September 30, 2004
Getting Started in Grant Writing
I received a very nice e-mail yesterday from someone who is interested in writing grants for a living. He was wondering how to get started. I thought I would post a response here, since I've received a number of similar inquiries over the years. So here are my suggestions:
1. Read, read, read. There are numerous books on grant writing that are available online and at local bookstores and libraries. Here are a few that have been suggested by some of the professionals participating in Charity Channel's e-mail list (see below for info on Charity Channel):
- "Writing for A Good Cause" by Joseph Barbato and Danielle Furlich.
- 'I'll Grant You That' by Jim Burke and Carol Ann Prater.
- "Demystifying Grant Seeking" by Larissa Golden Brown and Martin John Brown.
- "Grant Writing for Dummies" by Bev Browning.
- "Proposal Planning and Writing" by Miner & Miner.
- The Grantseeker's Toolkit: A Comprehensive Guide to Finding Funding" by Cheryl New and James Quick.
- The "How To" Grants Manual: Successful Grantseeking Techniques for Obtaining Public and Private Grants'" by David G. Bauer.
- "Program Planning & Proposal Writing" by Norman Kiritz.
- "Getting Funded: The Complete Guide to Proposal Writing" by Mary Stewart Hall and Susan Howlett.
2. Enroll in a grant writing course or workshop. Start out with the Foundation Center's free Proposal Writing Short Course. The Grantsmanship Center (TGCI) offers one of the best training programs in the country, though it is quite expensive. Other organizations such as Zockgrant provide workshops and training. You'll find numerous other courses and workshops by doing Google searches. Contact your local community college(s) -- many of them offer grant writing workshops.
3. Subscribe to Charity Channel's e-mail discussion list on grants and grant writing. This is a great list for beginners, experts, and everyone in between. It's a wonderful group of professional, knowledgeable folks.
4. Search the Charity Channel's grants e-mail list for a thread called "Back to Basics". This is a long-running discussion on getting started with grants and grant writing.
5. More reading. Articles on grant writing abound. You'll find links to many good articles on my site, along with some sample grants you can read.
6. Volunteer to help write grants for a local non-profit organization. Many small non-profits are seriously understaffed and would welcome your assistance. In return, you'll get actual hands-on experience in grant writing -- something you can put on your resume.
Posted by Deborah at 6:27 AM | Comments (0)
September 29, 2004
Alternate Proposals
Sometimes, clients and potential clients tell me that they have a better idea than what the government is asking for in an RFP. They think that their idea or their way of doing things will be easier, more effective, and/or cheaper than the way that the government wants the work to be done. So instead of responding to the RFP in the way that the government requires, they want to propose something else -- something that the government hasn't asked for. Should they do it?
The answer is no and maybe. Your idea may be great, but if your proposal doesn't respond to and meet the requirements of the RFP, you run the risk that it will be thrown out because: (1) you have not followed the instructions set forth in the RFP; and (2) if your idea and proposal is substantially different, the government will not be able to evaluate it against the RFP requirements and against other proposals that follow those requirements. One of the rationales behind the issuance of an RFP is that it provides a common or standard set of requirements against which all bidders are supposed to be evaluated. So you need to determine whether, by submitting your "new and improved idea," you want to take the risk that that the government will not be particularly impressed.
But if you are convinced that your way is the best way, there may be a way to get around the above, and that is by submitting what is called an "Alternate Proposal." Many, but not all RFPs contain a clause that will allow you to submit such a proposal in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requirements. Some RFPs expressly forbid the submission of alternate proposals. So if you are seriously considering submitting an alternate proposal, you need to read your RFP to find out if they are permitted and, if so, the specific instructions that you need to follow. Below are a few examples of what your RFP may say:
Posted by Deborah at 7:34 AM | Comments (0)
September 28, 2004
Everyone's Behind
My clients are behind; I'm behind. Such is the life when you're dealing with proposals (and sometimes other documents).
My new client, who I'm assisting with a DOD Financial Services proposal, was originally supposed to send me stuff over the weekend. Nothing arrived. I spoke with them yesterday, and they were still working on it. This afternoon I received their second draft. They took out everything that I had done (why did they hire me?) and now their technical section does not comply with the RFP requirements. I'm not really sure what more I can do -- I sent them back an e-mail citing word-for-word the relevant sections of the RFP that they did not address (and for which I had written stuff), but have not heard back from them yet.
I'm not upset that they didn't use my material -- that is their right. But if they don't want to comply with the RFP instructions, there's really nothing I can do. I am thinking that this is another case of people who just don't read. I had prepared an outline for them that incorporated all of the RFP requirements, we had reviewed and discussed the outline, and now many of the outline sections are gone. Ummm...what can I say?
I'm also behind on the report I'm doing for another client because they have not sent me everything I need. Things were supposed to come yesterday, but they didn't. So I'll just wait -- they will eventually arrive.
