A key to the grant proposal development process is collaboration; without it, the entire pre and post grant award process will be fatally flawed.
When an idea is presented to pursue a grant opportunity, it can usually be a one or two person decision-the boss and the grant writer. If left with just those two, what will happen is a proposal, when funded, will have to be force-fed to the target audience, staff, and the community. This is not a productive process-after all; a grant is to bring energy, innovation, and opportunities!
A successful collaboration has a few key elements, which are:
- Buy In: Early in proposal development process, gather ALL the interested parties, map out the scope of the proposal, and ask for suggestions to make the proposal better. I develop an outline of a proposal and then ask people for comments and suggestions. If you gather people together for a free-flowing brainstorming session, you'll typically waste time talking about ideas that are not within the scope of the grant opportunity. This is a working session; the time for sweeping brainstorming session is when the organization is conducting its strategic planning process. An outline sets some parameters and invites ideas that are relevant to the proposal being developed. Plus, people will have a better opportunity to grasp what is being proposed.
It is during this process that collaborating partners can offer suggestions as to what they can do to help with the proposal/project. They can see some solid concepts and be able to commit ideas or resources to the project.
When people can see that their input has value, they will be invested in the proposal/project.
- Flexibility: When presenting an outline to ALL interested parties, it is important to present it as a discussion draft-one that was developed to encourage discussion. There must be no pride of authorship or ownership of the outline. I hope elements of the outline will be eliminated and improved.
- Use the Talents at the Table- No one is an expert in everything. There is a story of a large spice/condiment manufacturer whose CEO asked the marketing and sales departments to come up with ideas to increase sales-the winning department would receive a couple million dollars to implement the best idea. The meeting for the presentations came, and the CEO asked a recent college graduate to sit in the meeting-he wanted someone who had no allegiance and little knowledge of past sales and marketing campaigns. When each department presented their ideas, the CEO asked the graduate for her response. She said, "Why don't you just make the bottle opening bigger so more comes out?" The CEO took that idea and sales increased dramatically. This was an example of using all the talents at the table. Use and value the input of all and leverage that input to strengthen the proposal/project.
Successful collaboration starts and ends with peoples' input being given value. It is about getting buy-in and remaining flexible. The end result must be improved service delivery to the target population.
Mark Whitacre, GPC, has been involved in the grant industry for 20 years and has written proposals that have secured more than $14 million for nonprofit and government organizations. He is the owner of Goldstone Grants (http://www.goldstonegrants.com) and provides comprehensive grant writing, coaching/mentoring, and training services to individuals and organizations who want to make a difference in the world.
Mark has seen the vast improvements grants have provided to organizations and individuals and is focused on helping others to experience the energy, innovation, and opportunities grants provide.
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