With the funding cuts to schools and universities in many states, clinicians and academics will be pressed to pursue grant opportunities whenever possible. I often get inquiries from clinicians about grants and how to apply for grants. With summer vacation, this is a great time to think about a project that you can have funded this fall or spring. One more thing before I go any further, I've learned that you don't say that you're writing a grant, that's what you receive, you're writing a grant proposal.
The first problem is finding a RFP (Request for Funding Proposal). If you've never written a grant proposal, I would suggest that you start small. Those small grants are nice and they give you the experience and confidence of developing the larger grant proposals.
Second, look close to home. Your school administrative offices should have a bulletin board or your supervisor should receive notices of funding opportunities that are available through your school, district, region, and state. Small grants through private foundations may fund only projects in your region and will send out notices. You can find grant possibilities at the library. They've got programs as well as Foundation Sources, an index of foundations that will fund projects. Let people know that you're looking for grant funding opportunities and if something comes by their desk to forward a copy to you. Take advantage of these small grants to help you develop your skills for the bigger ones.
Read the RFP thoroughly and make sure you outline exactly what is expected, and what should be in the proposal. Leaving out one detail, may cost you the grant. I think it helps if you outline the proposal in the same format that the RFP outlines its evaluation of proposals. What ever you do, always give the final proposal to someone else to read before you submit. Make sure that it's a friend who will take the time to be critical and offer helpful suggestions.
The last point is preparation of the proposal; get a book on grant writing. There are a lot of small pocket size books that will help you organize your ideas into a fundable proposal.
Another place to consider is ASHA. I just finished reading proposals
for ASHA's Grant Program for Projects on Multicultural Activities.
I think the one main suggestion that I would give is to take the
presentation of the proposal seriously. Handwritten proposals
and submittal sheets just don't look professional nor do they
look like you've taken the time to prepare for the review. A panel
of readers will read these, so you've got to please more than
one person about your passion and project. Additionally, follow
the organization rules of application strictly. One rule missed,
just means one less proposal to read by the panel.
This year's applicants had to write proposals in six areas: 1.
Need for the project, including degree of impact; 2) consistency
with the objectives of the grant program and ASHA's mission; 3)
Plan of operation; 4) Evaluation plan; 5) Replicability by other
programs, associations, or organizations; and 6) Budget/cost effectiveness/justification.
- Need was an easy area for the majority of the applicants. That's an applicant's vision and s/he usually can write on the importance of the project and its impact for client's, professionals, and the profession.
- The consistency with the objectives of ASHA's mission, doesn't always get written clearly. I think the applicant wants the grant and thinks that there is a need, but if it doesn't quite fit the priority of the grantor's mission, then you really need to consider a different funding source for your project.
- Plan of operation is another difficult area for people to write up. This is a calendar plan of what is going to happen and who will be responsible for implementing and monitoring the objectives of the project. This section gives the grant reader an idea if you really know what you want to do and how you're going to accomplish the activities. If this isn't thoroughly thought out, it's then really difficult to write up the evaluation plan.
- The Evaluation plan usually means that you've thought out how you're going to show that you've accomplished your objectives, and can show that your activities were successful. Usually you show formative and summative evaluation plans. Formative evaluations are ongoing, to make sure that the project is meeting objectives and Summative evaluations are the final products. There are other forms of evaluations, but look at different books on how this can be done for your project.
- Replicability was a real problem for many of the projects that were submitted to ASHA. They weren't replicable. If that's a priority of the grantor, then your project has to make a serious effort in developing a plan on how other agencies could do the same thing that you are proposing. ASHA wants to train and provide resources to clinicians concerning multicultural populations. The project ASHA wants to fund is serving as a model for other clinicians to consider replicating for their school or clinic. It has to be doable by other clinicians.
- The Budget/cost effectiveness/justification is another area
that seems to be difficult for some writers. Some people like
to ask for the moon, while others haven't considered supplies.
This section takes some thinking, the readers are going to recognize
whether you know what you're doing and whether you want to splurge.
Cost effectiveness and justification are just that. The question
the reader asks him/herself.Is this project worth the cost and
money requested?
I read some excellent proposals and I could tell that there was
serious thinking about the above sections. I'm excited about the
prospects of
these proposals and the possibilities of replicating some of these
ideas with my projects. This was definitely a great experience
and something I hope I'll get to do again.
Want to write a grant proposal this year, start thinking about the problems, needs, and how you would propose to achieve objectives. Remember the plan of operation and evaluation. Always keep the budget in mind, because that will determine how expensive your project will be. Have a great summer.
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