The Grants Guide. A Workbook for Civic Activists by Teple Misto

A Workbook for Civic Activists

The Grants Guide

Written & produced with the support of:

Table of Contents About the Authors...........................................................................................6 Welcome to the Grants Guide!........................................................................8

Section 1

Preparing to Write Your Grant Application....................................................10 Logic models.................................................................................................30

Section 2

Writing Your Grant.........................................................................................39 Introduction to the Section ...........................................................................40 Writing Your Grantâ&#x20AC;Ś.....................................................................................41 Cover Sheet...................................................................................................41 Background ..................................................................................................41 Narrative........................................................................................................43 Outcomes......................................................................................................44 Community Involvement................................................................................46 Implementation..............................................................................................47 Sustainability.................................................................................................49 Monitoring and Evaluation.............................................................................50 Timeline.........................................................................................................51 Budget...........................................................................................................51 Budget Narrative...........................................................................................53 Letters of Support.........................................................................................54

Section 3

Introduction to the Section ...........................................................................57 Submitting your Grant...................................................................................58 Receiving your Grant.....................................................................................59 Stewarding your Grant..................................................................................60 Managing your Grant.....................................................................................64

Section 4

Tool Kit...........................................................................................................66 Introduction to the section............................................................................67 Pre-Grant Writing Checklist...........................................................................68 SMART Goals Worksheet..............................................................................69 Logic Model Worksheet.................................................................................72 Grant Writing Activities..................................................................................73 Grant Submission Checklist..........................................................................77 Grant Stewardship Checklist.........................................................................78

About the Authors

Ashleigh Graves-Roesler Ashleigh Graves-Roesler worked in professional fundraising in the United States for ten years prior to joining the Peace Corps as a Community Development Volunteer in Ukraine. Ashleigh earned a Master of Arts in Philanthropic Studies from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University. Ashleigh helps people to give, learn, and serve their communities through her work as a nonprofit fundraising professional for arts and cultural organizations. Her professional roles include serving as as the Vice President of Development for the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, Director of Advancement for Herron High School, and Annual Fund & Corporate Relations Manager for the Indianapolis Art Center. Ashleigh has served in a number of civic leadership roles, and on boards including the Asbury University Alumni Board and the Christ Church Cathedral Vestry. 6

Bryan Roesler Bryan Roesler received his M.P.A. in Nonprofit Management and M.A. in Philanthropic Studies from Indiana University and a B.A. from Wabash College. He spend over twelve years working in the nonprofit sector, primarily as a frontline fundraiser. He currently serves as a Community Development Volunteer for the United States Peace Corps. Prior to his service with the Peace Corps, Bryan worked as an Account Executive for Bloomerang, Director of Development at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana, a gift officer for Wabash College, and as a District Executive for Boy Scouts of America. Bryan served on numerous boards and committees in the Central Indiana region. Volunteerism has always be a substantial part of his live and considers it an essential pursuit for all active citizens.

Welcome to the Grants Guide! Civic activists create amazing projects that make their communities better places to live, work, and play. Grants are an important source of project funding and can help widen the impact of your project or organization. This practical guide to grant writing will take you through the steps of preparing a project-based grant application. Our goal is to help civic activists like you write successful grants that make amazing projects possible.

Some terms we will useâ&#x20AC;Ś. For the purpose of this Grants Guide, we define the following terms in this way: Project: The thing that you are trying to finance. Your project should be a defined solution to an issue facing your community. The hard work of designing a meaningful project should be completed before you start looking for a grant. Civic activist: A person or group of people who are ready to implement a project that will make their community a better place to live and work. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s you! Your organization: The NGO, platform, working group, or other formal or informal structure under which your project will be conducted. Project team: The people who will work with you to implement the project. Your project team might be staff members, co-workers, volunteers, or other people from the community. Organization leader: The person with legal/financial responsibility for your organization or project. This might be you, or it might be a person in a formal leadership role, like an Executive Director or Board Chair. Funder: The organization or body from which you are applying for a grant. Project Motivation: The initial basic idea that is the driving force behind your project that motivates you and your organization to act.

Section 1

Take a Deep Breath

Preparing to Write Your Grant Application

Introduction to the Section If you are getting ready to write a grant application, you might be asking yourself some of these questions right now: Where can I find grants to apply for? What is required by a grant application? How do I know if this grant is a good fit for my project and my organization? Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s review some basic criteria for searching for and evaluating grant prospects, and take a look at the typical components of a grant application.

Finding a Grant There are thousands of grant opportunities out there - which ones are right for you?

Things to considerâ&#x20AC;Ś.. The first step is to consider the type of funding for which you are searching - funding for a specific project, or funding for general operation of the organization. General operation funding is less common, and more likely to come from a funder who has a history of supporting your organization. However, this type of funding is important for the long-term health of your organization and you should work hard to locate funders with whom you can build a relationship. There are many sources for project funding. Funders who offer project funding usually have clearly defined parameters and goals, so review the grant guidelines carefully to ensure that you are eligible and that your project fits the funding parameters. For the purpose of this Grants Guide, we are just going to talk about project funding. Some funders will require the applying organization to work with partner organizations - make sure that you are prepared to locate and facilitate authentic, useful partnerships, if partnerships are required.

Starting your searchâ&#x20AC;Ś. Use your network and contacts to find out what funders are supporting work in your organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s field. If you are a music school, learn about what partners are supporting other music schools, and look online for local and international funders who list music education as one of their priority areas. Sign up for the email lists and social media of potential funders so you are always up to date about their available grants. Online grant databases can help to research new opportunities.

Reading the grant announcement… Carefully read the grant announcement and application guidelines to evaluate the eligibility of your project and organization. Everyone on your project team should read the grant announcement and your team should be in agreement about applying for this opportunity.

Some questions that you and your team should answer include: Does our project fit the goals described in this grant announcement? Does our mission align with the mission of this funder? Are the deadlines for this application appropriate and achievable for us? Is the funding amount appropriate for our organization (i.e., in proportion to our current operating budget and/or project and funding history?) Is the funding amount appropriate for our project? What budget items does this funder exclude, and are we prepared to find that additional budget elsewhere?

Most importantly…. Make sure that the grant and the project for which you are applying truly fit the mission of your organization. If your organization’s mission is to provide art education to children, then a grant to make housing for homeless dogs is obviously not a good fit. Only apply for grants that further the mission and goals of your organization.

A Common Mistake (And how to avoid it) Grant Eater — An organization that prioritizes funding needs over mission.

By seeking grants outside of their expertise, “grant-eating” organizations are harmful to their communities.

In an increasingly competitive grant environment, supporters, funders, and even clients put pressure on NGOs and activists to do more work with fewer resources. The unfortunate result of increased community need, increased grant competitiveness, and increased pressure to deliver is that some organizations seek grants outside the scope of their mission. Your mission cannot be achieved without sufficient funds coming in; however, following a strategy that prioritizes your funding needs over your mission could land you in even greater trouble. In the short term, you may increase your cash flow. The downside is that you have to alter or add services to meet the criteria for your grant. This is known as mission drift. When mission drift occurs over a long enough period, you can completely alter the nature of your organization.

