Advanced Grant Proposal Writing

Learn from an experienced grant writer how to research and write winning grant proposals. This course will provide you with a complete understanding of all the components used to determine whether to fund or reject a proposal and how to give your project an edge over others.

6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs

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Florida International University

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Learning method

Self-Guided

$135

No instructor. Study on your own schedule

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Instructor-Moderated

$135

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Starting September 11 | October 16

Details + Objectives

Course code: adp

In this course, an experienced grant writer will show you how to research and write winning proposals that get funded. You will become proficient in the proposal format used by the vast majority of public foundations. Learn what to do and what not to do on your cover sheet, narrative, background page, and your stakeholder and third-party evaluation plan. Discover the quickest and most efficient ways to gather the information you will need to develop your proposal's attachments, including information on your organization's structure, administration, and finances. Gain a full understanding of the criteria funders use to determine whether your grant proposal gets funded or rejected.

Before this course is over, you will have discovered a number of significant finishing touches that can give your project the edge over others. You will learn about the importance of obtaining community and political support before submitting a proposal to any government agency.

What you will learn

Learn the different types of grant proposal formats
Learn how to research funding agencies so you can match your grant funding needs to their interests
Learn how to prepare each section so that you use the most useful information and avoid mistakes that can cause you to lose points
Learn to look at your proposal from the funders viewpoint
Learn to have a well-thought-out plan for spending grant monies
Learn standard definitions you need to know when it comes to planning your budget line items
Learn to use words that work, formatting techniques, how to mail your proposal
Discover the next step to take when your proposal is either funded or rejected

How you will benefit

Discover how to research and write winning grant proposals that get funded
Know what steps to take next once your proposal has been funded

How the course is taught

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

Outline

In this lesson, you'll learn the different types of grant proposal formats for corporations, foundations, and state and federal government agencies. This lesson is important because you'll discover who reviews your proposals at each step, what format the proposal review staff expect to receive, and how and why decisions to fund or reject grant proposals are made.

This lesson will teach you how to carefully research the funding agencies so you can match your grant funding needs to their interests. You'll learn how to find and use Internet research sites to identify multiple funders for grant proposal projects. You'll also learn how to spot the funder/project matches that result in a 90 percent or higher funding success rate.

In this lesson, you'll learn how to prepare the first section of the grant proposal narrative: the research and major accomplishments section. You'll learn how to sift through organizational documents and write useful information that will answer the dozens of questions that grant reviewers ask when reading your narrative. Most importantly, you'll learn how to avoid the mistakes that can cause your grant proposal to lose points during the initial stages of the funder's review process.

This lesson will teach you how to develop a current programs and activities section narrative template. You'll also learn where to find the type of information a grant reviewer needs in this section of your grant proposal. Finally, you'll learn how to confidently answer all of the questions that funders ask when they read this section of your grant proposals.

In this lesson, you will learn how to write accurate and magnetizing copy for the target population served section of your grant proposals. You'll also learn how to conduct extensive research on your target population and how to order, organize, and write the information for this critical section of your grant proposals.

This lesson will teach you how to find the most current information on your organization's partners in the community, region, and nation. You'll also learn how to identify potential partners when your organization has few or no partners. Most importantly, you'll learn how to organize and present your partnership information in an appealing format for funders.

In this lesson, you'll learn how to understand the needs statement section from the funder's viewpoint. You'll also learn the type of information to collect on the target population and your organization in order to glean language for this section.

This is perhaps the most important of all the lessons. You are halfway through the main writing sections for your grant proposal narrative and gaining more confidence in your skills. This lesson will teach you how to show the funder that you have a well-thought-out plan for spending grant monies. You'll learn how to look at the program design section from the funder's viewpoint, how to collect the right information, and how to spot poorly written narrative in this section.

In this lesson, you will learn to understand the thinking patterns of grant funders when they read the management plan section. You'll also learn how to avoid the most common types of errors made by other grant writers when writing this section, and how to cull the right information from your program staff or administrators.

This lesson will teach you how to look at the evaluation plan section from the funder's perspective. You'll also learn how to steer clear of the age-old errors that other grant writers make when planning and writing this section. From learning where to find the information needed to write an award-winning evaluation plan to learning the common terms that funders look for, this lesson hits the target.

