Grant writing

Grant writing is the practice of completing an application process for a financial grant provided by an institution such as a government department, corporation, foundation, or trust. Such application processes are often referred to as either a grant proposal or a grant submission. Successful grant writing requires a clear understanding of grantsmanship. While the principles and fundamentals of grantsmanship apply broadly, it is important to know the target and to be able to tune the language appropriately. Understanding the creation process of a grant proposal is a big part of the success in grant writing. The basic parts to the proposal creation process include: Grant writing is the practice of completing an application process for a financial grant provided by an institution such as a government department, corporation, foundation, or trust. Such application processes are often referred to as either a grant proposal or a grant submission. Successful grant writing requires a clear understanding of grantsmanship. While the principles and fundamentals of grantsmanship apply broadly, it is important to know the target and to be able to tune the language appropriately. Understanding the creation process of a grant proposal is a big part of the success in grant writing. The basic parts to the proposal creation process include: A grant proposal normally requests funding to support activities that are consistent with the mission of the agency applying for the grant. Many large corporations have philanthropic programs offering grants to help local colleges and universities, arts organizations, and social services. All background information should be gathered prior to writing a proposal. Many large grant-making institutions provide such information for prospective grant seekers on their Web sites. However, smaller grant-makers (including the majority of private foundations) do not maintain their own Web sites; in such cases, the background information can primarily be found by researching the giving histories of those foundations. Such information is primarily found in the Form 990 that grant-makers are required to publish. Also, it is helpful to know the name of a key contact in the organization to determine where the information is located. Several of the grant writing steps can be combined into one, as part of the creation process, like writing, formatting, and revising the proposal. The number of steps for proposal creation may depend on the timeline given for the creation of the proposal as well as the type of funder.