When the National Science Foundation awarded Jeffrey Gustafson a $400,000 grant, the chemistry professor at San Diego State University credited the lessons he learned as a fellow in a faculty mentorship program for helping him obtain funding for his research.
The Grants Research and Enterprise Writing (GREW) fellowship at San Diego State has taught nearly 90 early-career faculty members how to communicate effectively with grant officers, develop successful proposals and share their research with media and other stakeholders. Since GREW began in 2014, fellows have received nearly $20 million in grants. Of the more than 400 submissions reviewed by agencies, 43 percent have met with approval — a higher-than-average success rate.
Crafting effective requests for funding can be competitive, confusing and overwhelming, but the good news is that grant writing can be learned. Libby Hikind, founder and CEO of GrantWatch.com, said good grant writers need skills beyond strong grammar and punctuation. An effective grant writer will know how to communicate and convey a message to different audiences; research funding opportunities; and build and maintain relationships with funding sources.
Grant Writing Institute, a service of GrantWatch, is preparing a curriculum that will integrate the latest advances in technology and industry trends together with both practical and theoretical insights to design a curriculum that can be applied to any organization to help secure grant funding. These professional development courses will help novice and current grant writers attain a strong set of skills that can immediately be put into practice.
Curriculum should never be created in a vacuum. Our team of experts want to know what you feel you need to know to be successful in the grant application process. Using the list below – as a sampling of possible course options, tell us which classes you would be interested in and what you would like us to add or replace.
Write to learn@gwi.education. Your influence matters.
- Grant Writing for Beginners
- How to Write a Competitive Grant Proposal
- How to Write a Compelling Mission and Needs Statements
- How to Write Goals and Objectives Statements
- How to Take Advantage of Charts
- How to Budget for Grant Writing
- How to Effectively Research Grant Funding Sources
- How to Strategically Plan Grant Proposal Submittals
- How to Maintain Relationships with Funding Sources
- How to Take Advantage of Social Media to Identify Funding Sources
- Understanding Review Processes
- Understanding Outcomes and Evaluating Processes
If you have a background in journalism, public relations, marketing or English or a liberal arts degree as well as a desire to serve as a voice for nonprofit programs and services, think about working as a grant writer. More than 1.5 million nonprofits and hundreds more organizations that rely on grants in the United States demand your unique qualities and skills.
Grant writers who can help secure funds for projects from public and private foundations, government sources and corporations are in high demand. Those who already possess skills in writing, research and communication and are persistent, personable, organized and creative are off to head start toward securing grant funds.
GrantWriterTeam.com receives a high number of requests from organizations that seek qualified grant writers. Nonprofits, without the funds to hire a full time in-house grant writer often turn to GrantWriterTeam.
Grant writers from all backgrounds who have the talent to craft a compelling grant proposal should sign-up on GrantWriterTeam.com, a service of GrantWatch.com. Joining GrantWriterTeam is easy. Create a profile, fill out the application and begin to bid on grant writing jobs.
About the Author: Staff Writer for GrantWatch
Sources: