The Grant Lady

Planning is Essential to a Successful Proposal

In evaluating grant proposals I often find that many lack a significant amount of pre-planning.  It's almost as if the author thought, "well, this sounds good so I'll write it down".  While 'sounding good' may win you points on your proposal it could set you back later in the grant cycle and result in the revocation of grant funds.

It's always important to remember that what you put in the proposal will impact the funder's evaluation of you for the duration of the cycle.  While changes can often be made in the form of an amendment, it is important to remember that too many amendments can be a bad thing.  In my three years of a program manager I consistently review amendments from the same programs.  This shows the funder that there was an overall lack of planning before the original proposal was put together.

I have decided that I am going to do a two week series of blogs focusing specifically on the planning of grant proposals and, ultimately the program.

When was the last time you took a long hard look at your program and any plans, strategic or otherwise, that you have in place?  Are you still working these plans?  Do the plans still apply to the community trends and needs.  Take some time to review what you have in place and evaluate whether or not these plans truly help the facilitation of your program or whether they're just documents put together as a formality.

Feel free to discuss the types of plans your programs use in the comments and provide us with what has worked for your programs and what hasn't.  I will be back on Wednesday to provide some of my insight as a funder on how to really engage program planning into the grant writing and management process.  Until then, happy grant managing!

As always, if you have any questions that you'd like me to address in "Ask the Grant Lady" please feel free to e-mail me at pkcooney82@gmail.com.

It's Raining Grant Proposals!!!

I'm officially convinced that my desk is now the place where paper goes to die.  Sadly, the recent influx of work related to the increase in funding opportunities has forced me to put the blog on the back burner.  In an effort to get back out there and continue satisfying my need to make the "grant world" much easier I am going to open up "Ask The Grant Lady."  In an effort to preserve my sanity, however, I am going to extend the deadline for questions and post on Saturday, rather than Friday.  Please submit questions no later than 10 PM on Friday night.

Please e-mail your questions directly to me at pkcooney82@gmail.com.  Feel free to ask anything and everything that you're itching to know about grants management from the funder's perspective.  I can't wait to provide you with some insight.  If I don't get any questions, I will use some (anonymously) that I've received over the past few weeks to get the ball rolling.

Have a great week and good luck huntin' for funds!

Absentee Grant Lady

Good Morning my Grant Writing/Managing friends!  I'm sorry to say I've been a bit absent over the last week.  It's been super busy at work, as we've been locked away in grant review. 

In a few short weeks we will host our annual grant training.  I've been to more trainings than I'd like to admit and I'm always astounded at how absolutely boring they are.  As trainers, we get stuck in the  humdrum of power point and handouts.  It's not like grant writing and management is an exciting subject; it's actually quite possibly the most boring subject out there.  As trainees, what would you like grant trainers to cover?  Are you sick of having goals and objectives shoved down your throat?  Would you like hands on activities that cover grant writing?  Is it more interesting to  complete report forms in the trainings?  Would you like me to have our Research Manager do the humpty dance before her lecture on Performance Measurement?  Enlighten me!

Also, I will officially start the "Ask the Grant Lady" section of the blog on the 11th of September.  Please submit your questions at Grant Lady's E-mail.

Acronym Soup

Last week my cousin sent me a text message containing the following language:

"idk, lol ttfyn."

At 27 years old, I consider myself somewhat savvy and rather with the times.  I have to admit, I had no clue what on earth she was talking about.  Sadly, grant review can feel much like getting a text message from an 18 year old.

The other day I read a fairly well written proposal that, ufortuneately used more acronyms than even my cousin could come up with.  While acronyms are somewhat par for the course in my line of business, deciphering them becomes rather daunting.  What's worse, is that more often than not, the grant writer assumes the reviewer is familiar with the acronyms they've used.  While reviewers are familiar with acronyms and know a lot of them, we're not always at the top of our game when we're trying to meet a deadline and have a hundred proposals to read.

Sadly, more than half of the proposals I've read lately have created their own alphebet soup of acronyms, changing titles of agencies, program names, and even, postion titles.  The number one challenge for a reviewer is trying to remember what all of these aronyms mean while trying to figure out what the program is asking for and why they need the money.  While it is common place to have one or even two acronyms within your proposal, you should avoid using them as much as possible.  Changing "Smith County Community Corrections" to "Community Corrections," rather than "SCCC" can make all the difference in the world for a reviewer.

The inclusion of acronyms could not only be detrimental to your grant score but also to the overall understanding of your need.  I always suggest that grant writers and programs have their grant read by someone completely un-related to a program to ensure that the proposal is written clearly.  You should always assume that the reviewer is someone who is utterly unfamiliar with your program.

Is your agency acronym happy?  If so, how do you avoid using them when trying to write a proposal or any other sort formal document?

The Grant Lady

As a Program Manager for a widely known State Administering Agency I have noticed that the dissemination of information regarding the successful acquisition of grant funding is either very difficult to come by or very expensive.  In working with my grantees over the last two and half years I have seen a desperate need for easy to access affordable education in the world of program administration and funding.

It's my mission to make the grant world less confusing and to help you open your own doors to funding.  This blog is going to cover topics ranging from program planning and grant writing to helpful hints to make the process much easier for everyone involved.  As I come across various issues in my day to day world, I will share how they've impacted programs or how they've affected the funder's view of a program.

How it's Gonna Work

I'm going to warn you up front, I'm a very informal person.  This blog will be easy to read and will even be humorous from time to time.  Let's face it, grants are not exactly the most entertaining subject.  As I write things you should feel free to comment, ask questions, tell me you think I'm wrong, and kick and scream as much as you'd like in the Comments section.

Once a week, I'm going to open the floor and answer your questions in, "Ask the Grant Lady."  You can e-mail any question you'd like and I will answer it to the best of my ability.  If I don't know the answer, I'll find an expert who does.

I have an infinite amount of resources at my little fingertips and I'm willing to share them with an audience that has expressed a great need. 

Happy Grant Seeking!!

The Grant Lady