

Don’t Bug the Program Officer
If you’re writing a grant proposal and there is no contact information listed in that foundation’s guidelines that means THEY DON’T WANT TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS. Sometimes, a foundation will offer technical assistance via email or webinars, but 89% of the time, they offer no such service. Have a burning question as you’re preparing your grant? Call me. 941.704.6374


Use the K.I.S.S. Principle and Leave the Acronyms Out of your Proposal
Okay, so I have a background in Emergency Management, so when I review a grant from ARC who is partnering with the local EOC to do a CPR class while they eat MREs, I get it. However, my colleagues who share in the grant review might not have a clue what those acronyms mean! Often, grant writers are limited in the words and/or characters we can use to tell the story. In that case, spell the phrase out first and put the acronym in parenthesis….then you can use that acronym thro


Bring Sexy Back
Naming your project or program is the most important task you will face in writing an interesting grant proposal. When you go into a bookstore, what’s the first thing that attracts you to a book? The title. So, if you want the grant reviewer to become intrigued with your project, name it accordingly. And make it sexy. I don’t care if it’s a Hospice agency, liven it up a bit. This may seem a little inappropriate, but I once reviewed grants for a foundation who was funding ment


You Don’t Receive United Way Funds? No Worries.
United Ways across the nation are changing. They often do direct service by offering workforce development, after school programs, and food banks. While many United Ways still allocate funds annually, they simply do not have the resources to fund all worthwhile 501c3 organizations in a community. Here’s the good news! Several national corporations will not award grants to agencies who receive United Way funds. Why? It’s because they sit in their glass towers and think that if