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Online grant-writing courses: worth the money? If not, where can/should I learn this information? (self.nonprofit)

submitted ago by stop_making_sense

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I'm a volunteer with a community theater, and they want me to help them out with applying for grants, marketing, etc. I've signed up for an online grant-writing course through my local community college, but haven't paid for it yet (have to go pay in person this week).

Is $95 too much to pay for learning how to write a grant? If so, what books/sites would r/nonprofit recommend (especially for arts-related grants)?

Here's the syllabus for the course: http://www.ed2go.com/schoolcraft/online_course/gw1/syllabus/A_to_Z_Grantwriting%3a_Relationship_Focused.html

Edit/Update: Consensus here is that if you can write well and follow directions, you don't need the course. I'm following your advice.

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[–]feralparakeet 5 points6 points ago

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I've said it before and I've said it again, but my general feeling (as an experienced grant writer) is that if you write well and can can a) read and follow directions, b) explain your proposed program/project in a way that fits with the funding agency's desires, and c) can write a realistic and legible budget, you don't really need any grant writing training.

I really need to take my handful of emails giving sage wisdom to friends and turn them into an e-book. I would gladly sell it for $5 to keep people from wasting money on grant writing courses that most people just don't need.

[–]lifeisgrandagain 1 point2 points ago

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This is something I would be more than interested in.

[–]feralparakeet 3 points4 points ago

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I just dug up some emails that would be the foundation of such a book, here's the text:

First of all, I would say that if you're already armed with strong writing skills, you probably don't need a class to teach you how to write a grant successfully. I break the requirements to be a decent grant writer into a few quick bullet points:

-Can you read the directions and answer the questions asked? This is a bigger problem than you might think.

-Pay attention to length limits, they really aren't flexible. Also, pay attention to whether the limits are in terms of pages, words, or characters. I've had off-days when I wrote up 500 words instead of 500 characters - that was a couple of hours wasted. Also, if you're on page counts, don't give in to the temptation to shrink your font too much. 11 or 12 point is best, 10 is as small as I would go.

-Do you have good research to back up any claims you might make as to the need for your program or the effects it might have?

-Are you tailoring your proposal to the desires of the funding agency? Boilerplates are a good start, but you need to make sure that your arguments will resonate with the reviewers and aren't just generic language. Looking at the mission statement of the funding agency is a good start.

-Have you considered the political climate of the funding agency? This goes for both government grants and nonprofit foundations. If you're applying for a sizeable foundation grant, learn who's on the board of directors and what they care about.

-How thoroughly have you crafted your budget? Saying 'this program will cost $50,000' is no good unless you have well-categorized line items that show exactly where the money is going.

-How are you going to evaluate the program outcomes? Make sure that you can give specifics about what you want to measure - is that student test scores or grades, patient health measures, the number of people who take an online course?

-A lot of applications will allow you to attach supplemental material. Use this carefully - you might get a page, you might get a 16MB upload limit. Resist the urge to 'paper' your reviewer with every bit of documentation you have, and instead pick out the most relevant information that wasn't already included in your application.

Hope this helps!

[–]feralparakeet 1 point2 points ago

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And another email I sent to follow up on some questions my friend had:

For federal grants, I usually look at the database on grants.gov. It can be a pain to navigate, but you can sometimes find good opportunities. For foundation grants, I would get in touch with the Alabama Association of Nonprofits, which I believe has moved to the Samford campus. They have a list of foundations that do funding. Also look for major companies in the area, many have foundations - CSX, Honda of Alabama, McWane Enterprises, etc. It might help to set up a spreadsheet or calendar of all the various funding opportunities and their deadlines so you can plan ahead. Common deadlines for foundations are March 1 and September 1, though it varies depending on when the boards meet and how often they do funding decisions.

I would say that if you've got a program that's already operating or that you're working on developing, start by writing out your boilerplate. That would need to include (in no particular order):

-Executive summary of the program/project

-Need for the program

-Expected outcomes of the program

-History of the organization

-Description of program activities

-Key personnel and how they're involved in the project

-Evaluation measures and how they'll be implemented

As far as time goes, it really depends. For small foundation grants, I can review the requirements and transform a boilerplate into an application in a few hours. I've been doing some volunteering for Better Basics and donating my grantwriting services there, and last week I was able to get two foundation grants done in three hours - but they had a good boilerplate to start from, and it was just a matter of reading over everything and making sure it answered the questions. For the federal stimulus grants, it took two or three months of work (not full-time) and a lot of coordination among different people to develop a comprehensive package - but that was for $40 million in funding, not the $10k apiece that the foundation grants were. Better Basics is submitting for more 21st Century CLC funding in June, and I'll probably spend a week or so looking over their previous submissions and preparing this round.

I would go ahead and spend a couple of days developing a boilerplate and circulate it around your office for comments. Make sure that all the information's right, then get someone from outside the organization to look it over for a fresh look. That should get you into a position to be ready to apply as opportunities come up.

[–]CaptainKabob 2 points3 points ago

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Honestly that isn't too bad a course since it covers way more than the "spellcheck your work"-type bullshit advice I've gotten from grantwriting workshops. Without taking the course, you can just follow something like Associated Grantmaker's common proposal format... but the social commentary and how to do follow-up, write acceptance letters, final reports, etc. is actually worth taking a course.

[–]RockinMoe 1 point2 points ago

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If you're confident in your writing ability and feel like you already have a sense of what grant-writing is all about, then just go for it.

If you feel like you're a bit in the dark about it, a hundred bucks is really not much to pay for an intro to the field, but I wouldn't count on learning much about writing.

If you can't write you're screwed either way.

P.S. U right good.

[–]Grayflowergirl 1 point2 points ago

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(Also an experienced grant writer here). Please, please, save your money. As Feralparakeet stated above, you do not need to pay for someone to tell you how to write. Grant writing is the same as any assignment you ever did in school - just follow the funder's instructions.

If you just want to know how to structure a basic ask, Foundation Center has some great free resources here: (http://www.foundationcenter.org/getstarted/learnabout/proposalwriting.html).

[–]MyHeartVT 1 point2 points ago

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Grant writing is an amazing skill to have, and as far as non-profits go it can earn you big bucks. I think it is well worth the $95.

[–]stop_making_sense[S] 0 points1 point ago

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Thanks for the advice, everyone! I think I'm going with feralparakeet and Grayflowergirl and saving my money.

I'm also looking for a job at the moment (2011 grad with a marketing degree), so probably not the best time to invest money in something that I can learn just as well for free. :/

[–]pithyretort 0 points1 point ago

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There are lots of online resources in addition to the advice here. For example: http://www.pamelasgrantwritingblog.com/. There is a little more to it than basic writing skills and common sense, but that's the core. Lots of simple tips and tricks are out there from people who just want your page views, not your cash.