A to Z Grant Writing II - Beyond the Basics

Take your grant writing expertise to the next level as you learn how to get funding. This course will equip you with the skills you need to research funding sources, create a fundraising plan, and write winning grant proposals.

6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs

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Florida International University

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Learning method

Self-Guided

$129

No instructor. Study on your own schedule

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Instructor-Moderated

$129

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Starting September 11 | October 16

Details + Objectives

Course code: agw

Are you ready to continue your journey into the world of grants? You will learn how to create a fundraising plan for all types of grantmakers. In addition, you will explore websites for finding and reviewing corporate, foundation, and government grant funding opportunities and grant application guidelines.

You will go through every aspect of strategic funding research, preparing a fundraising plan, writing an award-winning plan of operation, and creating a project budget without red flags. Then you will journey into the world of grants available for your projects. The excitement will build when you discover just how many funding opportunities are available.

You will see grants for arts and humanities, education, medical, science and agriculture, human services, and corporate foundation grants. You will also explore new grant-writing trends and what to do when you're notified of a grant award or a grant rejection. Don't worry, there's a plan to implement for future grant seeking success if you don't get your project funded.

By the end of the course, you will be prepared to continue tracking future grant-writing and funding trends, bounce back successfully from rejection notices, and manage all of your grant awards proficiently. In addition, you will gain confidence in all areas of grant seeking, grant writing, and grants management (post-award reporting requirements).

What you will learn

Learn how to create a fundraising plan for all types of grantmakers
Go through every aspect of strategic funding research and preparing a fundraising plan
Learn to write a good plan of operation
Understand how to create a project budget without red flags
Explore new grant-writing trends
Understand what to do if you're notified of a grant award or a grant rejection

How you will benefit

Gain confidence in all areas of grant seeking, grant writing, and grants management
Learn how to find and assess new sources of funding for your projects
Open the door to new opportunities as a professional grant writer

How the course is taught

Instructor-Moderated or Self-Guided online course
6 Weeks or 3 Months access
24 course hours

Outline

This first lesson will explore the fundraising plan. You will learn the plan's purpose and how to format a working document, and you will learn how to determine how much grant money you need and by what date. You will also look at possible types of funders from the private sector (corporate and foundation grantmakers) to the public sector (government agency grantmakers). In addition, you will learn a few basics about corporate sponsorships, and you will find out about matching funds and how to identify cash and in-kind matching funds. By the end of this lesson, you will have a good overview of how to identify your grant-funding needs, agencies you might consider targeting for your projects, and how to put in place a proper fundraising plan.

How do government funding agencies eliminate so many hopeful grant applicants? This lesson will walk you through finding government grant funding opportunities, reading grant application guidelines that are complex and often confusing, and learning how to find and engage the best types of community partners as committed stakeholders in your proposed project.

Did you know that the most strategic grant writing is in the plan of operation? The plan of operation includes goals and objectives, implementation strategies, a logic model, a plan for key personnel or a management plan, an evaluation plan, and a project sustainability plan. Get ready! In this lesson, you will find out how to develop an award-winning plan of operation with all of the required components.

Are you always in doubt when you have to develop a project budget for your grant application? What do funders really want to see in your budget summary and narrative? How do you plot key personnel salaries and benefits? Where do general operating expenses go? What are the common mistakes that you should avoid? This budgeting 101 lesson will answer all the above questions and more!

How do you find grant-funding opportunities for arts and humanities projects? In this lesson, you learn about some opportunities and challenges associated with grant funding in these areas, and you will also learn best practices in approaching community and regional arts organizations for potential partnership opportunities as well as corporate sponsorship opportunities. Finally, you will discover some excellent resources to guide you through the arts and humanities funding tunnel.

How do you find grant-funding opportunities for education projects? Are you familiar with Pre-K-12 and higher education grantmakers? Are you experiencing challenges in writing these types of grant applications? What are the challenges and who are the funders for these types of projects? This lesson will answer these questions and provide you with resources to guide you through the world of education grants.

How do you find grant-funding opportunities for medical, science, and agriculture projects? Are you familiar with the grantmakers in these three grant funding areas? Are you experiencing challenges in writing these types of grant applications? What are the challenges and who are the funders for these types of projects? In this lesson, you will find answers to these questions as well as some resources to guide you through the world of medical, science, and agriculture grants!

How do you find grant-funding opportunities for human services projects? Are you familiar with the grantmakers in this area of funding? Are you experiencing challenges in writing these types of grant applications? What are the opportunities and challenges when searching for and writing human services grants? In this lesson, you will explore the answers to these questions and get some resources to guide you through the world of human service grants.

