What is it?
Grantwriting is kind of what people think of when they think of development. This is only a small part of what development professionals do. Grantwriting includes researching grants, finding the best prospects, writing a letter of intent, connecting with the foundation, and if approved, writing a proposal and attaching the necessary documentation.
When to do it:
Research: Once a quarter.
Writing: Every month
You’ll need:
A clear idea of keywords for each program you want to raise funds for.
Access to the Foundation Center Database.
The ability to search across grants and grantmakers.
A flash drive.
What to do:
Go research grants, put pdfs of the grants you think would be a good fit for your organization onto your flash drive. Go back to the office, print them out, read them over, figure out the best ones, put them in folders. Make an excel spreadsheet with all of the relevant details, cutting and pasting as much as possible from the pdfs., Make sure to include when proposals are due. Talk to board, see if board members know anyone at these foundations.
For more information on how to research and write grants, download my grantwriting chapter, or a grantwriting resource.