Tips & Tricks - Volume 2 - Issue 3 - Hired Guns Often I am asked whether a community or an organization should hire a professional grant writer. The answer depends upon a number of factors.
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First, does the grant require any sort of specialized knowledge currently unavailable to your organization? For example, the Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor requires grantees for our federally funded Idaho Community Development Block Grant program to either have an employee, a consultant or a volunteer who has completed our grant administration certification program.
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Second, does the grant-maker have a bias towards professionally written grants? Many grant-makers have a bias against professionally prepared grant proposals and applications.
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Third, does your organization have the capacity to manage and supervise a paid consultant? I personally know of several projects that were delayed, terminated or simply not funded due to the actions of "rouge" consultants.
So with some help
from the National Clearinghouse on Families
& Youth and http://www.schoolgrants.org here are some tips for managing and selecting professional grant-writing
consultants.
Experience - Look for someone with experience in preparing
proposals for federal and local governments, foundations and other private
sector sources. What types of proposals have you written and what were
the results? Listen for language that indicates an understanding of the
process by which an innovative proposal is developed, such as statements
about planning, conducting research, discussing ideas and making changes
following staff review and comment. What have you found to be the key
characteristics of a successful proposal? Successful grant writers should
be able to give specifics and answer this question in relation to proposals
they have written in the past.
Local Knowledge - Try to determine
what the person knows about the needs of the people for which your organization
is attempting to help. What experience has the consultant had with the
population(s) served by the organization?
Always Maintain Control of Your Project - The job of a consultant or grant-writer is to assist
those who are seeking the grant. Do not fall prey to the temptation of
allowing the grant-writer to plan, design and write your proposal for
you. This will result in a project that the grant-writer supports but
that may not be something you and your staff can or want to do.
Anytime, Anywhere - Do not hire a consultant
who does not insist upon planning meetings with you and your staff. It
is vital to the success of the future project that all stakeholders have
input into the project being designed. An effective consultant will spend
time collecting information about the organization and brainstorming with
the staff about innovative approaches that might be included in the proposal.
Quality
Takes Time - Do not expect a consultant to write a winning
proposal overnight! Timeframes between learning of an opportunity and
grant submission deadlines are often tight but allow as much time as possible
for preparation of the proposal.
Drafts, Drafts and More Drafts - Insist upon seeing drafts of the proposal and do not feel intimidated
about questioning what you read in the draft. The consultant works for
you - the project that is designed must be your project.
Its All in the Planning -
Remember that, while writing proposals is time-consuming, running projects
is much more so. If you do not have time to devote to the initial stages
- planning and overseeing the design of a grant proposal - you may not
have time to run the project if the proposal is successful. TRUST
ME! EXPERIENCED GRANT REVIEWERS WILL SEE RIGHT THROUGH A POORLY PLANNED
PROPOSAL!
It
Takes Money to Make Money - Remember that grant-writing consultants are professionals and skilled
in the grant-writing business. Most outside consultants will require an
hourly fee to write your proposal just as doctors, attorneys and accountants
charge for their expertise. Most grants will not allow the cost of obtaining
a grant to be included in the requested grant request. Some grant writers
will work on a contingency basis whereby their rate of compensation is
based upon their success in helping your organization obtain a grant.
Look For Savings - Save money
by assisting the grant-writer in every way possible. It may be helpful
to bring the consultant in at the very beginning to describe his or her
needs for proposal development. Devote staff time to gathering and developing
the information while the consultant is "off the clock."