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!

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