Consequences of Mission Drift Here are some common consequences of allowing your organization to seek funding at the expense of your mission: Loss of support – As you seek to increase funding by chasing grants, the inevitable consequence is that you will lose previous supporters (grantors, individuals, businesses) as your mission changes. The work that they previously supported may not exist any longer in your organization and their support will disappear. Staff problems – Moving away from your mission can cause problems for your staff, resulting in unhappiness, stress, wasted time, and division. All of this can lead to high staff turnover and difficulties finding motivated and qualified staff. Wasting resources – As you drift from your mission, you will ultimately waste resources on activities outside of your mission (money, staff time, volunteer effort, social capital).

Avoiding Mission Drift Here are some steps you can take to avoid mission drift when applying for grants: Define how you measure mission success. What actions need to take place? Who do you need to serve? What outcomes do you need? You cannot know if are being true to your mission if you are not able to measure mission success. Before you decide to apply for a grant, read your mission statement again and see how closely the grant aligns with your mission. Ask 3 or 4 other people from your project team, staff, or community to do the same. Are you applying for this grant to advance your mission, or just to increase funding? Before you apply for a grant to fund a new program, find out if any other organizations in your community have a similar program in place. That could be a good indication you are moving away from your core mission. Conduct regular evaluations of your programs that examine how well your programs are performing and how closely they align with your mission and core values. Know your limits. Before you apply for a grant, ask yourself and your staff if your organization has the capacity manage the money, to effectively administer the program, to meet service expectations? By taking these steps to avoid mission drift, you will help to make your organization stronger and better positioned for future funding opportunities and long-term success.

Anatomy of a Grant Grant applications come in all different shapes and sizes. However, once you learn to identify the common elements of a grant application and understand exactly what funders are looking for in each section, it will become easier to write high-quality, successful applications. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s start by looking at the individual parts of a grant application.

What is in a grant application? Grant applications present a series of questions about your organization and your project. While every grant application is different and specific to the funder, most application questions fall into five basic categories: Who are you and why is your work important and unique; What is your project and how you are going to accomplish it; What are your goals, how are you going to achieve them, and how will you measure progress; How will you use the grant funds; What will be the impact of your project, and how will you sustain that impact after the grant funds run out.

These are basic questions that every funder wants to know. Easy, right? Well not exactly. Funders usually disguise these questions inside more complicated questions. Sometimes, funders donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even specifically ask these questions because they assume that you are an experienced grant writer, and you already know what information is and is not important to include in your application.

Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an example of a typical grant application: COVER PAGE Organization Name Project Title Project Start Date Project End Date Grant Request Amount (Local Currency) Organization Information Legal Name of Organization President/Executive Director Name:

Title:

Application Contact Person:

Title:

Organization Contact Information (phone, address, etc.) Organization Address Street City Country Phone Website Social Media DUNS/EIN Year established Organization Annual Operating Budget Mission Statement:

____________________________________

_______________________________

Organization Executive Director

(signature)

(printed name) 17

Project description Background Describe your organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s activities, and explain why your organization is suited to conduct this project. If your organization has completed similar projects, please describe those projects here (maximum 500 words): Narrative Describe your project in greater detail. Include information about what community need this project addresses and the project activities, goals, and objectives (maximum 500 words): Outcomes Describe the desired outcomes of your project (maximum 350 words): Community Involvement Describe how your community was included in the development of this project idea, and how the community will be engaged in the project (maximum 350 words): Implementation Describe how your project activities will be implemented (maximum 300 words): Sustainability Describe how your project and/or its impact will be sustained after the grant period concludes (maximum 300 words): Monitoring and Evaluation Describe what strategies and tools your organization will use to monitor and evaluate this project (maximum 300 words): Timeline/Calendar Provide a detailed timeline for all project activities, including evaluation and reporting. Include the name/title of staff members responsible for each activity (maximum 300 words):

Budget Complete the budget template below.

Grant Amount Budget Category

Item Description

Quantity

Total Cost

Staff

Trainers

Marketing

Equipment Rental

Other

TOTALS:

Cost

% of Grant Budget

Community Contribution Cash Value

Gift in Kind Value

Third Party Contribution Cash Value

Gift in Kind Value

Budget narrative Use this space to clarify items from the budget

Attachments Attach the following items to your grant application: 1-3 Letters of Support from community partners or stakeholders List of your Board of Directors (including their contact information) CVs of Project Managers In Section 2 of this Grants Guide, we break down each of these sections to show what information you need to include in order to write the very best grant.

Designing Good Goals & Objectives The strength of your project, as reflected in the goals and objective section of the grant application, makes or breaks your grant proposal. To funders, this section separates those organizations with who have put a lot of time and effort into designing a thoughtful program, and those that have hastily thrown together a funding application. Strong goals and objectives help ensure the future success of your project, and give you the best chance to secure funding. It is important to remember that before you write your grant, you should have created goals and objectives during your initial project design. This section will help you refine your goals and objectives and present them in a way that will appeal to funders. What is the difference between goals and objectives? In daily life, these terms are often used interchangeably. In the grant writing world, goals and objectives are two very specific and different terms. Goals: A broad statement about what you wish to accomplish. Objectives: Steps and specific actions that will occur to accomplish a goal.

For example... Goal 1: Train more people to care for homeless dogs by increasing the number of trainings that our organization will conduct by 9 new trainings (22.5% growth) during the next year (growing from 40 trainings annually to 49 trainings). Objective 1.1: Develop 3 new trainings in the first three months of the next year. Objective 1.2: Host each of the 3 new trainings once per quarter in the final nine months of the next year while maintaining all previous trainings.

As you can see from the examples above, the goal is making a broad statement about what this organization wants to accomplish (increase the number of trainings by 22.5% in the next year), and the objectives are specific steps that this organization will take to accomplish the goal (develop 3 new trainings and conduct each of the trainings once in each of the last three quarters of the next year.). Goals should be challenging to achieve, which means that you should have multiple objectives to achieve each of your goals. A good rule is to have three objectives per goal. If you need more than five objectives to describe your activities to achieve your goal, then your goal is too complicated or is unrealistic. Divide that goal into two or three goals with two or three objectives each.

What make good goals and objectives? High-quality goals are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound). SMART goals help the funder feel more comfortable about the potential success of your project. When you write SMART goals and objectives, you are forced to really think about what it will take for your project to be successful.t

SMART Goalst Specific: Great goals are well defined and focused. Using the example from above, a poorly written, non-specific goal might say, “We want to enable more people in the community to help homeless dogs.” Instead, be SMART and specific by saying, “We want to enable more people in the community to help homeless dogs by hosting nine new trainings this year.” Measurable: In our example above, you cannot just state that you will “increase the number of trainings” - you must indicate the specific number of additional trainings that will be provided in order to be able to measure your success. In our case, we stated that we were going to add nine new trainings a year.

Attainable: Funders are looking for goals that are realistic and attainable. In our example goal, stating that the goal was to grow the number of trainings by 300% in next year would be unrealistic. A funder wants you to be successful and to grow responsibly. When you write your goals, ensure that they are attainable within the scope of your project and resources. Relevant: Goals should always be connected to important outcomes. In our example, adding ninet new trainings might be perfect if you are trying to responsibly grow your training program. However, that goal would not be relevant if your organization already hosts forty trainings a year that have zero attendance. In that case, a more relevant goal might be to grow attendance at your current trainings and to increase the quality/relevancy of your current trainings. Time-bound: SMART goals are connected to a specific end date. In our example, the goal is to host nine new trainings in the next year. Without a timeframe, the funder canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t evaluate your impact (nine trainings over the next five years, for example, would be a pretty unimpressive goal). Connecting your goals to a timeframe shows accountability and impact.

