Granthacker: How to Radically Expand Your Productivity as a Grants Development Professional
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Transcript of Granthacker: How to Radically Expand Your Productivity as a Grants Development Professional
GRANTHACKER 101 ways to
produce great grant
proposals
1,001 (!)
101
TOP GRANT HACKS
Training and Professional Development
#GrantChat
jmgrants.com@JM_Grants
@estherjames
@fdncenter
LinkedIn groups for fundraisers
Time Manageme
nt
Eat your frog
Morning pages
Meditation
Timer
FreshBooks
End the day with to-do list
Planner Pad
Focus
Shorter meetings
Walking meetings
LeechBlock
Hootsuite
Workspace
Dual monitors
Standup desk
Standup desk with dual monitors!
Treadmill desk
@DianeHLeonard
Information
management
Evernote
Google apps
Dropbox (or Box, or OneDrive)
Asana
Remember the milk
Proposal creation
Excel
PicMonkey
Wordcounter.net
Writing
Voicemails
Proofreader (a person!)
Grammarly
Prospect Research
Inside Philanthropy
National Center for Charitable Statistics
Meet the funder events
Niche funder directories
FADICA (Foundations & Donors Interested in Catholic Activities)
Google alerts
Ask your funders for referrals
Meet with your politicians
Banks in your community
Apply early in the year
Funder relationshi
ps
The telephone
Social media to say thanks
Thank you notes
Your currency is information
And most importantl
y...
Take frequent breaks!
THINKING LIKE A
COPYWRITER
1 – Understand your role
Remember, as a copywriter, you are not a creative artist;
you are a salesperson.
Your job is not to create literature; your job is to persuade people
to buy the product.– Bob Bly, The Copywriter’s Handbook
2 – Understand your audience
What keeps your funders up at night?
Address that need, concern or fear in your proposal
What features of your organization or project do they care about?
3 – Follow BFD formula• Beliefs – What is funder’s attitude
towards your organization? • Feelings – How does funder feel
about major issues in their field? • Desires – What changes does funder
want that you can help them achieve?
4 – Use emotional triggersFunders may give: • To be appreciated• To feel important • To make work easier/for convenience • To be distinctive• To gain knowledge • Out of fear• Out of guilt
5 – Focus on the uniqueOn its most basic level, the advertising profession involves taking a product, studying it, learning what’s unique about it, and then presenting that “uniqueness” so that the consumer is motivated to buy the product.
– Alvin Eicoff, Chair, Eicoff & Company
6 – Develop the USPUSP = Unique Selling Proposition • What makes your product
(organization/project) different? • Proposition is one that the
competition can’t, or doesn’t, offer• Is there an important benefit that you
have previously overlooked?
7 – Create a swipe file• For copywriters, it’s a collection of
promotions that you turn to for reference when creating your own marketing materials• For grant proposal writers, it’s a
collection of proposals that you turn to for reference when creating your own fundraising materials
8 – Use an outlineAn outline will help you to stay motivated and on track to continue writing the proposal!
• Get outline approved by higher-ups before tackling proposal writing
9 – Start with lots of information
Copywriters begin with at least twice as much material as they end up using in final version of the ad. • A warehouse of facts to choose
from makes it easier to select the most important facts to describe
10 – Take ownership of information
Copy and paste (or retype) all relevant interviews and background materials about project or organization. Advantages: • Get perspective on project• Get ideas to market it to funder• Locate source information quickly as
you write
11 – Make it easy to readWhen a person reads your copy, it is not his job to try to figure out what you mean.
It is your job to explain what you mean in plain, simple English.
Use short sentences, short paragraphs, small words.
Be clear.– Bob Bly, The Copywriter’s Handbook
12 – Write short paragraphs
Long, unbroken chunks of type intimidate readers!•Use subheads to separate
major sections• Leave space between
paragraphs
13 – Write short sentencesShort sentences are easier to read than long sentences• Ideal length for grant proposals: 15 to
25 words• Never more than 40 words! • Break up long sentence by using
punctuation to divide it into two parts
14 – Avoid pompous language
Top offenders: • Utilize • Facilitate• Finalize • Parameters • Prioritize • Substantiate
15 – Avoid jargonRules of thumb: • Don’t use jargon when writing to an
audience that doesn’t speak your special language. • Don’t use a technical term unless 95% of
your readers will understand it. • Don’t use a technical term unless it
precisely communicates your meaning.
