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Book:90 Days to Success in Grant Writing

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Chapter 1. Getting Started as a Grant

Writer
Where Do Grant Writers Come From?

Who Is This Book Intended to Help?

Where Are Grant-Writing Positions Found?

If you have a competitive spirit, you will savor the rewards that
come with successful grant writing.

No one ever grows up thinking “I want to be a grant writer.” Still, countless

people engaged in education, research, and the nonprofit world have
advanced their careers and helped their organizations to survive and flourish
as a result of writing successful grant proposals. Schools, colleges, hospitals,
and nonprofit organizations count on successful grant applications as a
crucial element in their strategic plans. Organizations value grants not only
for the dollars they generate, but also for the prestige and respect that
accompany those dollars. Grant recipients are winners in a highly
competitive environment.

Grant writing can provide an opportunity to turn a knack for writing

or a specialized knowledge base into a productive career.

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Grant writing is one of those vocations that people tend to either “fall into or
get pushed into.” Good writers in search of a way to turn that skill into a
livelihood will fall into grant writing just to pay the bills and end up staying
because of the personal and financial rewards they receive. People who have
never thought of themselves as writers may get pushed into grant writing
because their organization has a vision for expansion—or because it requires
grant funding simply to survive. Sometimes the impetus comes from
creative, innovative ideas that are unlikely to be funded any other way.

To promote the well-being of mankind throughout the world.

—Statement of Purpose of the Rockefeller Foundation (1913)

Grants are a fundamental part of the American story. For some, the
American dream has involved becoming so rich that you can afford to give
money away. For others, the reality of having accumulated great wealth has
brought with it a sense of obligation to society as a whole. Fortunes created
in the late nineteenth century by industrial barons such as John D.
Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie gave rise to some of America’s great
private philanthropic foundations. Many of our museums, parks, libraries,
concert halls, colleges, universities, and hospitals exist today because of the
generosity of early philanthropists. The tradition has been continued by
entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates, whose Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
has given more than 20 billion dollars to worthy causes across the globe over
the past 15 years.

Even before the Constitution was signed, grants were part of

American life.

Federal grant making dates back to the Articles of Confederation, which

authorized grants of land. Today, the United States government administers
more than 1,800 federal grant programs. Most are competitive, and all
involve an application process. These programs are administered by 26
federal agencies, which return hundreds of billions of federal tax dollars each
year to state and local governments through grants and cooperative
agreements. Grants provide a mechanism to fund projects for the public

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good carried out on a state or local level.

Today, the lives of all Americans are affected and improved by the
efforts of successful grant writers.

Grants touch everyone. Grant-funded advances in medicine save lives every

day. Whether you were aware of it or not, your education was probably
subsidized by grants. You have probably enjoyed grant-funded parks, zoos,
and recreation centers. The most recent symphony concert or opera you
attended was almost certainly supported by a grant. Your community is
undoubtedly protected by a plan made possible by one or more grants from
the Department of Homeland Security. The very air you breathe may be
affected by grant research funded by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Successful grant writers look back on their careers with a profound sense of
satisfaction because their work has made good things happen that would not
have happened otherwise. Grant writers help to feed the hungry, preserve
the environment, find cures for diseases, increase human knowledge, and
improve educational opportunities. They make tangible contributions in all
walks of life. Grant writers can see the results of their efforts manifested in
the programs and institutions they have served. Of course, you have to win
the competition to gain the satisfaction. If you have a competitive spirit and
a desire to engage in work that can bring measurable rewards, then grant
writing may be the niche for you.

Where Do Grant Writers Come From?

There is no single ideal preparation. Each successful grant writer

brings a unique combination of skills and experiences to the
profession.

High school guidance counselors are unlikely to steer youngsters in the

direction of grant-writing careers, for there are no colleges or universities
where you can major in grant writing. Degree programs in English,
communication, technical writing, and nonprofit management all provide

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useful preparation for a career in grant writing. However, grant writers are
just as likely to have degrees in unrelated fields. It may not be necessary to
have a degree at all. If you can do the work and do it well, you can be a
grant writer regardless of credentials.

A Variety of Backgrounds

People in the nonprofit world are often prompted to get into grant writing by
the lure of new opportunities for support. They hear about a new pie and
want a piece of it. Others turn to grant writing out of frustration with the
limits their current level of funding imposes on what their organization can
accomplish. They see possibilities and want to turn those possibilities into
realities. Career advancement is another motivator. Successful grant writing
is a prerequisite for career advancement in academe, for example. Still
others in the nonprofit world are forced by their organizations’ financial
situation to engage in grant writing as a means to survival. For them,
succeeding in the intense competition for external funding may mean the
difference between continued existence and retrenchment or collapse.

