Secret Weapon

My 3 point plan for winning grants is adapted from Doug Hall's Jump Start your Business Brain and his success in marketing. He offers a free audiobook on the subject, too.

1. Overt Benefit -- Make it very clear what it is your project will do. Be brief. Answer any questions directly -- be sure to cover the who, what, when, where, how & why questions. Example: "If you can't breathe, nothing else matters." -- opener for helping children with asthma and lung issues.
   
2. Real Reason to Believe -- Provide specific evidence of why your program will achieve its objectives. Give quotes from people connected to the project and compelling statistical evidence (not a dry, boring list!). Examples: quotes on an afterschool program may be from students, parents, the principal, head of the PTA, head of the Dept. of Education, school board, school superintendent. Compelling statistical evidence may include the stat that has drawn "wow, really?" from others with whom you've shared the list of related stats about your program.
   
3. Dramatic Difference -- What is it that your project - and only - your project can say? What is it about you that only you can say? Find the answers to those questions and you're on your way on providing the dramatic difference between you & the competition for dollars. Example: Project - GBSC is the only bible college in Cincinnati, OH that provides a free education in exchange for work study service for any student, from any country. Personal - I testified before a Congressional sub-committee in the Watergate Hearing Rooms for the passage of the Corporation for National and Community Service Act. Keep asking yourself, "Can anyone else say this same thing?" and keep refining until there's only a small circle of people who can say the statement.

When I started using these principles in my grant proposals, my success rate on a repeat opportunity went through the roof! We placed 6 grant proposals in the Top 25 (out of 600 proposals) in one year. We had 3 in the Top 10 across the country for 2 years in a row. (They then created what I call the Cincinnati Rule & limited each YMCA association to only 2 awards.) They really do work. Thanks, Doug Hall!