Step 6: Completing Your Grant Application the Right Way

I started a seven-step series of blog posts a couple of months ago giving exact details of how to find grant money and write winning grant proposals. I’ve made a couple of posts since step five, but I’m now ready to finish the series. You can find the related posts listed in the sidebar if you wish to review the first five steps.

Once you’ve completed the first five steps in the grant process, you are ready to start filling out the grant application. You have already done a tremendous amount of work. You’ve identified a problem in your school that needs correcting, developed a solution, found a grant that fits your situation, confirmed that you are eligible for that grant, and gathered the application and all the data you will need to complete your grant application.

Completing an application is not all that difficult if you’ve done your homework -- but it’s almost impossible if you haven’t. Your primary concern as you begin the application process is to carefully follow all instructions. You don’t want to be disqualified for something as simple as using the wrong type font or font size in your application. And, yes, some grantors are that particular.

Be sure to include four major components in any application regardless of how the application is laid out.

· Describe the problem you have at your school with sufficient statistics to prove that you truly have a problem.

· Give a detailed summary of your solution to this problem and give statistics or other information to show why you believe your solution will produce positive results.

· Include an evaluation component to show how you will track progress throughout the program and exactly how you will determine the gains that were made at the end of the program.

· Include a budget that shows where every dollar of the requested grant money will be spent.

Regardless of the way an application is organized, be sure you carefully complete every section. Some applications may have sections that don't seem to apply to your situation. You have to remember, however, that competitive grants are generally scored on a point system. Every section of the application is worth a certain number of points. If you don't complete a section, you get no points for that part of the application. Many applications are so competitive that a score of "zero" on one section will likely eliminate you from the competition.

As you complete the application, you might come to a section that asks you to describe the community involvement aspect of your plan. But what if you hadn't planned on having a community involvement component? You must realize that if community involvement was not important to the grantor, it would not be a part of the application. If the section is there, it behooves you to go back to the solution you've developed and add a community involvement component. If you leave that section blank, you are not likely to be among the final competitors for the grant money.

Each section of a grant application is so important that you need to complete it as if it were the only section you were submitting. Why? Because you need to earn every point possible to stay competitive in your hunt for grant money.

As you complete your application, avoid using "cut and paste" information provided by vendors. Yes, they have great writers who prepare those descriptions, but you are doomed if the same descriptions show up on several applications for the same grant. The scorers see it as evidence that you are relying on a canned solution to your problem rather than personalizing your solution to fit your school's needs. Similarly, you need to be careful about centering your whole grant request around a single commercial product. Grant money is typically awarded to those schools that seek money to establish well-rounded programs with multiple components -- not to schools that just want money to buy a single product.

Also, be sure you complete the application with language that is clear and concise. Don't try to sound fancy or more educated than you are. You're not trying to convince the grant readers how smart you are. You are trying to show them that you understand the problems at your school, and that you've come up with what you believe to be the right solution. To begin to put that solution into place, you need their grant money. It's also always a good idea to let the grant readers know how much district money and other resources will be applied to the problem. Again, be straightforward, clear, and concise.

Completing a grant application is not all that difficult if you've done the necessary preliminary work. It's exciting to know that you are in competition with other grant writers to get money for your school. If you closely follow the directions that accompany the application, lay out your problem clearly, describe your solution in detail, include an effective evaluation component, and develop a budget that is realistic and all-inclusive, then you will win grant money most of the time.

You will also get better with practice. As soon as you finish one application, start looking for your next grant. If you follow the steps that I've laid out over the past few posts, when it comes time to sit at your desk to complete a grant application, you'll find that applying for most grants is really not that difficult.