Since receiving money is as easy as filing a free grant application, every nonprofit worth its salt is filing a proposal. In 2009 it has been tougher and more competitive to get grants awarded. The nonprofit filing the free grant application has to stand out from the crowd. In order to stand out, good grant writers communicate with the program officer.
Foundations like people with attitudes of “I will accomplish my goal without you, but truth is I would rather accomplish this goal with you.” Advocating for social change doesn’t come easy. The nonprofit organization is all that stands between success and failure for those it will help.
The Program Officer
Grant writers always think of the program officer first when filing a free grant application. The reason is every grant proposal that is written must survive this person in order to be approved for funding. They are very special people with a very special skills for weeding through an avalanche of grant proposals while remaining relatively sane. What a program officer does best is gauge the passion and commitment of your nonprofit organization to see if that passion is a good fit for the foundational grant or government grant intiative.
It is a mind-boggling job that only gets worse around deadline time. Do nonprofits just sit around and wait for deadlines to come to turn in the grant proposals? Why do nonprofits write the grant proposal while ignoring the guidelines? It's easy to see the program officer has a lot of problems to wade through on a daily basis while still remaining calm and helpful for those nonprofits that call them with questions.
The Nine Secrets Every Grant Writer Knows
The nine secrets every grant writer knows to help get the grant proposal approved by the program officer so that it can move to the boardroom.
Here are the nine secrets:
- Before putting pen to paper please call the program officer first. Ask for updated guidelines and talk about your organization.
- Also make sure to describe in great detail the solution to the social problem that is being solved. Program officers zero in on solutions because they have heard most of the problems a thousand times.
- Make sure the program officer reading the grant proposal or free grant application is transformed by the mission and is floored by the action, which fulfills every gap in service imaginable in dealing with this particular social issue. It’s extremely important to report the abilities to tackle the social issue.
- Very important also is to spell out exactly how the project will work, step by step. The program officer can then effectively envision how the project operates. That in fact, it is a viable and credible solution.
- Write very simply and clearly so that the program officer does not have to guess, because they won’t try and guess. They will move on to the next proposal leaving the unclear grant proposal on the desk or worse in the round file.
- Do not beg in the grant proposal or make statements like " We may not survive if we don’t get this grant.” Do your best to persuade the program officer to move the grant proposal up to the boardroom. by advocating your mission and vision.
- Do not contact a board member or the foundation donor because someone in the nonprofit organization knows them. Remember the program officer is paid to be the gatekeeper and if you try and do an end run they will surely scrap the proposal or application.
- In regurgitating a grant proposal such as a template make sure that no information from the last funder is left in the document. Edit the proposal two or three times.
- Last but not least the biggest secret is to turn the grant proposal or free grant application in early so the program officer can call with any questions or changes. Give them the chance to help!
Start applying the nine biggest secrets to the next grant proposal that is sent out and see if these ideas help change your results for the better. Remember the program officer is there because business of the foundation is to award grants to worthwhile charity's that are a good fit for the foundational initiative.
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