How to write great goals and objectives. Many people find that the hardest part of writing their goals is just….getting started. Strong goals take a lot of thought and collaboration. A great way to begin is by asking yourself and your team a series of questions. The answers you receive will help you to formulate relevant and attainable goals. You can check out a simple template for this conversation in the Grant Tool Kit on Page 69 Let’s walk through the development of a SMART goal for a typical grant. For the purpose of this exercise, imagine that you are writing a grant for a civic activism training project called, “Empowering our Community.” To review the process of writing a SMART goal, imagine that your idea is to increase the number of civic activists who volunteer in our community. This is a good start. It gives you a basic understanding of the big-picture impact you want your project to accomplish. But don’t stop here! A successful grant application takes the next step and refines your idea into a goal. The current wording lacks specifics, timelines, motivation, and measures. Who do we want to volunteer? What are we going to do to get people to volunteer? Let’s use the SMART process to clarify your motivation and create goals and objectives.

Initial Project Idea (Write the Idea you have in mind): Increase the number of civic activists in my community who volunteer 1. Specific. (What do you want to accomplish? Who needs to be included? How will you accomplish this goal? Why do you need to accomplish this goal?) We want more people to become civic activists by volunteering in our community. The people that we need to involve in the project include existing civic activists, NGOs in out community, youth in our community, and schools/colleges/universities where we can teach people about civic activism and volunteering. 26

2. Measurable. (How to you intend to measure progress? Pro-

vide at least two indicators. What is a successful outcome?) We cannot measure success based on increasing the number of volunteers because we do not know how many people are currently volunteering. The best way to measure an increase in volunteerism is tracking how many people we teach about volunteerism and how many of those people volunteer during a twelve month period. We will measure 1) number of people we reach with volunteerism presentations/ trainings and 2) the number of people who attend the trainings who go on to volunteer with a local NGO.

3. Achievable. (Does your organization have the skills required

to achieve the goal? If not, can you obtain them? Do you have the time to achieve this goal? Have others done it successfully? What is the motivation for this goal? Does the amount of work that you put into this exceed what the value that achieving the goal will bring to the organization? If yes, you need to consider other options.) Our organization has conducted numerous civic activism trainings in the past, and has strong relationships with the NGOs and schools/ colleges/universities in our community. We have a general knowledge about volunteerism but would use grant funds to train our staff. We have time to give to this project, but would need to hire one additional person to run this program. We are starting this program because local NGOs and schools/colleges/universities have expressed interest to us about teaching people about civic activism so our community will have more volunteers. As a result, we feel that there is strong support for our proposed program.

4. Relevant. (Why am I setting this goal now? What other prob-

lems or issues might interfere with accomplishing this goal? Is it aligned with overall objectives of my organization? Is anyone else doing similar work?): We are setting this goal now because many individuals and organizations have expressed interest in the idea of increasing the number of volunteers in our community. One issue that might prevent us from achieving this goal is that we do not currently have the support of one 27

of the local universities. They do not see the relevance of this project. Yes, this goal is not connected directly to the specific objectives of our organization, but we are a community-serving organization that seeks to help more people become productive members of our community. As a result, this goal does align with our overall objectives. There are no other NGOs currently running a similar program.

5. Time-bound. (Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the deadline? Is it realistic? Is the timeframe of the project too long?) he time frame for this project is one year. Revised SMART Goal (Set this worksheet aside for at least 24 hours. Review what you have written and then create a new goal statement based on the answers you have given above and what they have revealed about your initial goal) Conduct 15 civic activism trainings for people in our community and connect 20% of the people at each of the trainings with volunteer opportunities at local NGOs during the next twelve months.

So let’s take a look at this new goal. Is it specific? Yes - We outline specific actions we can take. Is it measurable? Yes - We are seeking to conduct 15 trainings and engage 20% of the trainees with volunteer opportunities. Is it achievable? Maybe - We can conduct the trainings, but we cannot ensure that there will be good volunteer opportunities at local NGOs that will attract people. As a result we should seek to create an additional goal for this project that is connected to creating meaningful volunteer opportunities in our community. Is it relevant? Yes - We have broad community support for this project, this would be the only such project in our community, and it fits closely with our organization’s overall objectives. Is it time-bound? Yes - We have a meaningful and realistic deadline for this project.

You now have a strong SMART goal! our next step is to share your revised goal with three other people and ask them to go through the same goal analysis that we used to revise the project motivation. Your objectives should also be written to meet SMART criteria. Just remember, when writing your objectives, they will be the specific steps that you will take to achieve your goal. For example: If your SMART goal is to “Conduct 15 civic activism trainings for people in our community and connect 20% of the people at each of the trainings with volunteer opportunities at local NGOs during the next twelve months,” a good SMART objective would be: Recruit 10 NGOs before the first training and work with them to develop meaningful volunteer opportunities for the individuals who participated in the civic activism trainings.

Logic models Logic models are the secret to effective grant writing. Think of them as the “map” of your project. What is a logic model? A logic model is a diagram or chart that shows what your organization is going to put into the project, the project activities, and the project’s expected results. Whether or not your funder requires you to submit a logic model with your application, taking the time to create your logic model pays off by streamlining your writing process and keeping your narrative consistent. A good logic models is also very helpful in the project implementation and evaluation phase. It’s tempting to skip right ahead to the grant writing, but taking the time to build a solid logic model will save you lots of time and headaches in the long run.

Ok, let’s start! About our Sample Logic Model For the purpose of this exercise, imagine that you are writing a grant for a civic activism training project called, “Empowering our Community.” Your SMART goals for this project are: Raise awareness about opportunities for civic activism in our community by hosting 6 community activism days, each attended by 12 people, in the next six months. Increase the number of community members trained to be effective civic activists by hosting 4 activism trainings, each attended by 20 people, over the next 18 months. Increase the number of community projects led by local civic activists by 10% over the next 18 months There are several types of logic models, but here we will focus on a Program Logic Model, since that will be most useful to you from a grant-writing perspective. A basic logic model has six sections: Inputs, Activities, Outputs, Shortterm Outcomes, Mid-term Outcomes, and Long-term Outcomes.

Start by making a chart in Excel, Word, or another program. There is no single right way to make a logic model chart, so just design one that feels right for you.

Sample:

“Empowering Our Community” Logic Model

Inputs

Activities

Outputs

Short-term Outcomes

Mid-term Outcomes

Long-term Outcomes

Write your Inputs for the project. Inputs are what you will invest in the project: the basic ingredients that you are going to use to get your work done. Inputs can be staff, volunteers, partner organizations, expertise, or other resources..

Sample:

“Empowering Our Community” Logic Model

Inputs What we invest

Organization Staff Volunteers Expertise

Activities

Outputs

Short-term Outcomes

Mid-term Outcomes

Long-term Outcomes

Define your project Activities. Activities are what you will do to accomplish the project goals. Activities should focus on the method rather than the details. As an example, activities for an educational program could include classes, workshops, trainings, and coaching.

Tip: As you build your chart, don’t worry about making the Inputs and Activities directly parallel - in the narrative you will be able to talk more about what inputs will go into which activities, and there will probably be lots of overlap. (for instance, your workshop series might involve all of your inputs, or just one).

