Granthacker: How to Radically Expand Your Productivity as a Grants Development Professional
- 1. GRANTHACKER 101 ways to produce great grant proposals
- 2. 1,001 (!)
- 3. 101
- 6. #GrantChat
- 10. @estherjames
- 11. @fdncenter
- 15. Time Management
- 16. Eat your frog
- 18. Morning pages
- 20. Meditation
- 21. Timer
- 22. FreshBooks
- 23. End the day with to-do list
- 24. Planner Pad
- 26. Focus
- 27. Shorter meetings
- 28. Walking meetings
- 29. LeechBlock
- 30. Pocket
- 31. Hootsuite
- 32. Workspace
- 33. Dual monitors
- 35. Standup desk
- 39. Treadmill desk
- 41. @DianeHLeonard
- 43. Evernote
- 44. Google apps
- 46. Asana
- 49. Excel
- 50. PicMonkey
- 51. Wordcounter. net
- 52. Writing
- 53. Voicemails
- 55. Grammarly
- 61. FADICA(Foundations & Donors Interested in Catholic Activities)
- 62. Google alerts
- 66. Apply early in the year
- 69. The telephone
- 72. Thank you notes
- 80. 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
- 81. 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?
- 82. 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?
- 83. 4 – Use emotional triggers Funders 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
- 85. 5 – Focus on the unique On 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
- 86. 6 – Develop the USP USP = 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?
- 87. 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
- 88. 8 – Use an outline An 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
- 89. 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
- 90. 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
- 91. 11 – Make it easy to read When 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
- 92. 12 – Write short paragraphs Long, unbroken chunks of type intimidate readers! • Use subheads to separate major sections • Leave space between paragraphs
- 93. 13 – Write short sentences Short 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
- 94. 14 – Avoid pompous language Top offenders: • Utilize • Facilitate • Finalize • Parameters • Prioritize • Substantiate
- 95. 15 – Avoid jargon Rules 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.
- 96. 16 – Be concise How? •By rewriting! •Delete unnecessary words in editing stage
- 97. 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.
- 98. 18 – Use graphic design techniques Many readers skim copy, not reading carefully. Use: • Indented paragraphs • Underlining • Boldface type • Italics • Yellow highlighting • Boxed copy • P.S. (in letters)
- 99. 19 – Simple layouts are best When designing pages, remember: • Lots of pictures, tables and graphs discourage people from reading your text • White space is your friend!
- 100. 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.
- 101. Which hacks are you looking forward to utilizing using?
- 104. 1 – You are the leader Successful project managers know how to… •Take ownership •Be savvy •Have intensity – with a smile
- 105. 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!
- 106. 3 – Project schedule Your 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
- 107. 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?
- 108. 5 – Acceptance criteria Document acceptable criteria for: •each deliverable •each project phase
- 109. 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)
- 110. 7 – Small work packages Break assignments down into small modules. Advantages: • More accurate estimate of time to complete • Better control… and you’ll have earlier notice of any problems!
- 111. 8 – Trust but verify Assume nothing! •Always perform some level of verification to make sure that work package meets completion criteria
- 112. 9 – Never assume •Err on side of over- communicating •Confirm your understanding •Continuously reset expectations
- 113. 10 – Kickoff meetings Value of the first meeting: •Set expectations •Communicate same message to key stakeholders
- 114. 11 – Status meetings • Keep everyone accountable and on their toes • Improve communications • Better manage expectations Best when assignments are small, with clear completion criteria!
- 115. 12 – Use checklists Simple yet powerful! • Capture quality standards • Capture lessons learned from prior projects • Allow for document verification for all work packages
- 116. 13 – Use templates Their value: •Communicate and control your standards •Greatly improve productivity of team
- 117. 14 – Mind mapping tools What 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!
- 119. 15 – Beware gold-plating When 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
- 120. 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
- 121. 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
- 122. 18 – Improve skills of team Look for ways for members to: • Improve skills • Build resume The best way to assign and “sell” work tasks!
- 123. 19 – Leverage strengths • Discover team members’ motivations • Consider assigning people tasks they really want to do – not necessarily what they have highest expertise in
- 124. 20 – Finish strong When project closes: •Capture lessons learned •Update organization’s central information repository
- 125. • 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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