WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
This workshop will provide nonprofit professionals with essential skills to develop funding applications, including project descriptions and proposals. They will learn how to carefully target appropriate funding bodies, and to communicate their activities so that the potential grantor is as enthusiastic about the program as they are and will seek to partner with them to achieve their goals.
Participants will create a set of resources that they can use for potential funding opportunities so they can build and sustain their financial base for the future. This base will create an efficient process to allow them both to minimize the time necessary to draft subsequent grant applications and also to leave them free for their other important work!
LEARNING OUTCOMES (competencies)
At the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Understand the grantor's perspective, including their goals and policies, and learn how aligning your proposal with those objectives can improve its chances of success.
- Examine grant application forms and identify what the grantor is looking for in each question, ensuring that their answers add value and meet grantor expectations.
- Develop an efficient strategy for completing grant applications by organizing the form’s structure and planning responses.
- Identify their organization's unique “USPs” (unique selling points) and create examples to include in their proposals.
- Develop a clear proposal goal using SMART criteria, making sure it is achievable if funding is granted.
- Define specific, measurable outcomes and demonstrate that their organization can deliver them.
- Learn how to use language effectively to reflect their organization's mission and to engage the proposal reader, while avoiding off-putting phrasing.
- Experience being part of a review panel and understand the grantor’s perspective by evaluating peer proposals.