Sample:

“Empowering Our Community” Logic Model

Inputs

Activities

What we invest

What we will do

Organization Staff

Training series

Volunteers

Community activism days

Expertise

Outputs

Short-term Outcomes

Mid-term Outcomes

Long-term Outcomes

Educational campaign

Now write out your Outputs. Outputs are what you will create as a result of this project. Use measurable quantities and numbers for this section. Think of outputs as the products of your activities - the number of people served, the trainings produced, etc.

Tip: As in the Activities section, don’t get hung up on making the Activities and Outputs directly parallel for the sake of the chart. There will be overlap and you can explain that further in the narrative.

Sample:

“Empowering Our Community” Logic Model

Inputs

Activities

Outputs

What we invest

What we will do

What we will create

Organization Staff

Training series

Volunteers

Community activism days

Expertise

Educational campaign

4 trainings, each attended by 20 people 6 community activism days, each attended by 12 people Creation and delivery of a public, monthlong educational campaign

Short-term Outcomes

Mid-term Outcomes

Long-term Outcomes

The next three sections are all about your project Outcomes, sometimes also referred to as your project impacts. Short-term Outcomes are your project’s intended results in terms of learning. These are the immediate indicators of progress towards your goal.

Tip: Make your outcome numbers realistic, measurable, and consistent! These are the numbers that you will be asked to evaluate upon, so work with your team to ensure that you have a strategy for accurately achieving and tracking these numbers.

Sample:

“Empowering Our Community” Logic Model Inputs

Activities

Outputs

Short-term Outcomes

What we invest

What we will do

What we will create

Results in terms of learning

Organization Staff

Training series

Volunteers

Community activism days

Expertise

Educational campaign

4 trainings, each attended by 20 people 6 community activism days, each attended by 12 people Creation and delivery of a public, monthlong educational campaign

Mid-term Outcomes

Long-term Outcomes

80 people will learn practical skills about community civic activism during a 2-hour workshop 120 people will engage in service learning by volunteering 3 hours of their time for a civic activism project during a community activism day An educational campaign on social media and local earned media will generate 5000 impressions

Mid-term Outcomes are your project’s intended results in terms of changed behavior. Think of these as the impact that you think your project will make on the community as a result of your outputs and short-term outcomes.

Tip: You may have fewer mid-term and long-term outcomes than shortterm outcomes - that’s ok! It’s more important to have high-quality, measurable, achievable outcomes in each category than to worry about a specific number.

Sample:

“Empowering Our Community” Logic Model Inputs

Activities

Outputs

Short-term Outcomes

What we invest

What we will do

What we will create

Results in terms of learning

Organization Staff

Training series

Volunteers

Community activism days

Expertise

Educational campaign

4 trainings, each attended by 20 people 6 community activism days, each attended by 12 people Creation and delivery of a public, monthlong educational campaign

Mid-term Outcomes Results in terms of changed behavior

80 people will learn practical skills about community civic activism during a 2-hour workshop

Our community will have a 5% increase in the number of trained civic activists

120 people will engage in service learning by volunteering 3 hours of their time for a civic activism project during a community activism day

Our community will have a 10% increase in the number of citizen-led activism projects over the next 18 months

An educational campaign on social media and local earned media will generate 5000 impressions

Long-term Outcomes

Long-term Outcomes are your project’s intended results in terms of changes to the conditions. These are the big-picture goals for your project - the way that your project is going to improve your community, impact a specific issue, and/or improve conditions for the population you serve.

Pro Tip: Long-term outcomes are harder to measure and evaluate - in fact, very often you will not be able to collect data to prove the outcome (especially for smaller, grassroots projects). Think carefully about how you construct these to ensure that they are logical and don’t overreach.

Sample:

“Empowering Our Community” Logic Model

Inputs

Activities

Outputs

Short-term Outcomes

Mid-term Outcomes

Long-term Outcomes

What we invest

What we will do

What we will create

Results in terms of learning

Results in terms of changed behavior

Results in terms of changes to the conditions

Organization Staff

Training series

Volunteers

Community activism days

Expertise

Educational campaign

4 trainings, each attended by 20 people 6 community activism days, each attended by 12 people Creation and delivery of a public, monthlong educational campaign

80 people will learn practical skills about community civic activism during a 2-hour workshop

Our community will have a 5% increase in the number of trained civic activists

120 people will engage in service learning by volunteering 3 hours of their time for a civic activism project during a community activism day

Our community will have a 10% increase in the number of citizen-led activism projects over the next 18 months

An educational campaign on social media and local earned media will generate 5000 impressions

Awareness about civic activism will improve in our community Our community will be positively impacted by an increase in the number of citizen-led activism projects Trained civic activists will continue to share their knowledge and help train new activists

And one final word about Logic Models…. Your logic model doesn’t have to be written in the sequence shown above! In fact, a lot of professional grant writers prefer to start by writing their outcomes (results), and then work backwards to their outputs, activities, and inputs (process). This method helps ensure that you and your project team are focused on the big picture results. Congratulations, you’ve found a grant opportunity that supports your mission, and you’ve worked as a team to get ready for the application process. Before you start writing the grant application, go through this checklist with your team to make sure that you have completed all the necessary preparation for your project: Our team has worked together to design this project idea Our organization’s leadership has approved of this project idea for this grant application Our team has agreed on a general timeline for implementation of this project Our team understands who will be responsible for the implementation of this project We have prepared strong Goals & Objectives for the project We have written a strong Logic Model for the project We have developed a project budget and we have secured any required estimates for costs or professional services No one else in our organization is applying for or has recently applied for this grant If the grant requires partners, we have already secured their cooperation and communicated clearly with them about the project and their role and responsibilities Once you have completed all the items on this checklist, you are ready to begin writing your grant application!

Section 2

Now the Fun Part Writing Your Grant

Introduction to the Section Now that you have completed the foundational work for your project, you are ready to start the grant application. No two grants are alike... Every grant application will have its own special format, and different funders will ask for different information. However, there are some general similarities and things that you can expect to see. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s walk through the basics.

Writing Your Grant… Cover Sheet What is it? The cover sheet contains basic information about your organization. Where will I get the information? Information for the cover sheet will come from the person responsible for your organization (your organization’s leader). Who should be involved in writing this section? Your organization’s leader should check to make sure that all information is correct. Tips and best practice: The cover sheet often requires the signature of your organization’s leader, to verify that the grant information is correct and submitted with approval. Make sure that you know what signatures are required and that you plan ahead to have enough time to get the cover sheet signed. The cover sheet may also ask for tax ID numbers, DUNS, or proof of NGO/nonprofit status. If you need to apply for these special identifications, be careful to plan for it far in advance of the application deadline.

Background What is it? This section introduces the funder to your organization. You will often to be asked to describe the history and mission of your organization, and perhaps to describe your funding history. You may be asked to define the community needs that your organization is working to address. Funders use this section to learn why your organization is important, and to give you a chance to convince them that...

