November 2005 Featured Article

Who is on Your Grant Writing Dream Team?

Pat Bohse, President of Bohse & Associates, Inc.

Does this sound familiar? An RFP is announced and someone in the municipality, usually the Mayor, thinks that you should apply for the money.  After you look at the piles on your desk, you decide that this time you’ll take a different approach and pull together a team of experts who have the knowledge and ability to help you write a winning grant proposal.  We’ll call them the Dream Team.

The members you should consider to be on your Dream Team should be:

• Director and/or Project Coordinator for the particular grant – It is imperative that someone who has experience in the implementation of projects have input in the creation of projects.
  
  
• Budget Specialist – It is vital that after the brainstorming session for the project is completed, that the budget is created. The reason that this is important is that in many cases if you write the program narrative first, you will exceed the amount of money that is available in the grant.  In the project budget you will highlight all personnel costs (salary and fringe) and OTPS (other than personnel costs), which could include administrative overhead and program costs.
  
  

• Collaborating Partners – If you are collaborating with other partners, they should be involved in the discussion, and there should be a written commitment outlining their roles and responsibilities to the project (Memorandums of Understanding).

• Writer – If any of the people mentioned above is not the writer, you will need to have someone collect all of the materials from the different team members and write the proposal so that it reads in one voice.

• Administrative/Support – You will need someone to package the proposal in an appealing way. Therefore, you’ll need someone with very good computer skills who will be able to do graphs, charts and scanning, as well as to follow the formatting guidelines set out in the application. Not only will you need someone to package the proposal, but you’ll also need an excellent proofreader – someone who has excellent grammar, spelling and punctuation skills – preferably someone who is not familiar with your daily jargon so that they can read it through the eyes of the funder.

• External Consultants – In some cases, municipalities hire external consultants to do all of the above or pieces of it.  If you use consultants, make sure they have experience with the agency and/or projects that you are applying for.

I have established a theory, which we call the Bohse Theory. When you brainstorm the project idea prior to writing the narrative and, as a result of that, develop a practical budget that agrees with the program narrative and staffing patterns, you will have a great proposal.

I hope that these tips will be helpful to you. If you have additional tips, suggestions, or success stories, we want to hear from you.  Please send your stories to Pat Bohse at pbohse@bohse.com.

To learn more about how to write grants, visit Bohse & Associate’s Web site, where they have provided a listing of links to various grant writing proposal aids, or visit the Online Proposal Writing Aids & Courses section of the League’s Grant Resource Center.

 Full version of November Article in Adobe PDF format for printing

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GRANT RESOURCE CENTER November 2005 Featured Article Who is on Your Grant Writing Dream Team? Pat Bohse, President of Bohse & Associates, Inc. Does this sound familiar? An RFP is announced and someone in the municipality, usually the Mayor, thinks that you should apply for the money.  After you look at the piles on your desk, you decide that this time you’ll take a different approach and pull together a team of experts who have the knowledge and ability to help you write a winning grant proposal.  We’ll call them the Dream Team. The members you should consider to be on your Dream Team should be: Director and/or Project Coordinator for the particular grant – It is imperative that someone who has experience in the implementation of projects have input in the creation of projects. Budget Specialist – It is vital that after the brainstorming session for the project is completed, that the budget is created. The reason that this is important is that in many cases if you write the program narrative first, you will exceed the amount of money that is available in the grant.  In the project budget you will highlight all personnel costs (salary and fringe) and OTPS (other than personnel costs), which could include administrative overhead and program costs. Collaborating Partners – If you are collaborating with other partners, they should be involved in the discussion, and there should be a written commitment outlining their roles and responsibilities to the project (Memorandums of Understanding). Writer – If any of the people mentioned above is not the writer, you will need to have someone collect all of the materials from the different team members and write the proposal so that it reads in one voice. Administrative/Support – You will need someone to package the proposal in an appealing way. Therefore, you’ll need someone with very good computer skills who will be able to do graphs, charts and scanning, as well as to follow the formatting guidelines set out in the application. Not only will you need someone to package the proposal, but you’ll also need an excellent proofreader – someone who has excellent grammar, spelling and punctuation skills – preferably someone who is not familiar with your daily jargon so that they can read it through the eyes of the funder. External Consultants – In some cases, municipalities hire external consultants to do all of the above or pieces of it.  If you use consultants, make sure they have experience with the agency and/or projects that you are applying for. I have established a theory, which we call the Bohse Theory. When you brainstorm the project idea prior to writing the narrative and, as a result of that, develop a practical budget that agrees with the program narrative and staffing patterns, you will have a great proposal.   I hope that these tips will be helpful to you. If you have additional tips, suggestions, or success stories, we want to hear from you.  Please send your stories to Pat Bohse at pbohse@bohse.com.   To learn more about how to write grants, visit Bohse & Associate’s Web site, where they have provided a listing of links to various grant writing proposal aids, or visit the Online Proposal Writing Aids & Courses section of the League’s Grant Resource Center.      Full version of November Article in Adobe PDF format for printing   Go Back to GRANT SEEKER'S TOOLKIT Main Menu Return to main Grant Resource Center page