: GRANT STRATEGIES
How to prepare a winning grant application By Jeannie Beckett, Principal The Beckett Group
G
rant writing is a combination of being very detailed and following the directions to being a creative marketeer in developing the story about how your organization will implement a project that will bring benefits to your customers, community and region. The following tip from United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) summarizes what they believe is the “key” to a winning grant writing strategy. USDOT TIP: The key to an “attractive” application is crafting an effective, compelling, and comprehensive story that demonstrates funding need, commitment, and impact. Below are 10 steps that I have found helpful when advising clients on how to prepare a project to be “grant ready,” and tips on the application preparation.
Steps to building the grant application 1. Build your team and timeline 2. Prioritize your projects 3. Develop a funding matrix for each priority project 4. Define the problem 5. Identify the solution 6. Collect your data (supporting documentation/statistics) 7. Prepare an initial summary of the project including scope, schedule, budget and funding plan 8. Demonstrate the impact of the investment 9. Craft the story 10. Prepare the application
1. Build your team and timeline
This first step is to assemble a team of key players and determine the length 34 — PACIFIC PORTS — April 2021
Having the right leadership in place is especially important to establish control around oversight, transparency, and accountability. of time your project will take to implement. If this is an infrastructure project, your team will include both internal and external experts possessing knowledge of such topics as engineering, environment, finance, marketing, operations, grant writing, and lobbying. This will be the team that drives the project through your organization and prepares and reviews the grant application. The leader of this team will be responsible for identifying the timelines, responsibilities, and duties of the different team members. Assemble your team — Having the right leadership in place is especially important to establish control around oversight, transparency, and accountability. This team will probably follow the project through the development process including grant application, award, obligation, implementation and close- out activities. Determine the timeline — If you are going to try to fund the project with federal funds, this is a long process which starts with project planning, preengineering, preliminary engineering, public outreach, environmental review, final design, construction, and closeout. Getting a federal grant can take multiple applications. Most U.S. federal funding programs solicit applications once per year. It is not unusual for a project to take three to four funding rounds to secure federal funds. If you are looking for quick money, federal funding is not your solution. Instead, look at internal funds or local funding sources, private partners, or financial institutions.
2. Prioritize your projects
With the timeframe and list of projects in mind, prioritize which project needs federal funding and has the characteristics that meet federal funding program guidelines.
3. Develop a funding matrix for each priority project
Once your priority projects have been identified, build a funding matrix for each project. This matrix should list source of funds and amount, indicate whether the funding is secured, or requested. General funding source categories can be listed as internal, local, state, or federal.
4. Define the problem
What is the problem that this project is trying to address? Try to define this as specifically as possible. A suggestion is to describe the current status or “No-Build” option. The “No-Build” alternative describes the current status and what will happen if the project is not built. If necessary, do a needs assessment to refine the problem.
5. Define the solution
This is the “Build” alternative. What will the situation be when the project is completed? Again, be as specific as possible. Describe the elements of the project and any analysis of project results, such as volumes moved, speed increases, etc.
6. Collect your data
The more thorough you can be, the better. You can break down this step into three critical stages:
