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Courses >
Grant Writing & Nonprofit Management > Writing Effective Grant Proposals
 Preparing successful grant proposals to receive funding from corporations or foundations requires careful research, meticulous preparation, and graceful writing. Grant administrators tell us that many grant requestors have no real understanding of the proposal writing process and as a result, their worthy causes lose out.
If you learn how to avoid the errors that lead to the rejection of your proposal, you will be better prepared to help the causes you most admire. This course will walk you through all of the essential steps--including an important discussion of what you must do when the grant arrives!
In this course, you’ll learn how to become fully familiar with the institution or project for which you are requesting support. You’ll get valuable guidance in preparing a background statement and a brief financial statement to support your request. You’ll also research some charitable foundation and corporate giving sources.
Then, you'll learn how to put everything together so you can assemble, write, and submit complete grant proposals to foundations, corporations, and wealthy individuals for any number of your pet projects.
This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Jillian Poole.
 Jillian Poole has raised money for schools and colleges, arts organizations, community organizations – you name it – in the U.S. and abroad. She loves fund raising, because doing so empowers her to make wonderful things happen. She has had many years of hands-on fund raising experience for non-profit organizations, large and small. She taught a graduate course in arts management and fund raising at The American University for 16 years, and authored Managing for Money: A Handbook for International Cultural Institutions, a book that has been translated into six languages.
To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Requirements:
Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins (two free and simple downloads you obtain at http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and Get Adobe Reader).
Syllabus:
All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.
A new section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.
| Week One |
| Wednesday - Lesson 01 |
There’s nothing magical about preparing a grant request, but in this lesson, you’ll learn some easy and fun tricks of trade that will help you with all sorts of writing projects, even those beyond grant proposals. And you’ll learn special ways to practice these tricks!
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| Friday - Lesson 02 |
Those of us who work for causes we think are important care about them in a very special way, usually a rather subjective one. But grantors who deal with literally thousands of institutions and causes have a rather different way of thinking about them. In this lesson, you’ll put yourself in their shoes. And in the process, you’ll learn a great way to describe your own cause to anyone.
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| Week Two |
| Wednesday - Lesson 03 |
Now that you’ve tried on your grantor’s shoes, let's talk about why those grantors look for certain kinds of information and documents. You’ll learn what these documents are so you can dig them out and be ready to supply them when you prepare a grant request.
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| Friday - Lesson 04 |
There are lots of interesting things to know about each individual nonprofit organization, but all nonprofits share one thing: They're not in it to for the money! We all know that you can measure a good business by its bottom line—whether it makes money or not. But how do you measure the effectiveness of a nonprofit that needs money? In this lesson, we’ll start to look into it.
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| Week Three |
| Wednesday - Lesson 05 |
The hunt for funding sources is the eternal game of hide and seek that we all play in this business. How do you find sources that might be appropriate for you? It’s a game that we can play in a library or on the Web, but the Web makes it easiest! This lesson will point you toward the most effective research tools available.
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| Friday - Lesson 06 |
Once you find some foundations that you think might be a good fit for your cause, how do you choose among a field that might include hundreds? In this lesson, we’ll discuss ways to sift through these foundations, and in the course of this process, we may unearth sources you haven’t even considered!
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| Week Four |
| Wednesday - Lesson 07 |
You've looked at all the possible charitable foundations that fit your cause, but don't stop there. What about the corporate world? Corporations have foundations, but they also have other ways of giving. We’ll talk about packaging your projects for corporations, then we’ll decide when to ask the corporate foundation and when to approach them in another way.
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| Friday - Lesson 08 |
For those of you who are word people, you’ll learn another way to tell your story—let the numbers do the talking! People reviewing your proposals will attach great importance to numbers, so you can’t get away with simply describing a project with words. In this lesson, we’ll discuss ways of preparing numbers effectively. It’s not hard to do, and it’s essential to the success of your proposal.
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| Week Five |
| Wednesday - Lesson 09 |
By the time you reach this lesson, you’ll have all the pieces you need for your proposal. Here we’ll fine-tune what you have. Then we’ll put them all together and add the finishing touches so you can finally put a complete proposal in the mail.
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| Friday - Lesson 10 |
Everyone knows that you can’t win ‘em all! But when you do get a turndown, there are positive alternatives to doom and gloom. The suggestions in this lesson will help you deal with those inevitable turndowns.
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| Week Six |
| Wednesday - Lesson 11 |
Okay, just as you hoped—you did get a gift! There’s an old saying in this business: Every gift paves the way to the next. In this lesson, we'll make sure you know just how to pave that road!
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| Friday - Lesson 12 |
Now that you have all the elements you need for your proposal, can you also send it to an individual? Well, not really—at least not the whole thing. You need to think about what would interest those individuals and how you can best present it to them. That’s what we'll cover in the final lesson of this course. I think you’ll enjoy it and I know you’ll find it useful!
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To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Student Reviews:
"As a person that started a non-profit about a year and a half ago, this course was an amazing tool. I have to say that especially the supplemental materials were amazingly helpful. Thank you for all the time you put in doing this. It has been a great resource for me."
"I came into this class having submitted many grant proposals that had been turned down. I wanted to learn why that had happened. I also wanted to learn a better way to write them. Jillian's class fulfilled my need very completly. Her writing style was very reader friendly. The information she communicated was easily understood. I was able to do her classroom assignments in a way that showed me the errors I had made in my grant applications. I submitted several questions to her during Lesson Discussion sessions. Her replies were prompt and meaningful, and very encouraging upon behalf of my efforts."
"I enjoyed this class and felt it was useful to my career. I appreciate the instructor's wealth of knowledge and attentiveness."
"I just wanted to say what a great tool this course has been. About a year and half ago I started my own non profit organization and this course has shown me some improvements I can make. It also has amazing resources that will really help us get the funding we need. Thank you for working so hard and doing such a great job."
"I really enjoyed this class. The information learned during this class will be invaluable to our non-profit animal shelter. Thanks!"
"I thoroughly enjoyed this course and found it beneficial to my grant writing career. During upcoming grant proposals, I will refer to the material and references I gained from the course lessons. I want to thank you for sharing you knowledge, skills and experience as a grant writer with us throughout this course. I will pass the word onto my friends about this course!"
"I thought the class was exactly what I needed to get my start in Grant Writing. It was informative and complete, and I would highly recommend both this class and Jillian to anyone interested in taking a beginning Grant Writing Class. Thank you Jillian, you were terrific!"
"Jillian did a good job of sharing her experiences as a grant writer. I found the information given here VERY useful for an introductory course."
"Jillian Poole gives very interesting and informative lessons with plenty of resources to help with individual research. In addition, she is a responsive instructor who writes in a friendly writer. I would recommend this course to those looking for a strong beginning, or those in need of some encouragement and confidence as a grant writer."
"Jillian put together a first rate class. A great introduction for anyone interested in learning about the basics of grant writing along with some street-wise advice."
To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Recommended Courses:
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Advanced Grant Proposal Writing
A to Z Grant Writing
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