Nonprofit staffers can turn to grant writing out of motives as

different as altruism, careerism, and fear.

Uncertain economic times can prompt professionals in a variety of

fields to move into grant writing.

Many professionals enter the field of grant writing as a lateral career move.
Educators who gain appropriate experience often are able to transform
themselves into full-time grant writers with positions in development offices,
sponsored research offices, or other administrative units. Program officers at
nonprofit organizations may assume grant-writing responsibilities in addition
to their program administration roles. These professionals are able to convey
this experience into full-time fundraising positions at their organization or at
another nonprofit, sometimes with a promotion and a salary increase. During
times of economic uncertainty, professionals with a successful grant-writing
track record are able to survive because the demand for experienced grant

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writers is always greater than the supply.

Many paths lead to a career in grant writing.

The legion of grant writers grows every year. There are lots of ways to get
started. Young people can become grant writers through internships or
assistantships. Grant writing experience gained through an unpaid position
can give a recent college graduate a marketable skill that leads to
employment. Graduate research assistants and new university faculty
members may take their first steps in grant writing with their own fellowship
applications. As their careers progress, they will take on increasingly
complex grant proposal projects. Nonprofit or local government employees
may turn to colleagues for advice and mentoring, or they may attend grant-
writing seminars as a way to get started. Other grant writers simply learn
their craft the hard way—on the job. In grant writing, both failure and
success are great teachers.

A Highly Transferable Skill Set

Although grant writers may come to a grant-writing role from various

starting points and along divergent pathways, there are two essential types
of expertise they must either bring along or develop if they are to be
successful. Being able to write reasonably well is one of these, of course.
Second, it is essential either to possess expertise in what you write about or
to have research skills that will give you the necessary working knowledge
reasonably quickly. Communication skills and subject area expertise are both
important; one without the other comes up short. If the task at hand is a
grant proposal to support a local food bank, just being a wonderful writer will
not necessarily win you a grant. Knowledge of specific local circumstances
related to hunger and malnutrition and their place in the larger context are
essential. By the same token, knowledge of hunger issues and the specific
needs of your community will not necessarily be sufficient either. You must
be able to communicate effectively with the decision makers who will review
your grant proposal in order to prevail, because the needs of competing
worthy causes always exceed the grant resources available to meet them.

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An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.—Benjamin

Franklin

Fortunately, both writing skills and research skills can be learned. If you are
a good wordsmith but you are uneasy about doing research, you can acquire
those research skills. If you are already an expert in something but the
thought of writing about it sends you into a panic, there are ways to fix that
too. Once you have writing and research skills in more or less equal
measure, you will have a highly transferable skill set. The successful grant
writer can take that combination up the career ladder from one organization
to another.

Persuasion is often more effectual than force.—Aesop

Seasoned grant writers have developed an ability to acquire expert

knowledge quickly and in sufficient detail to write a successful proposal on
behalf of those who will actually carry out a proposal project. Grant writers
who write to support others in teaching, research, or program delivery may
be assisted by colleagues who are themselves experts. However, in the end,
a proposal is written by a writer. It is the grant writer’s craft and expertise
that generate a coherent, compelling grant proposal.

It may come as no surprise that a good share of successful grant writers are
liberal arts graduates. The writing demands of an American liberal arts
education produce good writers in many fields. Because it involves academic
study in a variety of disciplines across the arts and sciences, a liberal arts
education provides familiarity with a wide range of subject matter. Also, the
liberal arts model of learning requires students to write with sufficient clarity
and depth to satisfy an instructor who is an expert in the discipline. In
practice, the liberal arts curriculum leads naturally to the development of the
writing and research skills that are the grant writer’s essential equipment.

Money alone sets all the world in motion.—Publilius Cyrus ~100 BC

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Other knowledge helpful to grant writing includes familiarity with budgetary

and legal matters. Grants are money, after all, so it is necessary to be able
to draft a budget and understand the relationship between resources and
programs. Rudimentary knowledge of the regulations relevant to your
organization and its grant income is also necessary, especially for those who
write federal grants. However, a high level of expertise in these areas is not
usually essential because you will rely on experts for their advice and input.
You do not have to be a financial wizard or a lawyer to be a good grant
writer; you do need to know when to seek advice.

Many grant writers know little about finance and budgeting when they begin
writing their first proposals. However, every educational or nonprofit
organization has at least one experienced finance officer. Most local
government agencies will have a whole staff of finance people. By cultivating
professional relationships with the financial side of the organization, a grant
writer can access in-house expert assistance in the preparation of proposal
budgets and financial statements. Similarly, when tax or other legal issues
arise during the preparation of a grant proposal, the grant writer for a
nonprofit organization will either turn to in-house counsel or request the
advice of an outside attorney.

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