Grant makers aren’t interested in boring techniques and stale information. If your grant applications could use a makeover, then you should join us for this webinar.
What You'll Learn:
• Specific strategies to add creativity and passion to your proposals
• What not to do to keep your application from resulting in rejection
• Specific examples of good nonprofit storytelling that can be easily adapted
• How to transport your reader’s mind so they can see your need
About the Presenter:
Betsy Baker is President of YourGrantAuthority.com. She has a Master’s in Public Administration from Auburn University and is an author, trainer/coach, public speaker and grant writing consultant raising $10 million in grant funding. She is dedicated to demystifying the grant writing process and encouraging fund raisers to write winning grant applications. She also coaches fellow grant writers in becoming grant writing consultants.
2. A little about me…
Began career in nonprofit development
10 years as a grant writing consultant
$10 million in grants received
Speaker for the Foundation Center, the Grant
Professionals Association & the Association of Fund
Raising Professionals
Regular contributor to OpportunityKnocks! and
CharityChannel
Founder www.YourGrantAuthority.com , hosts
webinars, workshops and other grant writing
educational opportunities. Also helpful to aspiring
grant writing consultants.
4. Writing Styles
Sticking only to technique
and form = boring
Adding creativity and
passion = a much better
read for the grant reviewer!
5. All great stories have
Characters
A hero
A “bad guy”
Setting
Time
Place
Plot
Conflict
Conclusion
6. How do you begin telling stories?
You have to know them first!
7. How to write your nonprofit’s best stories ever:
Be an investigative reporter to get to know your
characters:
Executive Director
program staff
financial guru
program partners
Research to intimately know your nonprofit’s stories
inside and out:
prior evaluation reports
online
9. How to make your application have more personality
Turn off that “editor’s voice” inside your head
Write the way you speak rather than the way you
think you should write
Think about words that describe your organization –
what gives it a unique place in your community
10. It’s Your Turn!
A museum can be described as:
Historical
Archival
Educational
Kid-friendly
Acclaimed
11. How to introduce your organization’s characters
in the Proposal Narrative
Provide a “hook” by introducing your antagonist
character first
Allow the protagonist – your hero nonprofit – to be
introduced next providing fundamental information
Introduce other main characters such as your clients
12. Establish a sense of time in your proposal
Your work is to support the future of your
organization
Plan ahead
Grant review can last anywhere from 4-6 months
13. Write to transport your reader to a physical location.
Location, location, location!
14. How to create “tension” with your needs statement
Introduce
characters
& location
Build the
tension
with your
needs
statement
Create a
climactic
moment
15. Apply storytelling to your needs statement by answering:
Who are the people who have the need or the
problem?
Where do the people with the need or problem live?
When is the problem or need evident?
Why does the problem or need occur?
What is the problem with the problem?
16. Example: your need describes the problem of
unemployment
Who are the people with the need & where do they
live? Unemployed people living in Pike County, AL
How is the need evident? Poverty
rates, homelessness and crime are higher here than
in the rest of the state (use stats)
Why does the problem exist? It’s complex – lack of
safe schools, employment opportunities &
transportation
Why is the problem a problem?
Poverty, homelessness & crime equals higher & more
long-term costs (again, use stats)
17. Statistics are important – grant
writers love a good statistic.
But you have to have heart in your
proposal to temper the stats!
18. “A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.”