Posted by Deborah at 3:43 PM | Comments (0)
September 25, 2004
You Never Know
Maybe it was a mistake to write about formatting. Yesterday I got a call from someone who said he was an editor, and was working on editing a proposal for a client. But, he said, his client didn't realize that editing did not include formatting, and he didn't know how to properly format the proposal. So his client now needed someone to do that and could I help?
I gotta wonder where he got the idea that I did formatting work. This blog, perhaps? Of course I do formatting, but I've never been asked to do just that. I only do it as part of my proposal writing/editing/reviewing work. I proceeded to tell him that, and also told him that it would probably be much less expensive if his client used a word processing specialist (or whatever they are called these days -- I'm not sure). But he was pretty insistent and sounded kind of desperate. So I agreed that he could give my name to his client. Then I promptly forgot about it because a bunch of other things came up that I had to deal with.
About an hour and a half later, his client called and put me on speakerphone. There were two of them, which seemed kind of odd for a company that was just looking for someone to do basic formatting work. I did my song and dance, telling them that I was not a word processing specialist -- I was a professional proposal writer. There was this sort of excited scream from the other end. A proposal writer! What did I do? So I explained and suggested they take a look at my website. They got on the site while we were still on the phone. Then the real story came out. They were putting together a proposal, but were running into problems. They needed someone like me. And the proposal was due in a week.
So of course I got interested-- a potential new client. But it didn't turn out the way you'd think it would. As they started explaining what the proposal was for, I realized that it was the exact same bid that I am currently working on for another client. Whoa -- conflict of interest! I can't help them. Goodbye new client. I ended up giving them the names of two competitors. They said they'd like to talk with me further after they finished this bid because they had a lot more proposals coming up. If that's really true, then one of my competitors is likely to continue to get their business. Oh well...
Just goes to show -- from formatting to proposal writing -- you never know!
Posted by Deborah at 6:18 AM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2004
Fitting it Together: Proposal Outlining & Formatting
In looking at the page stats for this blog, I'm surprised to find that my earlier post on Formatting Your Proposal seems to be the most popular entry. I'm not really sure why this is -- are people looking for special formatting tips or are they trying to figure out how to deal with the MS Word monster? Maybe if someone would tell me, I could address some specific formatting issues. But since no one ever seems to leave any comments, I am in the dark. Here is your chance to make some comments -- about formatting, about the blog in general, or about another topic. See the little post a comment line at the end of each post on the left? Just click on it and write something.
Getting back to the topic of this post. Earlier, I wrote something on The Importance of an Outline. In addition to what I said there, another important aspect of a good outline is that it can set the stage for the formatting of your proposal in terms of headings, subheadings, body text, etc. Whenever possible, I try to develop my outlines using the format that I will use in the proposal itself. So, for example, if you are going to use numbered headings and subheadings (e.g., 2, 2.1, 2.1.1) in the actual proposal, you would create your outline that way instead of using the more basic outline levels such as A, 1.,(a). You would use the same fonts, font styles and sizes in the outline that you intend to use in the proposal. In addition, you can set the margin sizes, tabs, page numbers, etc., right in the outline document.
Once you've done that, you can give the outline or pieces of the outline to those who will be writing the specific sections. They can write their stuff directly in the outline template that you have given them. Voila, you've saved yourself (or whoever will be doing the final formatting) a lot of time and effort.
Posted by Deborah at 7:15 AM | Comments (0)
September 22, 2004
Why Be a Subcontractor?
I once had a client tell me that he didn't want to participate in bids as a subcontractor. He was only interested in being the prime contractor -- the top dog, so to speak. I thought this was rather odd, since his company was a small business that actually didn't have much business. By not wanting to be a subcontractor, he was missing out on opportunities that could help his business grow.
Serving as a subcontractor is not only for new or small businesses and organizations. Lots and lots of large businesses -- major companies whose names we all know -- participate in subcontractors in government contracts. There's nothing demeaning about it. There are many good reasons why subcontracting can be good for you. For example:
So be on the lookout for subcontracting opportunities. If you are aware of a contract or grant in the making, contact companies or organizations that you think might be bidding. If they are planning to bid or thinking about bidding, tell them straight out that you would like to participate as a sub, and make a case for what you can contribute, and why and how you can help them win.
Posted by Deborah at 7:47 PM | Comments (0)
September 20, 2004
Meeting With New Client
Yesterday I finished the draft outline for my new client's DOD proposal, and e-mailed it to them early this morning. Then I drove to their office for a 2-hour meeting with their proposal team. It was then that I learned that, with the proposal due date looming, very little has actually been done so far. Apparently, the staffperson who works on many of their proposals was in an accident, and that is why I have been called in. Also, some of their top managers -- who would otherwise be able to assist and/or provide information -- are out of town.
The proposal requires three volumes, and my responsibility lies with Volume II -- the Technical and Management Volume -- which is limited to 40 pages plus a couple of pages for Past Performance information. Fortunately, the Technical section is not really technical in the sense of having to provide the who, what, when, where, and how for each task. It is really more of a narrative qualifications statement with some technical stuff thrown in for good measure. But my client (who is bidding as the prime contractor) has several subcontractors, and did not realize that each sub must also provide a similar narrative on their own qualifications. So none of the subs had been asked to do this. I suggested to my client that one of their tasks for today should be to contact all the subs and inform them that we need this info ASAP. In addition, I asked the client to send me information from other proposals and documents that could be used in preparing the technical narrative for their company.
