The Grant Writing and Funding Coach

Chapter 8

The Final Application

1. The Final Budget

Stuff happens. Life moves along and so did the Seal Point Retreat project for which the Optimistic Naturalist Society put a draft together in Chapters 2 and 3. After they created their summary and budget, they introduced it to the community. Everyone loved it. People, business owners, and partners were enthusiastic and wanted to be part of it all.

In that budget the way it was before the group explored other funding and crowdfunding opportunities, (refer back to Sample 1 in Chapter 2), you can see that the tourism group was going to support the project at the $10,000 level. But, as with everything, especially funding processes, things change. Since they began their project, the Naturalist Society has found out that tourism group had lost some annual funding and they could now provide only $5,000.

The Optimistic Naturalists didn’t let this disappoint them. First, they didn’t spend hours on a complex budget and summary which they now need to change. Second, the tourism group will still provide cash and a confirmation letter and can continue to support the project by spreading the word.

Since there had been some indication from the tourism group’s director and it had been in the news that this might happen, the Optimistic Naturalist Group anticipated that there might be a shortfall and embarked upon its first crowdfunding campaign in which the community came up with $5,000 in donations.

This crowdfunding cash made up for the shortfall and took the Naturalists’ cash contribution level to $10,000. Thank you to all of the crowdfunding platform entrepreneurs and crowdfunding donors!

Also note that the total request to the funder is $24,000 rather than $20,000. This is because when they created the draft budget, they didn’t know that they would be working with a funder who would allow calculation of a percentage of expenses into the budget for overhead and administration. It turns out that the funder does allow 10 percent on the total of $40,000 which the client didn’t have to match. This takes the project total to $44,000 and the total ask to the funder to $24,000.

Here’s what the final budget looks like in Sample 4.

Sample 4: Final Budget

2. The Final Summary

Assuming you’ve followed the process and drafted a summary, and found platforms and funders, now you’re going to create the final summary and include the changes you’ve made in the budget. See Sample 5.

Sample 5: Final Short and Expanded Summaries

3. The Story

This application is about asking for money for a roof and arbors, yes. But if you dig deeper into the story, it’s also about an experience with whales. I know, whales are an obvious winner. But the point is, no matter what your subject area is, there’s some aspect of it that is fascinating and meaningful to people.

For instance, let’s say a client asks me to write a grant for starting an after-school children’s reading program for which furnishings and books are needed. Using this same format, Sample 6 illustrates how I could begin to approach it.

Sample 6: The Story in Your Summary

From this point I could dig into statistics about literacy, reading, and the need for after-school programs. Why? Because everyone did or did not have someone to read to, or with, them. Everyone understands the varying impacts those circumstances had on them at an intellectual and emotional level. The grant isn’t about furnishings and books. It’s about changing the quality of children’s lives.

4. Pour a Little Gravy on It and Give It Some Style

Don’t be afraid to pour a little gravy on your final summary by using a few adjectives such as “renowned” and “historic” to broaden the project’s appeal.

Your calorie count on the gravy all depends on who your reader is. I have a friend who is a top-notch appeal-letter writer who makes it a habit of using “world-famous” and the phrase, “the only one of its kind in the … ” in his letters. Use your judgment on the style. If at all possible, embed images into the application itself or link the funder to a cache of images that they can review as a team or at their leisure. It improves your chances of connecting with the funder.

For organizations which may have some funding to put the application together, there is nothing better than working with a graphic artist on the final formatting and look of your application.

5. Editing and Reviewing Narrative

Editing matters. Reviewing grammar, punctuation, word usage, spelling, phrasing, and reading levels is important, especially in proposal writing, which tends to be more of a journalistic or corporate style of writing built upon the concept of one idea, one sentence, and one paragraph.

If you have narrative that exceeds several pages, try looking at your document in Microsoft Word’s outline mode. This allows you to see the flow of the document more clearly. On the view tab click on “Outline.”

Some people, like me, work better off of a final draft hard copy for editing because it’s easier to see the format and spacing and how the narrative fits on the page. I work towards white space and even length and flow in paragraphs.

If you’re working with an online application that only allows you a certain number of words and you need to cut your summary down, put it into Word first and run it through an app such as Hemingway. This will help you cut down the word count and ensure you’re covering the five Ws and the H.

It’s not always easy to edit by yourself. In fact, after a long haul on dense narrative, everyone needs an editor. Try to work with a colleague or two who can give you feedback on clarity and final editing.

In terms of hiring a professional editor, it’s a very wise choice. Editors are on the list, along with architects, landscape architects, graphic artists, and accountants, who are going to up your advantage in attaining and managing funds. Similar to how an architect can express your ideas in images, editors can help you better express your ideas in words. No matter how much you love to write, or edit, working with the right editor can make the difference between you driving a beater or a new Corvette Stingray to the funder.

Similar to how an architect can express your ideas in images, editors can help you better express your idea in words. No matter how much you love to write, or edit, working with the right editor can make the difference between you driving a beater or a new Corvette Stingray to the funder.

6. A Final Sense of Order, Design, and White Space, on Quality Paper

Above all, you want to convey a sense of order in your application. It reflects directly upon how you run the organization and how the project will proceed. Keep it trouble free and with a simple, attractive design.

Give yourself and the funder lots of white space on the page. Unless the funder has requirements for spacing and fonts, try to stay with a sans serif font like Gill or Calibri and set your spaces at 1.15 and margins at one inch. Easy on the eye conveys a sense of order in your organization.

If you’re sending in a hard copy of your grant application, spend some money on a good bond paper that has weight to it. It signals you care about what you’re submitting, gives funders a tactile experience, and shows graphics or images to their best advantage. Trust me, funders comment on it.

7. Attachments and Appendices

Although the summary and budget are at the core of your application, funders ask for answers relating to the five Ws and H questions in hundreds of different ways and can require various attachments and appendices. Here are some common attachments for which funders may ask:

• Reference documents from consultants

• Graphs and tables for timelines and deliverables

• Support letters from the community and other funders and partners

• Cover letters

• Financial statements

Make it easy on the funder by providing a one-page index listing these appendices.

8. Letters of Support

For letters of support, you know you have support, but some of the people willing to say this may not have the time to write a letter and it may hold up your submission. Both your draft and final narrative summaries provide you with narrative you can tailor for support letters. Suggest providing a draft letter to supporters that they can quickly review, sign, and send out from their office with their letterhead.

9. Submitting Online

If you’re submitting online, convey that same sense of order to the funder by ensuring that your file names and numbers are uniform and easily recognized by the grant officer. For quick viewing, a grant officer will sometimes ask you for separate files of your one-page summary for a short list review. It’s best to send the appendices as separate files.

In sending your final messages, your files may be too large to successfully get to their destination. Test them by sending to yourself first. You can also send a separate email asking if the messages came through or you can place a request for a delivery receipt on the email.