You are capable of doing what your proposal says you will do You understand your community and its needs Your services are important to your community You are well managed and financially stable Your approach to solving problems in your community is unique and valid Where will I get the information? The information for your background section will come from a variety of sources. Look to other grants your organization has written, but don’t copy and paste - it’s lazy and funders can tell. Information about the history of your organization and your work can be found in your annual reports, website, blog, or even on your social media pages. However, the very best source of information is speaking directly to your stakeholders: a passionate founder, an enthusiastic board member, staff members, or the clients/community members served by your organization. They will be able to describe the history of your organization and the importance of your work to the community in an honest and moving way. They will tell you the stories, and your job will be to transform those stories into a compelling case for support. Who should be involved in writing this section? The grant writer is responsible for writing a strong case for support, but look to your team for the content. The project team and/or anyone from your organization who will be working with the project, your organization director, and your volunteers could help you create a powerful story about your organization’s background. Your organization’s leader should read and approve the background section. Tips and best practice: Use this section to tell a story. Don’t just list the facts. Release your inner creative writing skills and convince the reader about the importance of your organization’s work. It is ok to brag a little in this section, but do not go overboard. Find the most passionate people connected with your organization and hear their stories. Every funder is different - make sure you are writing this section with the funder’s goals and objectives in mind. 42

Narrative What is it? The narrative is where you summarize your proposal. Use this space to tell the story of your project and create a compelling case for support. The Narrative may also ask for… Mission: Your organization’s official mission-statement and/or a short description of what your organization does. Leadership and project team: You may be asked to list the people involved in the project and their qualifications to lead the project. Demographics/target population/geographic range of the project: the application may ask for demographic information regarding the population served by your organization. Where will I get the information? The information for your narrative should come from the project description, logic model, and goals & objectives. The mission statement should be available to you in your organization’s annual report or other official documents. For information about the qualifications of your leadership/project team, have a personal conversation with those individuals, and also obtain a copy of their CVs for review. Demographic information will either come from records that your organization keeps about its service population, or from public records. Who should be involved in writing this section? The grant writer is responsible for creating the narrative, but you should also have input from the project team and/or anyone from your organization who will be working directly with the funded grant. Any project partners should also be included in the narrative development and review. Your organization’s leader should read and approve the narrative. Tips and best practice: Make a compelling case for support by telling your story well, clearly outlining your project, and carefully following the grant application guidelines. Your mission should always be the official, approved mission statement of your organization. It cannot change from applica-

tion to application unless your leadership or board of directors makes an official change. Consider your funder when you are developing the writing style or “voice” of the narrative. For example, when writing to a large international funder, it’s generally more appropriate to write in a formal manner and avoid overly expressive language. If you are applying to a smaller, community-based grant program, they might appreciate more personable and descriptive writing. Take your cues from the way that the grant application guidelines and website are written.

Outcomes What is it? Outcomes are the results of your project - what will be achieved as a result of accomplishing your goals & objectives. Objectives, goals, and outcomes…they all sound kind of similar, and it is confusing, right? Think of it this way: you write your objectives to help you achieve your goals, and your goals lead to your desired outcomes.

Objectives — Goals — Outcomes Project outcomes can be quantitative and/or qualitative; it is easier to write qualitative outcomes, but try to include quantitative outcomes whenever possible. Be realistic when writing your expected outcomes, but remember that your outcomes also must be significant and compelling enough for a funder to want to support them. Your outcomes will be the direct results of the activities you describe in the implementation section of your grant application; they should also correspond with the goals and objectives of your project. You can break down your outcomes in three ways:

Short-term outcomes – 1 year (Results in terms of learning) Intermediate outcomes – 1 to 5 years (Results in terms of changed behavior) Long-term outcome – 5+ years (Results in terms of changes to the conditions) These are consequences that go beyond the direct results of your goals and objectives. Consider the following SMART goal: Conduct 15 civic activism trainings for people in our community and connect 20% of the people at each of the trainings with volunteer opportunities at local NGOs during the next year. Here are some outcomes to this goal: Short-term outcome: Participating organizations will see a 10% rise in volunteers in the next fiscal year as more people learn about volunteering. Intermediate outcome: NGOs in my community will see sustained increases in volunteers each year as more people learn about volunteerism and incorporate it into their daily, monthly, annual routines. Long-term outcome: Our community will be more unified and will more easily solve community problems as more and more people take personal responsibility for the success of our community through volunteerism. As you can see here, you have much less control over the outcomes of your project the further and further out you get from the project implementation. Funders look at your goals and objectives for results for which you can be held accountable. Funders look at your planned outcomes to assess your long-term vision and commitment to your project. Where will I get the information? You will find the information to create your outcomes primarily from the goals and objectives you have written for your project. 45

Who should be involved in writing this section? The grant writer is the primary person responsible for writing this section, but the director of your organization, program staff, board members, and volunteers can help you set the long-term vision for your activities. Tips and best practice: Even though outcomes can be difficult to measure, funders will want you to be as specific and as strategic as possible. Don’t be afraid to dream a little with your outcomes - they can be visionary as long as you show a logical roadmap to getting there. Just as you will have more objectives than goals, you will have more goals than outcomes. Remember, your goals lead into your outcomes.

Community Involvement What is it? Many grants require you to show that you are responsibly including your community in the development and/or implementation of your project. This section will ask specific questions about how the community has and/or will be involved in your project. Where will I get the information? If community involvement is part of the guidelines of the grant application, make sure to address your plans for community involvement during the project planning phase. Who should be involved in writing this section? The project planning team is responsible for developing the community involvement aspect of the project, and for following through when the grant is awarded. They should help to develop and review this section of the grant application. Tips and best practice: Start by defining what the term “community” actually means in terms of this project. Who is in your community? Challenge your team to think about ways that your understanding of “community” can be more inclusive. Work with your project team to think about creative, meaningful, authentic ways to engage your community in the project - and make sure those ways are also practical for your organization to implement with the resources you have available. 46

Implementation What is it? The Implementation section asks you to describe the plan that you will use to achieve the goals and objectives of your project. Additionally, it might ask you to describe any challenges to project implementation that could occur. The grant application may ask for just a short description of your implementation plan, or it might ask for a deeply detailed implementation plan. Either way, if you are going to successfully implement your project you will need a detailed plan, and it is worth developing a detailed plan while writing your grant. You will develop a much deeper understanding of your project, which will in turn strengthen your writing. You can find good implementation plan templates online, or you can develop your own outline. In general a detailed plan with include the following elements:

Introduction to your project: What is your project? In general, how will project implementation occur?

Management Overview: Who will be involved in the management of the project? Who will manage specific aspects of project implementation? Who are your points of contact? What major tasks exist for the management of the project? What is the project implementation schedule/timeline?

Implementation Support: What hardware, software, facilities, and materials do you need for project implementation? What are your personnel and staffing requirements? What training will you need to conduct for your staff to be successful in project implementation? How will you monitor performance?

Marketing and Communication: Does you project need to be marketed to the public? How will you communicate your work to the public? What are some of the possible communication channels you will use?

Challenges to Project Implementation: What are some challenges to project implementation that you foresee? How will you manage and overcome each of those challenges?

