? I do not know who/what WCF is and can’t find a RFP).
I have uploaded the materials to our Google Drive folder.
Here is there (rather messy) website.
Amy’s to-do for this week:
- Read and mine the provided documents for the Organizational assignment (Mini-Exercise 1 and the homework below)
- Contact Bob to arrange a meeting and discuss the grant application.
Amy’s other project: Although my undergraduates put together a grant target report for the organization last semester, I’d like you to go through the motions and familiarize yourself with the Foundation Center database. Rather than share their final report with you, I’m going to share their preliminary list. That should cut down on your workload. You’ll be responsible for using the database to research all the orgs list and, while you are there, identifying a few other candidates. Then, move beyond the list to procure grant application forms for 3 target organizations. Do some preliminary research into their application process; standard checklist:
- Do they accept “unsolicited applications?” If no, then throw that one out. They are no use to us. (Note Foundation Directory tutorial video below on this
- Do they require an LOI?
- Do we have a contact information for a Program Officer* we can contact to make sure we are a good fit?
- Take a look at their application–how/does it differ from the CCGA? What else do we need to know?
Immigrant Refugee Center of Northern Colorado (Team Erika)
Erika emailed Lisa to arrange a meeting; she has not yet emailed back. Lisa might be waiting for me to respond to her availability on February 14th (her meeting ends at 7:00). Let us discuss.
Erika’s To-Do List for the week:
- I think your first task should be to do a thorough research project on available funding streams. When I talked to Lisa in January, she was interested in grants that dealt with professional development and opportunities for immigrants including, if I remember correctly, job training but also leadership and management opportunities as well.
You’ll eventually need to fill out the CCGA pre-draft material (mini-exercise #1 below), but let’s wait until we get some grant writing materials from Lisa.
Center for Applied Contemplative Studies (Team Cole and Emily)
Status Update: we have a preliminary meeting with Michael on Thursday at 3:30 via Teams, so we have to do some stuff to prepare for that meeting.
Michael provided us with a long, detailed (and probably expensive) Hanover research report detailing potential funders (link is below, we’ll look at it in a bit). I skimmed it and noticed the majority of organizations were Colorado centered, private foundations (I don’t remember seeing a .gov grant in there). Good! If you took 301, then you should probably recognize the report format–while they use a fancy designed template, the contents are just a flushed out version of what I ask you to do in 301.
Michael’s email:
I’ve attached to this email the results of a 2019 Hanover Research grant prospecting report concerning prospective funding sources for our Center. If you review pages 7-11, you’ll see two foundations whose grant programs focus on mindfulness and meditation. We would like to receive funding to support mindfulness teacher certification for 2-5 UNC faculty/staff members (determined through a competitive application process) to support the development of Center programming and outreach.
Cole and Emily–fast turn around here–but give the report a read before our meeting, focus attention on the two funders he highlights here. *Find the application portal for those funders* and, before the meeting, take a look at what we need to make first contact and to complete the application (some portals will require you make an account to see the application–if so, then do that).
In that meeting we have to identify if Michael already has budgetary information for the teacher certification program (see Bob’s Business Plan for what we will eventually need–not all 21 pages, but descriptions, time lines, and most importantly, a budget).
Cole and Emily’s To-Do List for the Week:
- Attend Meeting
- TBD
Lifestories (Team Jacob and Austin)
Status Update: Gwen Schooley, the org’s resident grant writer, and I have been in contact. Gwen’s email requested that we revise their CCGA (Colorado Common Grant Application), although I am not exactly sure what that revision will entail. [Let’s go look at Gwen’s email].
Here’s the email I sent Gwen today (y’all should be CC’d into it):
I’m cc’ing Austin and Jacob into our message thread. Before they begin working on the CCGA revisions we discussed in our previous emails, I’m going to ask them to put together a Potential Funders report, one that uses the CRC America and Foundation Center Database to research private organizations (mostly Colorado based) that we believe would make a good match for Lifestories.
I know we discussed some of this back in December, but I can’t find my notes right now. If I remember correctly, then you would be interested in grants that help cover general operating costs.
In addition to that, I was wondering if there an existing training program that could be expanded? Similarly, is there an annual retreat program that could be expanded? As I think we talked about, it can be easier sometimes to locate funding for a new program, or to expand an existing program, than it can be to find funding that supports general operating costs (although it certainly isn’t impossible and I think we are up for a challenge).
We will identify a few organizations in the 2-5k range and a few in the 10-25k range so that we can adapt to what you need/prefer.
So, you have the same initial assignment as Erika–you will have to produce a Potential Targets report from scratch. And, as with Erika, I don’t think you have to worry about familiarizing yourself with the organization *until* Gwen passes along some of her materials (so much of that initial work should be in there).
Jacob and Austin’s To Do list for the week:
- Work on the Potential Funders Report
Potential Targets Report Status
- PRTC, Amy: I’ll hand over undergrad list, Amy will use the database to do advanced research and then mine founders websites/portals for application information. NEEDS TO USE FOUNDATION CENTER DATABASE.
- IRC, Erika: We need a detailed report from the ground up. I’ll give you two weeks to do this. NEEDS TO USE FOUNDATION CENTER DATABASE.
- LifeStories, Jacob and Austin: I’d like a detailed report from the ground up. NEEDS TO USE FOUNDATION CENTER DATABASE.
- CFASC, Emily and Cole: They already have a Potential Target Report. You do not need to write one. So WTF do you do for the next two weeks? Tentative Answer: we will know more after Thursday’s meeting.
Let’s take a look at the typical undergraduate report, this one was composed for the Holocaust Memorial Organization of Greeley and Northern Colorado.
Let’s compare that to the professionally developed Hanover Research report for CFASC that Michael Kimball shared with us. (Look at the “First Steps”). What the HMOG report above is missing (Google Slides, fine grain Foundation Center data).
What I would like you to do is to write one of these reports. Generally I give the undergrads 3 weeks (working in a team of 3-5) to complete these. I’m going to give you two weeks. Hooray graduate school!
Grant Writing Research Tools/Process:
- UNCo Library: CRC Database (I’ve got the username and the password)
- Denver Library, Foundation Directory Online (tutorial video if needed; let’s watch the first 3 minutes in class). Let’s talk about the 24 hour day pass.
- CRC Grant Writing User’s Guide, a handy step-by-step guide to the sections in the CCGA
- The CCGA itself
- As you can see from the PRTC example above, I organize grant research into a spreadsheet. It is just easier to organize than a Word Docx.
Mini-Exercise #1: Getting to Know Your Community Partner
I’ve put together a template for you to copy and populate.
Mini-Exercise #2: Let’s Start Researching Some Funders
Let’s use the CRC Database. Make a spreadsheet in Google. We can use one of my old target sheets as a template.
Mini-Exercise #3
Let’s examine (and revise) part of a grant application.
When you are sharing your Google Docs with your teammates (or, um, even if you don’t have teammates), please share it with me:
insignificantwrangler@gmail.com
Homework
Reading: Karsh and Fox Grant Writing Book. These chapters deals with the early planning and research stages of a grant project. Kairos!
- Lesson #3, Lesson #4 (skim for what we need to know), Lesson #5, and Funders Roundtable #1
Writing: Spend 90 minutes working on the If we are going to develop grant applications for our organizations, then we are going to have to do our homework and figure out:
- what we already know
- what we can find out from their website (and any materials they have already provided)
- what we need to ask from them direclty
I think every team has a different amount of source information that they can work through. I’ve put together a Google Doc through which teams can
Due Tuesday, February 22nd: Grant Writing Target Report.
- Template
Austin and Jacob have a more advanced assignment, since we already have a
