The challenge of grant writing...

1. Receive guidance on how to present what you have to offer in a way that funders respond with a “YES.”
2. Know what to say to make a solid case for funding and what data to use.
3. If you have a project idea, you'll have a proposal draft that you’re excited about and is a reflection of your organization’s mission and vision for the future.
4. Develop a clear picture of how the grant funding system works.
5. Know where to look for private and public grant opportunities.
6. Learn first-hand about the qualities of outstanding proposals – the tricks of the trade.
7. Complete an assessment of your agency’s readiness for grant funding.
8. The ability to assess whether a prospect is worth pursuing by reading 990 PFs and RFPs.
9. Capacity to search for public grant opportunities and the Foundation Center database to identify prospective foundations.
10. Capacity to assess the prospect pool and begin to discern top priorities.

11. Know how to write the seven elements of a proposal.

12. Know how to write clearly and tell a good story.

13. Know how to put together a solid budget.

1. An understanding of the importance of creating positive relationships with funders.

2. A sense of ease about contacting program officers about potential projects.

3. The capacity to see the grant seeking process within an empowering context that gives you the courage to write and submit.

4. Create a powerful intention by clearly identifying your agency’s funding priorities.

5. Capacity to create a context of sufficiency and gratitude in which to do grant research.

6. You won't find yourself saying, "I don't know how to say this in a way that will make them fund it." Or "How on earth can I get a proposal submitted on time with everything else that I have to do?" Or "My grants never get funded" Or "I just don’t know grants language."

7. Have the capacity to tell your project or organization’s story from and to the heart, with integrity.

8. Feel more creativity and ease in writing proposals.

9. Know what grant writing is really about at its core.

10. Clearly understand the link between planning and success.

11. Feel nourished by the grant writing process and feel empowered to fulfill your vision for the world.

Before the course starts there will be some preparation work, such as introducing yourself to the group, and creating a team if you don’t already have one etc..

If you have a project idea, you can sign up for a 30 minute 1:1 consultation with me to hone in on some details and questions to give you a kick start.

If you don't have a project idea, I suggest that you work on a team with someone who does and learn from that process. In addition, I suggest that you might want to focus in on a specific aspect of the process. You are always welcome to sign up for a 1:1 consult if project ideas comes into focus for you.

If you have some experience with grant writing, you will find that this revives you and gives you a saner way to approach the process. Feel free to sign up for a 1:1 consult if you would like to talk through where you find yourself getting hung up in the proposal process.

On Friday evenings you will receive an email with a link with the week’s course materials. You’ll have the week to go through them and do the exercises – in some cases with your buddy. All the information is broken into digestible chunks so you won’t get overwhelmed. You might choose do to do an hour a day or set aside an afternoon each week.

If you have extra time because of COVID19 and would like to work through the materials at a faster pace, just let me know and I can give you access to the modules as you complete them.

The following week at 4:00pm EST on Tuesdays and 1:00pm on Fridays we’ll have a live 45 minute Q&A session via Zoom and I’ll answer any questions that have come up for you. If you have questions in the interim you can post them in the course materials.

For the weeks 6 and 7, you’ll take all that you’ve learned and compile a draft – you’ll need at least 8-10 hours each week to do that. I know that’s a lot of time for most non-profit folks but you know that you get out of anything what you put into it.

Once your draft is complete, we’ll share them with each other via googledocs and everyone will read each other’s draft and make constructive comments. During the Peer Review Session, we’ll take 10-15 minutes to offer feedback to each person on their draft.

Overall this is an in-depth, interactive holistic experience designed to be solid yet light, focused and expansive, logical and creative, energizing and calming, powerful and grounding and full of air – a nice balance.

The problem with most grant trainings is that you take the class and then months later when you come to write a proposal you find you've forgotten a lot of what you've learned or the online courses are available for a limited period.

I've solved this problem by giving you long-term access to all the class materials and recordings for as long as you want them. You'll have long-term access (as long as I offer the class and I don't plan to stop anytime soon) to this material so that you can dip into it whenever you want a refresher or have an immediate deadline.

You'll be invited to join a closed group of all Grantwriter’s Well participants. I'll be actively involved in the group and answer any questions that come up. I also invite you to find an accountability buddy to go through the course with you. It will give you another perspective and be helpful to have their support for your work.

At the beginning of the course, you'll receive a 30 minute 1:1 coaching session with me. In addition, each week you’ll get a 45-minute live group Q&A calls in which you can ask me any questions that have come up as you’ve been working through the materials. Did you ever take a class and then try to put what you learned into action and hit a snag or run into something they didn't cover in class and then feel stumped? Me too, that's why I'm including this component. I'm a skilled coach and absolutely love sharing what I know about the field through these coaching sessions.

And, if you're like most people with a conscience right now, your heart vacillates between your commitment to love being presenced in the world and despair and rage with the current state of global affairs.

I know that you appreciate that we’ve been freely gifted a bountiful earth for us to enjoy and know there simply must be kinder and gentler ways for us to distribute the bounty so that everyone thrives.

In an ideal world, good-hearted, hard-working people like you and I wouldn’t have to spend hours writing grant proposals to compete for limited money from the government and foundations for programs that provide basic necessities to people who need them, or to protect the planet from wanton destruction and depletion of its resources by corporations.

But, for now, the world is what it is.

I'd love to be like the guy on late night TV with the dollar signs on his jacket raving about how much money is out there and all you have do is apply. Or to teach a 1 or 2 day class and send you on your way knowing that you'll do fine.

But, I'd be pumping you with falsehoods and not giving you the skills that you need. And it would leave you prey to feeling like you're doing something wrong.

Grant writing is not difficult but it is super competitive and so you do have to know how it works and be really strategic in how you spend your time.

You have a good heart and I want you to thrive.

So, the best that I can do is share my decades of grant writing experience to help you be more effective in getting more money for your organization for years to come.