Grant Seeking in an Electronic Age-- About the Book

Table of Contents
Detailed TOC
Introduction

Study Guide for Students
Instructor's Guide
Authors
Adopt or Purchase

Introduction to Grant Seeking in an Electronic Age

Grant Seeking in an Electronic Age takes a process approach to grant seeking. Based firmly in the context of rhetorical theory and strategic communication, our approach is practical and hands-on. We define grant seeking as a six-step process:

Identifying or recognizing a societal, organizational, or community problem

Generating an idea, project, or program to solve the problem

Determining if the idea (your proposed solution) furthers the mission and goals of your organization

Researching potential sponsors to find a match between your idea and what the sponsor wants to fund

Designing, writing, and submitting a proposal that follows the sponsorís guidelines

Getting funded so that you can implement your solution to solve the problem and benefit the target population

Nested within the grant seeking process is the proposal writing process. About ten chapters in the book are devoted to writing the proposal. We spend two chapters on writing and refining the need statement because we believe that a clear and compelling need statement, which identifies the problem and the population to be helped, is absolutely critical for writing a winning proposal. Throughout the book, we encourage you to continue to revise and enhance your need statement as your project ideas evolve.

Grant Seeking in an Electronic Age provides you with a systematic process for identifying problems, researching sponsors, and building internal and external support for project ideas, as well as designing, writing, and submitting proposals. We focus on writing the kinds of proposals submitted by nonprofit organizations, such as schools, universities, and social service agencies, for government, foundation, and corporate funding. These proposals are sometimes called ìgrant proposalsî to distinguish them from business proposals. However, we will use the more generic term ìproposalî in this text because not all of the proposals you write will be awarded grants, some will be awarded contracts. We provide examples of training proposals, international development proposals, educational program proposals, social services project proposals, and proposals to fund research projects in the humanities and social sciences. The approach we take to grant seeking includes the following features: You will learn the entire process of grant seeking from identifying and articulating a problem; to coming up with an idea for solving the problem; to determining if your solution furthers the mission and goals of your organization; to researching potential sponsors; to making initial contact with the sponsors; to designing, writing, and submitting a proposal which follows the sponsorís guidelines. Not only do we discuss what to do if you get funded, but also what to do if you donít. You will learn a rhetorical approach to grant seeking and proposal writing based on principles such as analyzing audiences, determining purposes, constructing convincing arguments, and building in the proposal logic. We introduce the kinds of rhetorical appeals you can make to build your credibility, and we demonstrate which appeals are most effective with different types of sponsors. We talk about how to adapt your strategies to the needs of different sponsors, and also give you annotated examples and exercises to help you do just that.

With this book, you will concentrate on how to do the thinking and planning necessary for researching and writing a proposal. Moreover, we lead you through a systematic process for writing each section of the proposal.

You will learn how to search for potential sponsors on the Internet, as well as by using the Foundation Center Collections in many public libraries around the country. An entire chapter is devoted to using the Foundation Center Collections and other library sources. Another chapter is devoted to learning about grant seeking on the Web, including how to use search engines, expanding and narrowing a search, and using advanced search capabilities. We also direct you to portals and websites for government, foundation, and corporate sponsors. In addition to finding sponsors on the Internet, we teach you how to find information, examples, and statistics to enhance your need statements.

As you learn to state the objectives and tasks necessary to accomplish the proposed work, we encourage you to use software tools like project management software, spreadsheets, databases, templates, and advanced word processing features and explain their value to you both in preparing your proposal and later in managing your project.

Because of the emphasis by sponsors on evaluation, sustainability, and measurable outcomes, we teach you how to turn objectives into outcomes, how to develop monitoring and reporting plans, and how to demonstrate project sustainability.

Each chapter has specific learning outcomes clearly stated, annotated examples illustrating the points made in that chapter, and sample proposal sections for discussion--complete with discussion questions and writing assignments. Many of the chapters have a series of questions to guide your thinking, alert you to information you have to gather, and give you the basis for productive discussions with people on your proposal development team in your organization. Rather than doing ìmake-workî assignments, you can use the assignments and exercises in this book to help you identify and assess sponsors, interpret Requests for Proposals (RFPs), determine your competitive advantages, and complete a draft of a real proposal that you or your organization plans to submit for funding. In many cases, answering the exercise questions in the chapters results in a first draft of various parts of your proposal. We find this querying strategy useful for both beginning grant seekers and more experienced grant writers. The former learn to practice a systematic and transferable process for grant seeking, and the latter find the exercises to be useful rubrics for identifying and organizing information for writing specific sections of the proposal.

Many of the assignments in the book are structured to enable you to work either individually or in teams to design, write, and peer review drafts of proposal sections. We provide peer evaluation forms that direct you to look for certain rhetorical elements in the assignments regardless of the content. The peer evaluation forms serve both as guides for designing and writing drafts of proposal sections and as protocols or checklists for evaluating the drafts. This approach is pedagogically sound whether you are working alone or in groups because it helps to instill and reinforce the overarching rhetorical principles inherent in the grant seeking and proposal writing processes. By completing these exercises, you demonstrate that you can identify the targeted rhetorical elements in textbook examples, incorporate them into your own work, and recognize their presence, absence, and/or effectiveness in the work of others.

Finally, the writing assignments in Grant Seeking in an Electronic Age build on one another, providing you with a systematic approach for researching, designing, writing, and submitting proposals.