Every project is unique. You should develop additional sections as required by your funder or project needs - these might include sections like a detailed tasklist, organizational change plan, data plan, or accounting/billing details. Where will I get the information? Like much of your grant application, the information for your implementation plan will start with your Goals and Objectives. Use these to build a list of all activities you will need to do to achieve each goal and objective. After building your activity list, conduct research and engage with your project team to develop your detailed implementation plan. Who should be involved in writing this section? The program team is responsible to develop the implementation plan with some assistance from the grant writer. The experience and expertise of your organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leader, program staff, board members, and volunteers can help you build out your implementation plan and strategy. Tips and best practice: It is better to be more detailed than less detailed. Funders know when you are just making stuff up and when you have put a lot of thought and detailed planning into this section. Plans always change. Between the time that you write your implementation plan and when you are awarded the grant, conditions will have almost certainly changed. Ensure that there is flexibility in your implementation plan. You should consider including regular monitoring meetings in your implementation plan to ensure continued project success. Funders will love this. You should consider holding these meetings anywhere from once a week to once a quarter; the frequency of these meetings will depend on the requirements of your project and your project team. Track these meetings and the results because you will need to include that information in your final report.

Sustainability What is it? Almost every funder is looking to make a long-term investment by providing an NGO with a short term influx of money. Potential funders will want to know how you plan to support your project after their funding ends. They will want to answer questions like…. Who else, if anyone, is funding this project? How will you replace funding when it expires? How much funding will need to be replaced after the initial start up costs? How will you generate ongoing income for this project? Give a specific blueprint for raising the money necessary to operate your programs after the initial start up costs are paid for. These may include fee for service, social entrepreneurial venture, individual giving (major, annual, online, planned), corporate sponsorships, event based fundraising, or additional grants. Where will I get the information? You will get the information from three major sources:

1 2 3

Your project budget. Here you will determine how much it will cost to run the program after you have paid for the initial start up costs. Your organization’s accountant. This person will have a lot of experience with funding programs and know the most successful and reliable sources of income for your organization. The person in charge raising of money for your project or organization. This person may be you, your organization’s leader, or another team member. In any case, this person will be responsible for replacing the grant funds once they run out.

Who should be involved in writing this section? The grant writer is the primary person responsible for writing this section, but you also should work closely with your organization’s leader and the person responsible for generating revenue at your organization to develop a unified and realistic strategy for replacing grant funds.

Tips and best practice: Be simple. This section should not be overly complicated. Funders will be skeptical of complicated, unrealistic fundraising plans. Be realistic. Demonstrate an approach to sustainability that builds on your existing strengths. For instance, if you have good community partnerships already, then develop a sustainability strategy based on community sponsorships. Be creative. Consider trying something new and creative as one of the ways you will plan to sustain your project after the initial grant ends. A funder does not want to see attempts to recycle previous fundraising efforts if they have historically generated few results. Try something new.

Monitoring and Evaluation What is it? Your funder will ask how you plan to monitor the progress of your project, and how you will evaluate the project’s success or impact. In terms of a logic model, “monitoring” addresses the process and “evaluation” addresses the outcomes. Where will I get the information? If your organization does not have existing monitoring and evaluation strategies, this is a good time to do some research about best practice for your organization’s particular field. Pay attention to the requirements of your specific funder. A project monitoring strategy might be as simple as a calendar and team check-ins, or as sophisticated as implementing a project monitoring software program. Likewise, evaluation strategies will depend on the type of project and the requirements of your funder. They could be as simple as collecting audience feedback and conducting interviews with participants, or as complex as data mining and long-term community impact surveys. Regular project monitoring meetings should always be a component of your strategy. Who should be involved in writing this section? Work with your project team to develop your monitoring and evaluation strategy. Make sure you and your team are clear about who will be responsible for conducting the monitoring and evaluation.

Tips and best practice: Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s critical to present a strong and well-reasoned monitoring and evaluation strategy because this is the promise that you make to the funder about how their funds will be used and how their funding impact will be gauged. Take the time to really do your research. Make sure that your monitoring and evaluation strategy is practical given the resources and staff of your organization. The results of your monitoring and evaluation will be requested as part of your grant final report, at the conclusion of the grant funding period.

Timeline What is it? The Timeline section is the place for you to describe exactly how you will execute all the steps necessary to plan, promote, deliver, and evaluate your project. Where will I get the information? he project team should have come up with a general calendar during the planning process, but you will probably need to work with all the members of the team to create a very detailed timeline of when every step in your project process will happen. Who should be involved in writing this section? Everyone on your project team should have consensus on the timeline. Tips and best practice: he timeline is your tool to keep everyone involved in the project accountable and on target. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget to add timeline items for peripheral project activities, like marketing and promotion.

Budget What is it? Use the budget section to show a big picture of your total project costs, and to demonstrate exactly how you will use the grant funds that you are requesting. Every grant application has special guidelines for the budget section structure, and most applications will provide you with a specific budget template to use. Some common line items in a project budget include:

Direct Costs Personnel (staff salaries) Fringe benefits (insurance, taxes, etc.) Travel Equipment Materials and Supplies Rentals In-kind Contributions Indirect Costs (“Overhead”) Building Costs Insurance Utilities Your Project Budget is the total budget for all project activities. Within that budget, you will break down the sources of funding by line item:

The Grant Budget shows how grant funds from this grant application will be spent within the Project Budget;

Third-Party Contributions shows how cash funding from other sources will be used to accomplish the Project Budget (this funding might be from other grants, sponsors, etc);

In-Kind Contributions are non-cash sources of support that will be used to accomplish the Project Budget (these include donated goods and services).

Where will I get the information? Developing a project budget requires research and collaboration. The project team will develop the general budget in conjunction with your organization’s accountant. The project team or the grant writer will conduct detailed research on expenses and costs. This may involve negotiating contractors ahead of time or requesting multiple estimates on higher cost items or services. Who should be involved in writing this section? Everyone on your project team and your organization’s accountant should be involved in writing the budget. Once completed, the budget should be approved by your organization’s leader. 52

Tips and best practice: A funder will only cover certain types or percentages of budget expenses, so read the funderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s instructions carefully. Requesting money in your budget for something that is not permitted is the quickest way to get your grant rejected. Keep careful track of your budget math - how you arrived at certain numbers and any formulas you used to calculate project costs. File these notes with your project documents. This will be important information when it is time to calculate your budget report! Start early! The budget can be complicated and time consuming because you will need input from a lot of different people. The danger of waiting until the last minute to write your budget is that you will end up estimating costs incorrectly; if the grant is awarded, you will then have to go back and ask the funder to make changes to your budget. Asking a funder to revise your budget is to avoided whenever possible, as you run the risk of looking unprofessional, damaging a funder relationship, or having your funder withdraw their grant entirely. And finallyâ&#x20AC;Ś.even though it comes at the end of the grant, many funders will read your budget before they ever look at your narrative. Make sure your budget tells a good story, and shows balance and responsibility!

Budget Narrative What is it? The budget narrative is an opportunity for you to explain particular expenses in your budget. Your funder may ask you to provide a justification for every expense over a certain amount or percentage of the total budget, for instance. A well-written budget narrative tells the funder how your organization will spend their investment, and shows the funder that your budget requests are reasonable and well informed. Where will I get the information? Your project team will develop the general budget in conjunction with your organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s accountant, and you can use those conversations with your project team and accountant to build a thoughtful rationale for the budget narrative.

Who should be involved in writing this section? Everyone on your project team and your organization’s accountant should be involved in writing the budget narrative. Once completed, it should be approved by your organization’s leader. Tips and best practice: The budget narrative is a common but not universal part of a grant application. You might also see it referred to budget detail, budget description, or budget justification.