Do you know the ins and outs of foundation grants? What are the pros and cons of applying to corporate foundations? How can you overcome the challenges of finding potential funders and writing letters of inquiry and grant proposals to corporate foundations? Do you know what these foundations fund? If you don't know the answers to these questions yet, you will soon enough. This lesson will cover everything you need to know about applying for corporate foundation grants.

This lesson is all about grantmaking trends. Are you aware of the latest funding trends in government or corporate foundations? Are you monitoring future trends, so you will understand what projects are most likely to be funded by grantmakers? This lesson will look at the fastest-growing industries impacting the world of nonprofits and government agencies and will discuss online applications and why so many funders have changed their processes and moved to online e-grant application systems.

What do you do when you receive notification that you didn't get the grant? It's not the desired outcome, but it's important to be prepared to do a post-assessment and debrief your partners. In this lesson, you will find out how to assess your application and gather crucial information so that you can have a better chance of success the next time, and you will review best practices in debriefing partnering organizations. The lesson will walk you through the road to funding recovery, including practical planning for reapplication and funding down the slate.

Your hard work paid off! You've received notification of a forthcoming grant award. Are you excited and overwhelmed? Are you stressing about the paperwork, reporting deadlines, and how to set up separate audit trails for incoming grant funds? This lesson will take a close look at contracts, timelines, and accounting requirements. Then, you will learn how to avoid red flags and how to collect data and report to funding agencies. Finally, you will get some tips on communicating with your federal project officer.

Instructors & Support

Dr. Beverly A. Browning

Dr. Beverly A. Browning is a grant writing consultant and visionary who uses thought leadership to work with nonprofit organizations struggling with the woes of revenue stream imbalances. She has been researching grant funding, grantmaking trends, and board-related barriers to nonprofit capacity building for over 40 years. Together she and her team have helped her clients win over $750 million in grant awards.

Dr. Browning is the founder and director of the Grant Writing Training Foundation and Bev Browning, LLC. She is the author of 44 grant writing publications, including six editions of Grant Writing for Dummies and the 6th edition of Nonprofit Kit for Dummies (to be published in 2021).

Dr. Browning holds graduate and post-graduate degrees in organizational development, public administration, and business administration. She is also a Certified Strategic Planning Facilitator (CSPF), has a McNellis Compression Planning Institute Facilitation Training distinction, and is an Approved Trainer for the Grant Professionals Association (GPA), the Certified Fund Raising Executive International (CFRE, and the Grant Professionals Certification Institute (GPCI).

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Requirements

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites to take this course.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

PC: Windows 8 or later.
Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

FAQ

Instructor-Moderated: A new session of each course begins each month. Please refer to the session start dates for scheduling.

Self-Guided: Your course begins immediately after you enroll.

Instructor-Moderated: Once a course session starts, two lessons will be released each week for the 6 week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends. You will interact with the instructor through the online discussion area. There are no live sessions or online meetings with the instructor.

Self-Guided: You have 3 months of access to the course. After enrolling, you can learn and complete the course at your own pace, within the allotted access period. You will have the opportunity to interact with other students in the online discussion area.

Instructor-Moderated: The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes two weeks after each lesson is released, so you're encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. However, you will have access to all lessons from the time they are released until the course ends.

Self-Guided: There is no time limit to complete each lesson, other than completing all lessons within the allotted access period. Discussion areas for each lesson are open for the entire duration of the course.

Instructor-Moderated: Students enrolled in a six-week online class benefit from a one-time, 10-day extension for each course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.

Self-Guided: Because this course is self-guided, no extensions will be granted after the start of your enrollment.

Reviews

Before I started this course, I knew nothing about grant writing even though I work in a grant-based not-for-profit organization. I have gained so much knowledge in this course. I am thinking of taking more advanced courses in order to learn more to assist others and myself. Continue to keep up the good work as you are helping others to dream new dreams and others to set new goals. It was a pleasure having you to walk us through this process.

I had never taken a grant writing course like this before, but I wanted to learn more because of its vast applicability in what we do. I had planned to do the in-person class initially, but the college refunded my money due to not having enough people and then Covid-19. Though I was hesitant about the on-line class initially, after reading the instructor's bio, I decided this was the class to join. I must say that you delivered greatly and made it much more understandable than I thought. In addition, the structure of the online class itself is great.

A to Z Grant Writing II - Beyond the Basics

Florida International University