Successful grant-writing strategies: sources of alternative funding are more important now than ever before. Seeking grants is not as complicated or time-consuming as many believe

Leadership, March-April, 2003 by Susan Van Zant

In times of tight funding, school administrators must look for sources of alternative finding. A school can only have so many bake sales, gift wrap promotions, magazine sales and school carnivals before tight pocketbooks are empty. One source of supplemental funding is to secure grant funding. Some administrators shy away from grant writing because they believe that that process is complicated, time consuming and may not yield results. Writing grants is not difficult; however, there are some strategies that enable the writer to be successful.

Oftentimes administrators will find a grant that looks promising. They will devote a great deal of time and effort to writing, and after a relatively long wait they will not receive the grant--not because the proposal was not a good one, but because they did not follow the guidelines.

Prior to writing any application it is important to read the guidelines. First, check the date that the application is due into the agency. If the timeline is less than two-and-a-half weeks, information about the grant and the application should he filed in a tickler for the upcoming school year. It takes time to gather data, and unless an administrator is willing to give up sleep, two weeks is simply not enough time to write a successful grant.

If the timeline is acceptable, carefully read the guidelines, making specific notes related to the number of allowed pages and page set-up requirements, including font size and spacing. Carefully read application requirements. Find out if the agency requests letters of support, matching funds or cooperative agreements with community agencies.

Most importantly, the administrator should carefully and thoughtfully review the curricular topics and priorities. It is not unusual for a grant to target specific demographics or curricular areas that are not in alignment with the school goals. Sometimes a grant project will take a school off-course. If, as a result of implementing a proposed project, school goals will not be met, the application should be discarded. Another opportunity will eventually appear.

If the administrator decides that the grant proposal will bring needed funds to the school and will enhance the school program, time should be set aside, and the administrator should begin to gather data and start to write. Generally, applications ask for similar information. Some simple pointers will help to make grant-writing easier.

Introduction/project description

Must applications ask for an introduction or description of the school and the proposed project. The administrator may wish to write a one or two paragraph narrative description of the school, a brief overview of the project goal, and information about the target audience. At this point it is important to be specific about numbers. Do not limit the audience to the students. The proposal should include staff and parent/community involvement. The more people the project will touch, the more likely it is that it that it will be funded.

Statement of need

Funding agencies like to know why the application is important. The needs statement is the foundation of the entire proposal. This statement should let the agency reader understand bow the school identified the area of need, or why problem areas were identified. This is an area that should be carefully written. A good needs statement should give the reader a clear picture of who has the need and what they need. The thinking may go something like this:

State need: "Our students need computers."

Ask why: "To learn word processing."

Again, ask why: "To proof, edit and revise their written work."

Write statement: "Our students need to be able to communicate clearly."

One of the most common errors that administrators make with writing a needs statement is to confuse the solution with the need. For example, the needs statement should not read, "Students need computers in the classroom," or own, "Students need to access technology." The fundamental need is not to obtain more computers, hut to further develop written language skills. Technology is a way to obtain those skills. Solutions should be described in the goals/objectives section of the application.

If space permits, an administrator may want to add a paragraph describing how the need was determined or why the need is critical to the meeting school goals. This is a good place to add standardized test and/or survey data. Focus on positive opportunities. Remember to include not only the student needs, but also the staff-development necessary to effectively implement the project.

Goals and objectives

When writing goals and objectives, administrators should remember that a goal is a general statement: "In the summer children will enjoy reading." An objective is specific: "Each child will check out 10 or more books from the public library during the summer months of July and August as measured by library records." The objectives should match one or more of the identified needs.

An objective can easily be written by following this simple formula: Who will do what by when as measured by what instrument. The objectives for students and staff must he stated in measurable terms. There should be no question in the mind of the agency readers as to what the school hopes to achieve. For example: "Each third grader will demonstrate mastery of the multiplication tables (0-9) by May 2003 as measured by a timed, five-minute test of 100 multiplication facts."