Letters of Support What is it? Some grants will ask you to receive and submit Letters of Support with your application: official letters from other organizations, stakeholders, experts, or community partners expressing their support of your project. Letters of Support should always be submitted on official letterhead of the sending organization. Where will I get the information? Write a polite email requesting the Letter of Support, or make a phone call to the person from whom you are requesting the letter. Who should be involved in writing this section? The Letter of Support will usually come from your project partners or stakeholders in your community, depending on the requirements of the grant. Tips and best practice: Be respectful with your letter requests! Give your letter writers plenty of time and all the information that they need to prepare a good letter: background about your organization and details about the project. Sometimes providing “talking points” for the Letter of Support is appreciated. Since it can take a while to request and receive your Letters of Support, make sure to plan well in advance of your grant deadline.

Section 3

Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re Not Done Yet

Introduction to the Section Your grant application is written, but your work isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t done yet! Here are some guidelines for making sure that your project is successfully submitted, and that you keep an open and positive relationship with your funder.

Submitting your Grant What happens now that your grant application is completed? Before you submit your grant application to the funder, review these questions to make sure everything is in order: All sections of the application are filled out and double-checked for mistakes and spelling (ask someone to help you proofread the application - you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be able to see mistakes after spending so long writing it!); The grant budget is complete and accurate; Any required attachments are prepared (board lists, Letters of Support, official documents of the organization, etc); Your organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leader has reviewed and approved the application; Everyone on the project team is familiar with the application content; Any required signatures on the cover sheet have been received. If you can check off all of these boxes, then you are ready to submit! Read the application guidelines carefully for submission instructions; may funders accept applications online but some may require physically mailed copies with a postmark date. Tip: Keep track of your grant applications! Create a spreadsheet or use a database tool to track of your submitted applications and their deadlines/announcement dates.

Important Tip

Complete your grant one week prior to grant deadline. This allows you and your team to edit and double check your document.

Receiving your Grant On or after the grant funding announcement date, the funder will let you know if your grant is approved or declined. Either way, be sure to respond the news quickly and professionally to demonstrate good stewardship to your funder.

Success! If you receive news that your grant is funded, reach out as soon as possible to thank your funder and acknowledge the award. A prompt email or a phone call simply saying “thank you” for the award are best practice. There will probably be official paperwork that you need to complete in order to accept the grant funds - follow your funder’s instructions carefully and complete everything in a timely manner to show that you are competent and professional.

Not this time…. The reality is that you will probably receive more rejections than failures during your grant-writing life, but that’s ok! Don’t be discouraged. Instead, use this learning opportunity to continue building a positive relationship with your potential funder. Write an email politely thanking the funder for their consideration, and ask if they have any feedback or advice about your proposal. Many funders won’t be able to take the time to respond with specific feedback, so don’t take a lack of response personally. If they are able to share feedback, listen carefully and see what you can learn to strengthen your next application. Tip: No matter what the outcome of your grant application is, be sure to update your project team and leadership - and thank them for their participation and support in the application process.

Stewarding your Grant Now that you have received your grant, acknowledged receipt, and sent an initial thank you, you have two major tasks ahead of you. The first task is to administer the grant: carry out your proposed activities, collect your data, provide necessary reports, and notify the founder of any major changes in your project. The second task, and the one that many organizations fail to do, is building and carrying out a personalized grant stewardship plan for your funder. First, what is stewardship? In the NGO world, stewardship is what NGOs do to ensure that donors have high-quality interactions with your organization so that you can build a long-term funding relationship with that donor. At its most basic level, donor stewardship is about systematically building deeper and more meaningful relationships with your donors and funders. That involves thanking, communicating, and interacting with donors in ways that continue to engage them with your organization and motivate them to continue to fund your organization. Strong relationships with your funder can lead to further grants, advocacy, advising, and relationship-building support. Building a stewardship plan for a funder must be unique and personalized. Some funders love a lot of public attention and enjoy being highly involved with your work. Others prefer very little attention and do not want to get involved with your project. It is important to know your funder, and to respect how they want to interact with you after they provide you with a grant. Here are some basic steps you should follow in order to personalize an approach for each funder:

Say thank you in private: The first step is for effective grant stewardship it to thank your funder in private. Exactly how you do this should be based on your current relationship with the funder. However, you should consider saying a personal thank you via multiple channels (letter, email, phone call, in person). Your organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leader should be the person reaching out in this phase.

Determine how the funder wants to be thanked in public: Next you need to determine how to thank your funder in public. Occasionally, funders will detail the appropriate methods of acknowledging their gift in the grant application or on their website. If they do not have the preferred method of acknowledgment listed on their website, then the easiest thing to do would be to request a short meeting or phone call with the appropriate person and discuss how they would like to be acknowledged for their gift.

Note Do not go into that meeting empty handed or expecting the funder to tell you how they should be stewarded. Be prepared to present them with an acknowledgement plan. Ask if the actions in your plan are appropriate and if there are any other ways methods of saying thank you that they prefer. It would also be appropriate to reach out to other NGOs they have funded in the past to discuss ways in which they said thank you.

Keep in Touch: Keep your funders up to date on the status of your project and share with them the impact of your work. Depending on the length and complexity of your project, it is recommended that you do this every three to six months. You could update the funder on the status of your project with a phone call or an email. However, depending on the amount of money they gave you and the scope of your project, you could provide more formal updates in the form of simple reports with pictures, or even a video.

Make the funder part of the project: It is a great idea to engage the funder with your project, if they are open to it. By inviting them to participate, you are directly showing them the impact of their gift and helping them connect with your work. How you invite them to participate will depend on the nature of your project.

Publicize the award and make the funder look good: Most projects involve some kind of publicity: social media posts, email newsletters, press releases, interviews, etc. Every time you publicize the work connected to your project, you should 61

mention in a prominent way the funder who made your work possible. Before publicizing the gift, ask your funder about their requirements. Some require advance approval, some have a style guide requirements for using their logo, and others just want to know so they can track the publicity for their own records. A good rule to go by, is anytime you produce media in any format to publicize your project, share it with your funder.

Ask for feedback: When you have the opportunity, it is ok to ask your funder how well you are stewarding their gift. Ask them if they are getting enough publicity for their gift, if they are getting enough information on how your project is progressing, and if they understand the impact of their gift on your work. This will help strengthen your relationship with this funder and help you improve your stewardship activities for future funders.

After you have taken each of these points under consideration, it is time to build your stewardship plan. The plan does not need to be overly complicated. Simply document exactly which stewardship activities you want to do and when you want to do those activities. This could take the form of a detailed plan or something as simple as a calendar. Your stewardship plan should contain a list of activities you will conduct, who is responsible for each activity, and the due date for each activity. Involve other team members and volunteers in your stewardship activities whenever possible and appropriate.

Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a basic example of two months of a project funder stewardship plan:

Date

Activity

Person Responsible

March 1

Initial thank you call

Organization Leader

March 15

Thank you letter

Board Member

April 5

Finalize Stewardship Plan

Grant Manager

April 21

Present Publicity Plan to funder

Organization Leader

April 30

First Social Media post and email announcement

Communication Manager

May 15

Submit first progress report to funder

Grant Manager

Your stewardship calendar should last two to five years past the end of your last cycle of funding. It is important to maintain your relationship with your funders. They may continue to support you financially, or assist you in securing funding and advocacy from other organizations in the future.

