The Grant Writing Process - The Proposal Process

Step 1: Once you have found a grant that you would like to apply for, you need to do some in-depth research on the funding organization.

• What type of grant is it? Knowing what kind of funding organization you are appealing to will help you to determine the appropriate timeline you will need to follow and whether or not you have enough time to get together the appropriate information.
• What information is the grant requiring? Knowing what elements will need to go into the proposal before you begin writing will ensure that you have all the necessary staff, teachers, and community leaders on your "team" that will be essential to applying for the grant and implementing the program.
• Get approval for applying for the grant from your principal, your district, and anyone else who will need to sign off on the project.
• Call the program officer who is overseeing the grant application process and discuss the program you are planning to implement. Ensure that your program is eligible for funding.

Step 2: Submit a Letter of Intent/Inquiry/Interest (LOI). This step is not always required, but can help you determine whether or not there is a grant available to apply for if your research online has been unyielding. For some grant makers, this is a requisite step in receiving their Request for Proposals. This step helps to weed out those organizations that may not be as serious about receiving the grant or whose programs may not fulfill the mission of the funding organization. Participating in the LOI process will save you time in that you don't need to write a full grant proposal to be rejected, so your LOI should be taken as seriously as a full grant proposal.

Step 3: Once you have received approval from the funding organization, it is time to begin writing your proposal. I highly suggest that you do not turn in any full proposals without receiving approval from the funding organization, or at the very least, speaking with someone from the funding organization about the project you have in mind. Most grant proposals are around 15 pages long and represent a lot of work on behalf of the grant writer, so eliminating every non-applicable grant application is necessary to save yourself a lot of time and energy.

I also suggest having someone, or better yet, several someones, edit your proposal before you submit it.

Step 4: Submit your proposal and cross your fingers. Try not to call the funding organization every day for an update of your application's status. Once you hear back from the funding organization about the status of your grant, use it as a learning experience, no matter what the outcome. You are allowed to ask why your grant wasn't funded, but the response may just be that there were many applicants.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

The Grant Writing Process - Preparing Your School

For a school to be "ready" to apply for a grant, they needn't merely exist. There are some key points you will need to work out with the Principal, School Site Council, governing board, or School Leadership Council at your school before your organization will be fully prepared to apply for funding.

First, you will need a school plan. What are your school's goals for attendance, student achievement, academics, etc.? What do you emphasize to your students as important - integrity, character, non-violent resolution, kindness? What is your school's motto or mission? Know what is important to the families of your students - that is why they send their children there, after all.

Once you have fully outlined your school's "mission," you need to determine if you will have the support of the leadership at the school. If applying for and receiving this grant isn't of the utmost importance to the school leadership, it will make your job, or the grant manager's job, that much harder.

After you have determined the level of support you will receive (versus the level of support you will need to complete the project), you will want to do a full review of the financial systems in place. Every school has got to have accurate accounting systems in place, but has your school gone through an audit recently? What were the results?

Next, you'll want to cozy up to that accountant at your school and start getting familiar with your school's budget. Also, having a copy of this around will make your life that much easier when applying for grants. It's important that you know your school's deficit and have a solid explanation for that. 

Knowing this information will save you a lot of time and energy. Take the time to do your research up front!

The Grant Writing Process - Understanding Your Program

Once you have compiled the information for your school, you're going to want to create a guide to the type of program you're hoping to implement. Knowing your program is one of the most important factors that could determine whether or not you receive a grant.

I suggest writing out in full detail each of these sections so that you can have the information, as well as the precise wording, on hand when it comes time to begin writing letters of intent or grant proposals.

Make sure you take the tone that this program will happen.

• Program Description: This needs to be the professional mission statement of your program, what gets people interested and makes students and their families want to participate. Use buzzwords like "free programming" or "low income," rather than jargon like "Title 1."
• Team: Who is going to help you put this program on? You're going to need support. List your governing board and their roles. You'll need facilities support, curriculum and grant management, and more.
• Goals, Projected impact: Your goals need to be concrete and measurable - 50% more students reading at grade level, 2 extra hours of arts education, etc. If your goals are for programs with less measurable goals, think of a way to "monetize it."
• Rationale for Program Method: Why is your program being implemented this way, rather than another? Why is it beneficial for your program to take place in a school setting (if you're in competition with a large number of regular nonprofits)?
• Track Record of Success: What other goals have you set in the past and reached? Do you have a good record of success with dropouts, or bilingual students, or teen mothers? What do you do well? Translate it into the success of this program.
• Budget: Not only should you have a breakdown of where the money will go, but you should also have some income for the program aside from this single grant maker.  Whether that income comes from other grants you're waiting to heard back from or the district or parent donations, let the grant maker know that they are not the only ones who are going to make this program happen.

I heard last week at a grant writing session that it doesn't take good writers to win a grant, but it takes true passion for your organization and your program. I think this is completely true. If you truly believe that the program you're hoping to implement is going to make a real difference in the lives of your students, make sure your passion comes through in your descriptions.

The Grant Writing Process - Understanding Your School

Before you even begin looking at grants, it's important that you have a thorough understanding of your organization. There are many intricacies of your organization that you will need to know before you even begin your grant search in order to identify whether or not your organization is eligible for certain kinds of grants.

Some online grant applications use a pre-qualifying questionnaire before you are allowed to access the full application.

Below I have listed some common information you will need to know before you go any further. I suggest typing up the information and keeping it in front of you while you do your search and even when you begin applying.

• The name of your school: Although this might seem really basic, you want to make sure that the name of your school as you list it on grant applications is the same as the one on file with the IRS.
• Address for your school
• Phone number for your school
• Fax number for your school
• Email and web addresses for your school
• Your principal and assistant principal's full name and contact information
• The contact information for the contact at the school (most likely you)
• Your school's tax status: Most  grants require that your organization is designated as 501(c)(3), also known as a non-profit organization. If your organization has not received this designation, it could be very beneficial to your grants search to seek re-classification. If your organization is unable to receive this designation, make sure that you have a thorough understanding of what it means. LAUSD's IRS designation is rather unclear. It states that LAUSD schools may qualify for 501(c)(3) status, but it doesn't expressly state so. I suggest having a copy of this designation letter to mail/fax/email to grantmakers.
• Your tax ID number: This eight-digit number is needed for all grant applications.
• DUNS number: I've only ever needed this number once, but it takes five days to just check if there is one for your organization, so not having it could potentially make you miss a deadline.
• The demographics your school serves: you'll want to know the racial make-up (in terms of percentages), the Title 1 status of your school, including the percentage of students who are receiving free or reduced lunches, and other signifying factors. If your school has a large percentage of special education students or English language learners, you'll want to know the exact facts and figures.
• The curriculum of your school: You'll want to be familiar with your school's vocational programs, Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate/honors courses, extracurricular offerings, community partnerships, etc. You'll need to be familiar with your school's academies and the special programs and courses offered through those academies, if applicable.
• Program information (we'll talk more about this in another post).

These are some of the basics you will need to know in order to have a thorough enough understanding of your school to begin applying for grants. Doing this kind of research before you begin your search will make it easier and your search and grant application process will be more expedient.