	About the Book Table of Contents Detailed TOC Introduction Study Guide for Students Instructor's Guide Authors Adopt or Purchase

				Introduction to Grant Seeking in an Electronic Age Grant Seeking in an Electronic Age takes a process approach to grant seeking. Based firmly in the context of rhetorical theory and strategic communication, our approach is practical and hands-on. We define grant seeking as a six-step process: Identifying or recognizing a societal, organizational, or community problem Generating an idea, project, or program to solve the problem Determining if the idea (your proposed solution) furthers the mission and goals of your organization Researching potential sponsors to find a match between your idea and what the sponsor wants to fund Designing, writing, and submitting a proposal that follows the sponsorís guidelines Getting funded so that you can implement your solution to solve the problem and benefit the target population Notice that in this process, proposal writing is the fifth of six stages. All of the preceding stages become part of the planning, researching, goal-setting, and relationship-building necessary to write an effective proposal. Nested within the grant seeking process is the proposal writing process. About ten chapters in the book are devoted to writing the proposal. We spend two chapters on writing and refining the need statement because we believe that a clear and compelling need statement, which identifies the problem and the population to be helped, is absolutely critical for writing a winning proposal. Throughout the book, we encourage you to continue to revise and enhance your need statement as your project ideas evolve. Grant Seeking in an Electronic Age provides you with a systematic process for identifying problems, researching sponsors, and building internal and external support for project ideas, as well as designing, writing, and submitting proposals. We focus on writing the kinds of proposals submitted by nonprofit organizations, such as schools, universities, and social service agencies, for government, foundation, and corporate funding. These proposals are sometimes called ìgrant proposalsî to distinguish them from business proposals. However, we will use the more generic term ìproposalî in this text because not all of the proposals you write will be awarded grants, some will be awarded contracts. We provide examples of training proposals, international development proposals, educational program proposals, social services project proposals, and proposals to fund research projects in the humanities and social sciences. The approach we take to grant seeking includes the following features: You will learn the entire process of grant seeking from identifying and articulating a problem; to coming up with an idea for solving the problem; to determining if your solution furthers the mission and goals of your organization; to researching potential sponsors; to making initial contact with the sponsors; to designing, writing, and submitting a proposal which follows the sponsorís guidelines. Not only do we discuss what to do if you get funded, but also what to do if you donít. You will learn a rhetorical approach to grant seeking and proposal writing based on principles such as analyzing audiences, determining purposes, constructing convincing arguments, and building in the proposal logic. We introduce the kinds of rhetorical appeals you can make to build your credibility, and we demonstrate which appeals are most effective with different types of sponsors. We talk about how to adapt your strategies to the needs of different sponsors, and also give you annotated examples and exercises to help you do just that. With this book, you will concentrate on how to do the thinking and planning necessary for researching and writing a proposal. Moreover, we lead you through a systematic process for writing each section of the proposal. You will learn how to search for potential sponsors on the Internet, as well as by using the Foundation Center Collections in many public libraries around the country. An entire chapter is devoted to using the Foundation Center Collections and other library sources. Another chapter is devoted to learning about grant seeking on the Web, including how to use search engines, expanding and narrowing a search, and using advanced search capabilities. We also direct you to portals and websites for government, foundation, and corporate sponsors. In addition to finding sponsors on the Internet, we teach you how to find information, examples, and statistics to enhance your need statements. As you learn to state the objectives and tasks necessary to accomplish the proposed work, we encourage you to use software tools like project management software, spreadsheets, databases, templates, and advanced word processing features and explain their value to you both in preparing your proposal and later in managing your project. Because of the emphasis by sponsors on evaluation, sustainability, and measurable outcomes, we teach you how to turn objectives into outcomes, how to develop monitoring and reporting plans, and how to demonstrate project sustainability. Each chapter has specific learning outcomes clearly stated, annotated examples illustrating the points made in that chapter, and sample proposal sections for discussion--complete with discussion questions and writing assignments. Many of the chapters have a series of questions to guide your thinking, alert you to information you have to gather, and give you the basis for productive discussions with people on your proposal development team in your organization. Rather than doing ìmake-workî assignments, you can use the assignments and exercises in this book to help you identify and assess sponsors, interpret Requests for Proposals (RFPs), determine your competitive advantages, and complete a draft of a real proposal that you or your organization plans to submit for funding. In many cases, answering the exercise questions in the chapters results in a first draft of various parts of your proposal. We find this querying strategy useful for both beginning grant seekers and more experienced grant writers. The former learn to practice a systematic and transferable process for grant seeking, and the latter find the exercises to be useful rubrics for identifying and organizing information for writing specific sections of the proposal. Many of the assignments in the book are structured to enable you to work either individually or in teams to design, write, and peer review drafts of proposal sections. We provide peer evaluation forms that direct you to look for certain rhetorical elements in the assignments regardless of the content. The peer evaluation forms serve both as guides for designing and writing drafts of proposal sections and as protocols or checklists for evaluating the drafts. This approach is pedagogically sound whether you are working alone or in groups because it helps to instill and reinforce the overarching rhetorical principles inherent in the grant seeking and proposal writing processes. By completing these exercises, you demonstrate that you can identify the targeted rhetorical elements in textbook examples, incorporate them into your own work, and recognize their presence, absence, and/or effectiveness in the work of others. Finally, the writing assignments in Grant Seeking in an Electronic Age build on one another, providing you with a systematic approach for researching, designing, writing, and submitting proposals. Top Home >> About the Book >> Introduction Webmaster Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Pearson Longman - Legal Notice

Introduction to Grant Seeking in an Electronic Age