16 – Be concise
How?•By rewriting!
•Delete unnecessary words in editing stage
17 – Include testimonials
In testimonials, others who have used the product praise it in their own words.
Third-party endorsement is more convincing than the organization praising its own product.
18 – Use graphic design techniquesMany readers skim copy, not reading carefully.
Use: • Indented paragraphs• Underlining • Boldface type• Italics • Yellow highlighting• Boxed copy • P.S. (in letters)
19 – Simple layouts are bestWhen designing pages, remember:
• Lots of pictures, tables and graphs discourage people from reading your text
• White space is your friend!
20 – Include a call to action
What is the next step that your fundraising materials are asking funder to take?
•Make it easy for reader to take action.
Which hacks are you looking
forward to utilizing using?
THINKING LIKE A PROJECT MANAGER
1 – You are the leader
Successful project managers know how to… • Take ownership•Be savvy •Have intensity – with a smile
2 – Follow 4 Cs of communication
Your communications should be:
1 – Clear
2 – Concise
3 – Courteous
4 – Compelling – Give them a reason to pay attention!
3 – Project scheduleYour project schedules should be:• Complete – Representing all work that
needs to be done• Realistic – Sensible time expectations • Accepted – With buy-in from team
and stakeholders• Formal – Documented and formalized
4 – Manage project information
• Project repository location?• Who can access it? Who controls it? • Review/revision/approval process?• What changes can be made by each
person? • How can you recover work product in
event of accident or disaster?
5 – Acceptance criteria
Document acceptable criteria for: •each deliverable •each project phase
6 – Be customer-focused
The customer is the funder! • Define requirements from
customer’s perspective• Plan for how customer will
perceive your final product (the grant application)
7 – Small work packagesBreak assignments down into small
modules.
Advantages: • More accurate estimate of time to
complete• Better control… and you’ll have earlier
notice of any problems!
8 – Trust but verify
Assume nothing!•Always perform some level
of verification to make sure that work package meets completion criteria
9 – Never assume
•Err on side of over-communicating•Confirm your understanding•Continuously reset
expectations
10 – Kickoff meetings
Value of the first meeting: •Set expectations•Communicate same message to key stakeholders
11 – Status meetings• Keep everyone accountable and
on their toes• Improve communications• Better manage expectations
Best when assignments are small, with clear completion criteria!
12 – Use checklistsSimple yet powerful! • Capture quality standards• Capture lessons learned from prior
projects• Allow for document verification for all
work packages
13 – Use templates
Their value: •Communicate and control your standards•Greatly improve productivity of team
14 – Mind mapping toolsWhat is a mind map? • A diagram that contains information pieces
(words, ideas, pictures) arranged radially around central theme (key word or idea)
Advantages: • Visual thinking – how our brains really work• Put key information on ONE PAGE!
15 – Beware gold-platingWhen project team adds extras or features to work product – not requested by customer• Work doesn’t have to be perfect – only
needs to meet project specifications • Gold-plating causes schedule delays and
unnecessary risk• Team approach to estimating, planning
helps to control gold-plating
16 – Resolve issues at lowest level
Deal with problems at their lowest level. • Quicker• Cheaper• Get confidence of upper management –
protect their time and engage them only when needed
• But you need to have established “escalation triggers” during planning
17 – Tackle high risks first• Better to know about problem
SOONER rather than LATER• If something isn’t feasible or
acceptable, senior management can decide if project is worthy of time and resources
18 – Improve skills of team
Look for ways for members to: • Improve skills• Build resume
The best way to assign and “sell” work tasks!
19 – Leverage strengths
• Discover team members’ motivations• Consider assigning people tasks
they really want to do – not necessarily what they have highest expertise in
20 – Finish strong
When project closes: •Capture lessons learned•Update organization’s central information repository
• The Copywriter’s Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Copy That Sells, by Robert W. Bly (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2005)
• The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Project Management, by Gregory M. Horine (Que Publishing, 2009)
• “Hack Your Grant Proposal,” estherjames.com – http://bit.ly/1lQcXqQ • “Grant Hacks with @EstherJames” (#GrantChat Twitter chat 04/22/14)
– http://bit.ly/1jrxJye• “13 Paths to Productivity and Satisfaction for Nonprofit Staff and
Consultants” (Nonprofit blog carnival 04/14) – http://abt.cm/1gen2yi
REFERENCES
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