46 Grant Writing Tips to Fast-Track Your Grant Writing

Hey, it’s my birthday!

And in celebration of my 46th (woot-woot), I am giving you 46 grant writing tips!

Grab this download of all the 46 tips when you join the FREE Grant Writing & Funding Hub Haven! 

Grant Writing Tip #1: Be Concise in Your Writing

No long, fluffy sentences in your grant writing! Be succinct. Be concise.

Grant Writing Tip #2: Explain the Problem with Simplicity

What is the problem? How will you solve it? When you get that across with clarity it goes a long ways!

Grant Writing Tip #3: Complete Your Budget Before You Write the Entire Narrative

If you work on your entire narrative and then do the budget last a few calamities could happen.

• You realize you don’t have enough money to fulfill all your objectives
• You have to rewrite your narrative because the budget doesn’t make sense any longer. That full-time program director you wanted to hire? Oops, now it’s down no program director. Here goes redoing the org chart and tossing out that job description that took you 20 hours to complete.

Grant Writing Tip #4: Have SMART Objectives

Your grant writing objectives need to be SMART. No, they do not need a PhD, but they do need be:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time-bound

Click here for more information and examples about how to write SMART objectives.

Grant Writing Tip #5: Your Goal Should Change a Behavior or Situation

Your goal can be much more audacious than your objective. But it still needs to improve, increase, or change something! There needs to be a larger impact out there that will change some type of situation or behavior for good!

Click here for more examples on how to write goals.

Grant Writing Tip #6: Write to the Criteria of the Funding Source Grant Application

There is usually a criteria (directions) of what the funding source is wanting you to answer. Make sure you clearly and succinctly answer these questions!

I see a lot of grant writers NOT answer all of the criteria in a grant application. For example, some criteria may have several questions listed in one section and the grant writer only answers the first question. Don’t do that! Answer all the questions!

Grant Writing Tip #7: Make Sure You Have Skittles

Yep, sugar helps your brain. That’s scientific ;)

Grant Writing Tip #8: Make Sure the Grant is Money Your Nonprofit Wants & Can Handle

Too often people in nonprofits get stars in their eyes when seeing dollar signs. But sometimes money (or the amount) isn’t necessarily a place that your nonprofit is set up. One of the smartest executive directors I ever worked with was on a grant winning streak, but instead pulled back a minute and said, “Let’s first ensure that we have the capacity to handle more grants.”

Grant Writing Tip #9: Make Sure the Funding Source is Dating Material

What if the foundation also supports other organizations that conflict with your nonprofit’s values? Or what if they have a bad reputation in reimbursing organizations or paying out? Or what if they ask for just WAY too many reports?

Remember, getting a grant creates a relationship. Make sure it’s one you want to be in and isn’t taking advantage of you.

Grant Writing Tip #10: Ask for Feedback Before You Submit the Grant

Save yourself a ton of time by first contacting the program office at the funding source. Let them know about the project that you will be submitting the grant proposal for and find out if it’s a good fit. Do this before you spend tons of time, money, and opportunity costs by writing the grant.

On paper I have seen a lot of ‘great fit’ funding opportunities, but after talking to the program officer with the funding source I have gotten the most valuable information. Sometimes it is clear that the program isn’t a good fit and they give advice to tweak it so that it’s a perfect fit and other times I find out that even though they are accepting applications they probably won’t be funding new programs. This is gold.

Grant Writing Tip #11: Showcase Your Needs with Data

Oftentimes I see emotional language in grants and absolutely no statistics, reports, or data. This is a HUGE no-no. Writing the need section in grants is not about how many heartstrings you can pull, it’s about how you can demonstrate the need with facts.

Personally, showing facts and statistics actually makes me more emotionally than prose!

Grant Writing Tip #12: Don’t Chase the Money!

I know that those dollar signs can sway many a person into mission drifting! Don’t do it! Just because you might have a great chance at getting $3 million dollars doesn’t mean that you should apply for the grant. If you have to create a program that is entirely outside of your mission and vision, then you are probably mission drifting.

Remember: Most grants do not have unrestricted funding (unfortunately).

Grant Writing Tip #13: Make Sure the Grant is a High Enough Time Investment

What this means is that if the grant is making you jump through hoops and it will take you a 100 hours to apply for $5,000, it might not be the best use of your time!

Remember, time = money.

Grant Writing Tip #14: Make Sure Your Beneficiaries Want the Program

If you have beneficiaries receiving support, make sure that they will use, implement, or be active in the program! You might think of (what you think is) the greatest idea, and then to find out that the nonprofit’s beneficiaries don’t even want the program!

What can help with this is by doing a Needs & Strengths Assessment! By doing this Assessment, you can also include the results of the data into your grant application!

Grant Writing Tip #15: Make Sure the Program Aligns with Your Mission Statement

This aligns with tip #12, but it’s important. Before you develop a program make sure that you chant your mission statement ;) It all needs to align otherwise you will be mission drifting!

Grant Writing Tip #16: Make Sure You Keep to Word and Page Limitations

Trying to write more pages then required won’t get you brownie points. In fact, it may get you disqualified at worst or pages redacted at best. Don’t do this.

Grant Writing Tip #17: Don’t Use Ambiguous Language

Ambiguous words and phrases can detour your grant points real quick. These include: “Lack Of,” “Rarely,” “Very High,” “Very Low,” “Not Enough,” etc. What all these phrases have in common are that they are not specific.

For more information about words ...