At this point, you're nearing the finish line for Advanced Proposal Writing. In this lesson, you will learn the standard definitions you need to know when it comes to planning your budget line items. You'll also look at examples of award-winning budget sections on the Internet. Most importantly, this lesson will teach you how to recover with the funder when you make a glaring budget error.

This last lesson will teach you how to view your entire proposal package from the funder's viewpoint. You'll also learn how to use words that work, some final formatting techniques, and how to prepare the supporting documentation for your grant proposal-the attachments. The lesson will also teach you the ins and outs of signatories, copies, and how to mail your grant proposal the right way. Lastly, you'll learn how to follow up on all outstanding items, such as verification of proposal delivery and checking back with funders. Finally, you'll learn the next step to take when your proposal is either funded or rejected.

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:

Completion of an Introductory Grant Writing course or equivalent experience.

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

This course was amazing. I have taken several courses over the years including a week-long course with the Grantsmanship Center and The Foundation Center in NYC and the amount of information that I learned here was astonishing. I was more amazed of the new information I learned after studying with many, many experts. I would recommend this hands down.

Dr Browning, this is the first message I have posted since joining the class in February. I am the director of one of the nation's largest state archives, containing more than 200 million records dating back to 1630. I do not generally take on-line classes or classes in grant making as I have been writing grants for virtually my entire career but your handling of the material has given me many new ideas. Old dogs can learn new tricks. I will be looking for future courses of yours and thank you for such well crafted course content.

This was the third in a series of classes, I have enjoyed them all. Bev provided inspiration, knowledge, and common sense. The class fell in line with my desired intentions and has given me the tools I needed to proceed with my career.

This is the best course on grant-writing that I have taken to date. The instructor is very detailed in her delivery and anticipates the student's questions well.

Thank you for the course. I was very impressed with it. The class was very well organized. The information and a practitioners insights into the grant writing process were invaluable. Dr. Browning, Your knowledge, skills, and ability to communicate were outstanding. Harold, Ph.D.

Thank you for putting together an excellent course on grant writing. The information in each lesson is easy to follow and informative, and the supplementary material is the best I have found so far. I was able to complete the "volunteer" grant I have been working on since April, merely by following your suggestions lesson by lesson. Several times in the past, I was ready to give up on grant writing, but luckily, I decided to give it one more try. As soon as I started this course, everything suddenly fell into place and made sense - thanks to you, I regained my initial enthusiasm, and now I have reached my first goal.

Thank you for providing excellent information to your students and thank you for sharing your professional expertise with us (veteran and novice grant writers) throughout this course. I have learned a great deal because of the information you have shared with us over the past 6+ weeks and I have thoroughly enjoyed being a member of this Advanced Grant Proposal Writing class. Thanks again for your professionalism in this course and your other online course. Keep on inspiring your students.

I enjoyed this course immensely! It was thorough, detailed, sequential-- and your feedback and encouragement put wind in my sails! Thank you for providing such a high quality learning experience. I would happily recommend this course and/or take another one of yours myself. I am in the midst of a career transition and am weighing different options for my love for research and writing. This course gave me an understanding of the grant writing process. It also helped me see that I would love to do more of it.

It's been a tremendous learning experience taking this course. The wealth of information, tips and tricks presented in this class, together with your Grant Writing for Dummies book, has been invaluable! I felt the assignments really pushed me out of my comfort/knowledge zones, forcing me to hone my research, planning and writing skills, which was very needed. I now feel more confident in my abilities. Your consistent feedback and guidance was also very helpful. I look forward to my first attempt to write a grant.

This is a terrific class Dr. Bev! Thank you for the excellent organized material, feedback, and advice. During the course, I had to apply for a grant for the first time. The experience in the class and extensive resources helped me through it. I'm confident I was able to do a very good job even though I'm just starting. Best of luck in all of your future endeavors.

This is the best course on grant-writing that I have taken to date. The instructor is very detailed in her delivery and anticipates the student's questions well.

Advanced Grant Proposal Writing

Florida International University