Managing your Grant Remember those Monitoring and Evaluation strategies you wrote about in your grant application? Now is the time to implement them! The results of your monitoring and evaluation will most likely be requested as part of your grant final report, at the conclusion of the project/grant funding period, so keep good records and fulfill all the promises you made in the application.

Get organized… If you don’t already have a grant management process in place, this is a good time to develop one. Create a spreadsheet, document, database or other tool that will let you track the status of your grants. Carefully note the due dates of any reports. Create some deadlines for funder stewardship updates and for your evaluation actions. Note any special requirements for accounting or budget reports.

Manage your project... Refer back to the monitoring strategies that you and your team developed. It might be helpful to keep monitoring activities on a shared checklist or as shared calendar items with your project team, so that everyone can stay accountable to the terms of the grant and the project timeline.

Evaluate your project… The person responsible for evaluation needs to create a timeline for the evaluation activities you described in your grant application, and must ensure that those activities are successfully completed. The evaluation data should help you determine how well the project achieved its outcomes.

Section 4

Tool Kit

Introduction to the section Here are some useful tools for you to use as you write your grant, as well as some practice activities. Enjoy!

Pre-Grant Writing Checklist Review this checklist with your team before you begin writing the grant. Project Title: ________________________________________________ Our team has worked together to design this project idea Our organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leadership has approved of this project idea for this grant application Our team has agreed on a general timeline for implementation of this project Our team understands who will be responsible for the implementation of this project We have prepared strong Goals & Objectives for the project We have written a strong Logic Model for the project We have developed a project budget and we have secured any required estimates for costs or professional services No one else in our organization is applying for or has recently applied for this grant If the grant requires partners, we have already secured their cooperation and communicated clearly with them about the project and their role and responsibilities List of Project Team Members: Name Role/Responsibility

________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ 68

SMART Goals Worksheet SMART goals are designed to help you clarify what you want to achieve and to ensure that it is realistic and connected to a specific time-frame. When you write your SMART goals, use succinct and simple language and only include relevant information. The following questions will help you succeed, so be positive and honest when answering, and consider them as just a starting place for deeper conversation. As a result, the last thing you need to do before you move on from each set of questions is to ask yourself: What questions am I missing? Initial Goal - The goal we have in mind isâ&#x20AC;Ś _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________

1. Specific

(What do we want to accomplish? Who needs to be included? How will we accomplish this goal? Why do we need to accomplish this goal?) _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________

2. Measurable

How do we intend to measure progress? Provide at least two indicators. What is a successful outcome?): _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________

3. Achievable

(Does my organization have the skills required to achieve the goal? If not, can we obtain them? Do we have the time to achieve this goal? Have others done it successfully? What is the motivation for this goal? Does the amount of work that we put into this exceed what goal will achieve?): _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________

4. Relevant

Why am I setting this goal now? What other problems or issues might interfere with accomplishing this goal? Is it aligned with overall objectives of my organization?): _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________

5. Time-bound

(Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the deadline? is it realistic? Is the time-frame of the project too long): _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________

Revised SMART Goal

(Set this worksheet aside for at least 24 hours. Review what you have written and then create a new goal statement based on the answers you have given above and what they have revealed about your initial goal): _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ The Final Step Take the revised SMART goal your just wrote and write it the Initial Goal section of a blank copy of this form. Give that new form to 1-3 other individuals. Ideally these people will be connected to this project, but anybody who is familiar with your work can help. Their feedback will give you a fresh perspective on your project and help you more easily identify any potential problems with your project.

Logic Model Worksheet Use this template to practice writing your Logic Model. Tip: Try starting by writing your “outcomes” first, then work backwards to your “process.”

Project Title: ____________________________________________ [ Process_____________________________________ ] [ Outcomes___________________________________ ]

Inputs

Activities

Outputs

Short-term Outcomes

Mid-term Outcomes

Long-term Outcomes

What we invest

What we will do

What we will create

Results in terms of learning

Results in terms of changed behavior

Results in terms of changes to the conditions

Grant Writing Activities Use this writing activity to practice developing the sections of a grant application. Come up with an imaginary project, or even better - use a real project idea!

IMAGINARY FOUNDATION FOR MAKING THE WORLD BETTER Organization Name: ____________________________________________ Project Title: ___________________________________________________ Project Description Briefly describe your project (maximum 50 words): Background Describe your organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s activities, and explain why your organization is suited to conduct this project. If your organization has completed similar projects, please describe those projects here. List any sources that have funded your organization in the past twelve months (maximum 250 words): Narrative Describe your project in greater detail. Include information about what community need this project addresses and the project activities, goals, and objectives (maximum 250 words): Outcomes Describe the desired outcomes of your project (maximum 200 words): Community Involvement Describe how your community was included in the development of this project idea, and how the community will be engaged in the project (maximum 200 words): Implementation Describe how your project activities will be implemented (maximum 150 words): Sustainability Describe how your project and/or its impact will be sustained after the grant period concludes (maximum 150 words):

Monitoring and Evaluation Describe what strategies and tools your organization will use to monitor and evaluate this project (maximum 150 words): Timeline/Calendar Provide a detailed timeline for all project activities, including evaluation and reporting. Include the name/title of staff members responsible for each activity (maximum 200 words): Budget Complete the budget template below. Note that grant funds may cover up to 80% of project costs. Grant Amount Budget Category

Item Description

Quantity

Total Cost

Staff

Trainers

Marketing

Equipment Rental

Other

TOTALS:

Cost

% of Grant Budget

Community Contribution Cash Value

Gift in Kind Value

Third Party Contribution Cash Value

Gift in Kind Value

Budget Narrative Use this space to clarify items from the budget. You are required to provide a budget justification for any budget line item that makes up more than 15% of the total project budget.

Grant Submission Checklist Review this checklist with your team before you submit your grant application. Be sure to ask someone to help you proofread the application - you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be able to see mistakes after spending so long writing it! Project Title: ________________________________________________ All sections of the application are filled out and double-checked for mistakes and spelling The grant budget is complete and accurate Any required attachments are prepared (board lists, Letters of Support, official documents of the organization, etc) Our organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leader has reviewed and approved the application Everyone on the project team is familiar with the application content Any required signatures on the cover sheet have been received Special submission guidelines or notes: ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

Date application was submitted: ________________________________________________________________

Grant Stewardship Checklist After you have have been awarded a grant, use this checklist to develop a stewardship plan for your funder. Project Title: ________________________________________________ Sent initial private thank you to funder (multiple methods from differents individuals with different roles within your organization is prefered)

Method

Individual Role

In person Phone Call Letter Email

Organization Director Grants Manager Board Member Volunteer

Private Thank You Contacts

Person:

Role at Organization:

Method:

Date:

Person:

Role at Organization:

Method:

Date:

Person:

Role at Organization:

Method:

Date:

Person:

Role at Organization:

Method:

Date:

Asked the funder for approval of your planned public acknowledgements and ask how they want to be publicly thanked. Have scheduled multiple time to update funder on the status of your project Have invited the funder to participated in you project activities Have publicized the award in multiple formats (upon approval of funder) Social Media (1-5 posts) Blog Post Press Release Newsletter/email newsletter Thank you event Project materials Annual Report Ask for feedback on your stewardship activities from your funder Prepared a stewardship plan for your director to present to funder

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