Elevated Grantseeking: How to Master the Art of Strategic Grantwriting

with Brittany Kirk from Cloudbreak Collective

Grant funding brings together a wide range of nonprofit management decisions: as grantwriters, for example, we need to be able to speak eloquently about organizational finances, program growth plans, impact measurement, leadership, and more. Grantwriters are often called upon to make strategic choices about these topics as they craft grant proposals but sometimes find themselves steering the organization into restricted grants that pigeonhole spending or create overreliance on one funding source. At the same time, grant application forms can be convoluted, repetitive, and difficult to interpret. Many applications ask the same questions in different ways, without a lot of instruction or with jargony words that are hard to understand.

This workshop will equip grantwriters, fundraisers, and nonprofit leaders with the tools they need to overcome these challenges and to write grant applications that are as strategic as they can be in driving forward the organization’s goals. We will begin by discussing common strategic dilemmas that well-meaning grantwriters create by pursuing hyper-restricted grant funding, as well as paths to untangle those challenges through more creative–and less restrictive–grant applications. In the second half of the workshop, we will focus in on three specific parts of most grant applications: the project description, measuring success, and request budgets. We will work through each of these common application areas, discussing what funders look for, how to prepare thoughtful responses, and common pitfalls to avoid. This workshop is ideal for nonprofit leaders, development officers, and fundraising professionals who write grant applications and want to make their requests more strategic or effective. This workshop will be most meaningful to individuals who have some experience with grantwriting rather than those are brand new to it.

Through this session, participants will increase their understanding of how to:

* Write grant applications that are strategic and aligned with organizational priorities

* Effectively respond to common grant application questions: the program description, measuring success, and project budgets.

* Recognize and avoid common mistakes that may hinder the chances of applications being funding.

* Feel more confident in their ability to write successful grant applications.