Grantwriting 101

1. Grantwriting 101 Brought to you by the Council of State Governments Justice Center & International Community Corrections Association With support from the Public Welfare Foundation, Joyce Foundation, and Annie E. Casey Foundation

2. Speakers • Jane Browning • Executive Director • International Community Corrections Association (ICCA) • Jessica Nickel • Director of Government Affairs • Council of State Governments Justice Center

3. Developing Your Grant Writing Skills Jane Browning Executive Director International Community Corrections Association

4. Secret of Grant Writing Mystique • There isn’t one • If you can write a cogent business letter, you can write a grant proposal • Writing a grant proposal is plain, hard work

5. First, Create a Case Statement • Who are you? • What is your track record? • How are you a leader? An innovator? • Why should funders trust you with their money? • Make the reader say “Wow!!”

6. What’s in a Grant Proposal • Activities • Timeline • Personnel • Target Audience • Dissemination Plan • Evaluation Plan • Budget • Attachments • Cover Letter • Abstract • Introduction • Statement of Need • Statement of Purpose • Goals • Objectives

7. Cover Letter and Abstract • Do these last or • Draft letter to get the writing started

8. Introduction • Provide background and history • Make your case statement

9. Statement of Need • Describe the problem • Document your claims • Use current data and statistics • Quote target audience representatives • Explain what has been done to date and what remains to be done • Make the reader say, “Oh, how terrible! What can we do?”

10. Statement of Purpose • Briefly describe your project • State the amount of money you need • Explain why your project does not duplicate existing services • Address possible collaboration • Explain how this project fits within your agency’s mission statement

11. Goals • Global vision of what you aim to achieve • Usually more than one

12. Example: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) Prevention Goals: • Reduce the incidence of FAS • Prevent pregnant women from consuming alcoholic beverages • Educate teens on risk of drinking alcohol • ID/Support families of children with FAS • Provide pregnant alcoholic women access to residential treatment

13. Objectives • Specific outcomes leading towards achieving each of your goals • Focus on what will get done, not what you will do • Set reasonable, conservative measures

14. Goal: Reduce the incidence of FAS • Objective 1: Recruit and train a speakers’ bureau of 20 qualified volunteers • Objective 2: Schedule at least 40 speaking presentations in area middle schools • Objective 3: Provide 40 middle school counselors with FAS prevention resource packets

15. Activities • Step by step actions leading to accomplishment of each objective • Include the collection of evaluation measures

16. Objective 1: Recruit and train a speakers’ bureau Activities: • Produce and mail press release to 5 local papers • Contact 5 newspaper columnists and send information • Secure cable TV bulletin board site • Arrange to be on 2-3 local talk shows

17. Outline of Goals and Objectives • Goal I. Reduce the incidence of FAS • Objective A. Recruit and train 20 speakers • Activity 1. Send press release • Activity 2. Do radio interviews

18. Timeline • Organize activities month by month • Display on a “Grant Chart”

19. Grant Chart

20. Personnel • Job titles with single paragraph job descriptions • Names of individuals with qualifications (or skills you’ll seek if hiring) • Include advisors, consultants, volunteers • Assign major activities to specific people

21. Target Audience • Describe population; use statistics • Describe your relationship to the target audience, past history • How will you identify them? • How will you engage them? • How will you reach them?

22. Dissemination • Describe your plans to publicize your activities • Describe the ways in which your target audience in involved in outreach efforts • How will project outcomes and finding be disseminated?

23. Evaluation • Tie evaluation plans directly to objectives • Describe the tools you will use to collect the measures you’ve outlined • Be sure to include customers in determining degrees of success • Describe how evaluation findings will inform future planning

24. Budget • Second way of reading and writing a grant proposal • Check items against list of activities • Show the basis for computation • Use real market bids and values • Always show matching funds • Separate pages for separate years • DOUBLE CHECK THE MATH!!

25. Budget Elements • Personnel • Fringe benefits • Consultants • Staff travel • Volunteer travel • Mileage • Space rental • Equipment • Materials • Supplies • Telephone • Printing • Postage • Sub-totals • Indirect costs • Totals

26. Budget Page

27. Attachments • Letters of agreement from collaborating agencies • Letters of support, especially from representatives of target audience • List of Board members & affiliations • Mission statement • Annual report • Audit report

28. Cover Letter and Abstract • Concentrate on purpose and outcomes • Be sure to include the amount of your request in the cover letter • In the case statement hasn’t fit elsewhere, put it in the cover letter

29. Review • Let the proposal rest and return a few days later to re-read, re-work • Share with a disinterested friend, someone outside your field, for “reality check” • DOUBLE CHECK YOUR MATH!!

30. Writing Tips • Cut the jargon. • Use the active voice. • Substitute strong, forceful verbs for weak ones. • Don’t use acronyms, spell things out. • Make it easy on your reader. Prepare your proposal with your reader in mind.

31. Jargon, anyone? “Examination of the univariate correlations between the variables and the OSL decision rating (rated from minimum = 1 to maximum =3) reduced the pool of candidate predictors from 176 to 39…”

32. Active v. Passive Voice • “The project will be conducted by staff of the organization…” The Project Director and Assistant will design, organize and undertake … • “Specifically, it was believed that there would be no differences ….” The project organizers believed that there would be no differences…

33. Forceful verbs, colorful descriptions • People exiting prisons and jails … • May have trouble finding jobs • Face enormous challenges in the work place • Collide with barriers to finding employment • Experience stigma and discrimination

34. Grant Writing Tips • Allow PLENTY of time. • It ALWAYS takes longer than you think it will! • Answer the application guideline’s questions; follow the rules. • Study the guidelines thoroughly, become intimate with their details.

35. More Tips… • Get acquainted with the program officers, listen to their advice, do as they say. • When you get turned down (and you will!) ASK WHY. Learn from your mistakes. • Volume: “If at first you don’t succeed… try, try again.”

36. Believe! A project that is worthy WILL find support!

37. More information? Jane Browning International Community Corrections Association 202-828-5605 jbrowning@iccaweb.org

38. Federal Grant Reminders Jessica Nickel Director of Government Affairs Council of State Governments Justice Center

39. 100 Wall Street, 20th Floor New York, NY 10005 4630 Montgomery Avenue, Suite 650 Bethesda, MD 20814 www.justicecenter.csg.org www.reentrypolicy.org This presentation was prepared by the Council of State Governments Justice Center, in partnership with Jane Browning, Executive Director, International Community Corrections Association. Presentations are not externally reviewed for form or content. The statements reflect the views of the authors and should not be considered the official position of the CSG Justice Center, the members of the Council of State Governments, the Public Welfare Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, or the Annie E. Casey Foundation.