Seven Secrets of Successful – and Lower Stress – Grant Writing

I don’t know about you, but my staff and I find ourselves in the throes of grant writing this month. It seems that all the funders have put their deadlines on April 1. Why do they do that? Topic for another day...

We have found a few tips to help make the process a little easier and less stressful. Hopefully some of these will also help you.

1.       Plan ahead. We look at the grants that we need to write for a six-month period twice a year: ideally in January and July. That way, we know when our busy times will hit and can plan our other work accordingly.

2.       Start early. Planning ahead also allows us to start our work on each grant early. Ideally, we like to start each application at least 3 weeks before the deadline so we can have a draft to the client to review at least 2 weeks ahead of the due date. You likely don’t have clients with whom you work, but you have bosses, program staff or others who need to review and approve your applications. Starting early gives them plenty of time to review as well, reducing the stress on all of you.

3.       Outline the application. We start every grant application by outlining the questions including the character or word limits and required attachments in Word. That way, we know in advance the amount of time the application will take and can gather the information we need from our clients, research, or files. When we sit to write, we have most of what we need in front of us so we can just write.

4.       Take breaks. I frequently take a walk around the neighborhood to clear my head or just stretch, especially when we have a particularly busy streak or busy day. Even a trip to the bathroom or walk around the office can provide a much needed break.

5.       Find multiple readers to proof your application. Although I think I proof well, I inevitably miss mistakes, especially in something I wrote. Make sure you have other eyes on every application you submit to catch the mistakes you overlook and to assure that your application makes sense.

6.       Submit early. Sometimes your username or password won’t work. Sometimes the system has a glitch. Sometimes you miss a question and have to rewrite. We recently found the PDF version of an application from which we wrote the outline that did not match the online version, and we had to heavily edit what we had written. Thankfully, we had time. Give yourself plenty of time to fix these errors and still have the application submitted before the eleventh hour.

7.       Celebrate. You worked hard; take a few minutes to relish each submission, maybe with a walk or even just a stretch. I find joy crossing each grant off my to-do list! Find what brings you joy and do it.

Grant writing doesn’t have to be an onerous, stressful activity. If you find yourself feeling that way, look and your process and see if better planning your projects will let you relax and enjoy the process more. I try to plan it so that on the deadline days – like March 31 – I can sit back and relax rather than struggle to submit those last-minute applications. I hope you can too.

What tips do you have to make the process less stressful?