How well do you remember middle school? Lockers, watching the clock for the bell to ring, changing classes, who likes whom, keeping track of your own assignments, tardies, the absence of the beloved recess…. For many students, this is their first experience with most of these areas, and when you combine all that newness with the pressures of grades ACTUALLY COUNTING for something and the social awkwardness of teens and tweens, life can be pretty overwhelming! Do you remember that horrible, hollow burning feeling in the pit of your stomach when you discovered that you forgot to bring your gym clothes? Or what about that sudden panicky sickness the first time you realized that you only get half-credit for late assignments…and it’s only late because you left it in your locker and in all your nervousness to get to class on time, you FORGOT YOUR LOCKER COMBINATION? And of course, there was THAT teacher…you remember…the one who’s only enjoyment in life seemed to come from making you sing an embarrassing song while standing on your chair for neglecting to bring your pen/pencil/calculator/book/folder/notebook to class. Just the thought of middle school makes me break out into a cold sweat!
Lucky for most of us, middle school is just a misty far-away memory. All of that turmoil and social angst are behind us, and we are stronger, smarter, and more responsible because of it. We’ve learned to manage our time, organize our papers (even if the system of organization only makes sense to ourselves!), do our work neatly and completely, and, most importantly, complete our tasks by their deadlines. Or have we? Which brings this K-8 teacher to the point of this blog post….
If grantseekers were students, what kind of grades would they be making?
Pretend your grantwriter–or the grantmaker for those of you that are grant writers–is the teacher, and you are the student. Take a good, honest look at your grantseeking habits. Do you make the grade?
- Do your assignments. The first step to writing a successful grant is to make sure you complete all of the required tasks. Accurately fill in the basic company information. Send the requested copy of your 501c(3) tax letter. Email that list of boardmembers and their bios.
- Turn your stuff in on time. Let’s face it….we are all busy people. On any given day, there is too much work to do, and not enough time in which to do it. However, grants wait for no man (or woman), and the unfortunate thing is, if you do not get your grantwriter the requested information in a timely fashion, she cannot complete your grant application by the deadline. Executive directors: Did your grantwriter send you an email asking you to approve, click, and sign the grant for the final submission by the grant’s deadline? If you don’t, then you are only hurting yourself and your organization.
- Follow instructions. Grantmakers are like teachers…they want things done in a specific way. If you do not comply, you’ve wasted valuable time, energy, and resources, and your grant will go immediately into the recycle bin without a second thought. Did you follow page counts, font size, margin, and spacing requriements?
- Listen & Pay attention. Really, truly listen, to the grantmaker’s description of the grant….to your grantwriter’s suggestions for improvement or for needed items…. Pay attention to due dates….to needed information….to grant period reporting requriements….to it all!! If you have a hard time remembering, take notes or ask for an email copy of the grant instructions. Set up reminders on your phone or calendar (remember those assignment notebooks from middle school?). There are some magnificent apps out there. The important thing is to find a system that works for you.
- Do your work neatly and completely. Just like in school, it will help you avoid misunderstandings, mistakes, and problems down the line. Did you receive that grant? Great! Please keep the required receipts, statistics, and other required information, and file your reports COMPLETELY and neatly.
- Respect yourself and others. As with anything, please respect the time and energy of those who are involved in the process of writing your grant application. It takes many hours of hard work to write a successful grant, and sometimes grantwriters feel like we are constantly nagging our clients to provide us with timely, completed information that is vital to the grantwriting process. Do you remember that kid in your class whom the teacher constantly had to nag? Jake, where is your pencil? Jake, are you working on your report that is due Friday? Jake, have you read chapter 5? Jake, did you turn in your homework? Jake, are you paying attention? When you honor your grantwriter’s time and efforts by doing all of the things above, you eliminate (or at least drastically reduce!) the need for your grantwriter to constantly remind you for items required to obtain your grant.
In what areas do you need to improve? Are there areas in which you are getting tardies, half-credit for late assignments, or 0 participation points? How will you improve your grade in Grants 101?
With Grantitude,
Lisa Wagner is an Associate with SNF Writing Solutions, LLC.