Then I was told that a staff member who is out of town will be working on the 20-page Management section. But he needs help with it, and I am scheduled to call him tomorrow to discuss. I can only hope that "needing help" doesn't translate into "can you do it?"
Posted by Deborah at 6:19 PM | Comments (0)
September 19, 2004
Sunday Scoreboard - September 19, 2004
I haven't done a Sunday Scoreboard in about a month, though I'm not sure why. I think I just didn't really have anything interesting or new to say. The odd thing is that this month (September) has probably been my best month all year in terms of business -- I've been really busy. So here's the report.
Completed Projects: I've completed three projects so far this month. I assisted a new client with two projects: (1) a proposal for base operations services in Iraq (which was begun in August and finished early in September), and (2) a contract justification document. I also worked on a DFID proposal for one of my long-time international clients.
Projects in Progress: I have two new projects in the works. The first is a final project report for the above-mentioned international client. The second is a proposal for a brand new client -- a CPA firm -- that contacted me on Friday. I will be assisting them with financial services proposal for DOD. My first task is to prepare an outline of the technical volume. Then I will meet with them tomorrow to discuss next steps.
Inquiries: For about two weeks, hardly anyone called or e-mailed -- very strange. I kept checking my website to see if it was down, but it wasn't. Just a slow period, I guess. But things have picked up and I'm hoping to get some new assignments for October. Ups and downs are common in the consulting business, and I'm fortunate that I don't have many down periods. The down periods used to bother me, but they don't anymore. I just figure that some work will come along in time, and I can use the free time to catch up on other things.
Posted by Deborah at 9:12 PM | Comments (1)
September 17, 2004
Bid or No Bid?
Sometimes, firms and organizations are pretty sure that they are going to bid on a certain project because they have been following it for a long time and think they have a good idea of the requirements. Other times, they will see a newly-issued solicitation notice and think "hmmm, that project looks like it's right up our alley." Then, when they actually receive the RFP / RFA, they jump right into it -- spending time and money -- without really taking the time to determine if they should actually make the bid.
Making a bid is costly. And if you have to stop or abort the bid because you suddenly realize that it is not really up your alley or you can't meet the requirements, it's like throwing money away. Although there may be occasions when a bid will be aborted for good reason (something better or more important comes along, a critical teaming partner drops out), you can lessen your chances of having to stop a bid in the middle by making a formal bid/no bid decision before you begin working on it.
So how does this work? The first thing you need to do is to institute a formal decision process. This process should come into play as soon as the RFP/RFA is received. Determine who will review the solicitation and who will be involved in decision-making. You may want to form a permanent committee of top decision-makers who will meet to hear and discuss the bid/no bid presentation of the reviewer.
To gather and present information for a bid/no bid decision, it's a good idea to use a short form that can be filled in by the reviewer. This form should reference all the information that is important to your organization in deciding whether or not to make a bid. Armed with this type of information, you will be in a good position to determine if a particular bid is really for you.
In response to numerous requests, I've made my own Bid/No-Bid Form and related materials available for sale via my website. The 2-page computerized form is accompanied by a 12-page "how to" document which takes you step-by-step through the bid decision process. It contains a wealth of information and tips to help you make the right decision when you are considering bidding on an RFP or RFA.
To purchase, please Click Here. When you've completed your purchase, you'll receive an e-mail with a link that will allow you to download an MS Word file containing both the Form and its accompanying document.
Posted by Deborah at 5:58 AM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2004
October When it Comes
I'm going to be starting a new project today or tomorrow. It's an annual project report for one of my clients. I'm waiting for them to send me some background materials (e.g., previous annual and quarterly reports and other stuff). Right now, I don't have anything lined up for October but I figure something will turn up -- it always does. Ah, the life of a freelance consultant.
The title of this blog entry comes from the song September When It Comes by Roseanne Cash. For the past several days I have been engrossed in what seems to be becoming an annual obsession: trying to get hold of a tape or CD of the Johnny Cash Memorial Tribute concert. The concert was orginally broadcast on CMT last year following his death. I'm not a huge country music fan, but I love Johnny Cash and the music performed at this concert was beyond belief. I got some but not all of the program recorded on the TIVO, but then my husband accidentially deleted it (I'm not sure it was really accidental, but what can I say -- it was gone). I spent a lot of time trying to find a copy or at least a CD, but no luck.
Then, last Sunday night the program was on again. Except I didn't know it. I found it because I was channel surfing and there it was. But I caught only the last 40 minutes of the 2-1/2 hour show. I got the 40 minutes on the TIVO, but of course most of the songs and performances that I want aren't there -- Carlene Carter singing Jackson, Willie Nelson and Sheryl Crow performing If I Were a Carpenter, and a bunch more. The last 40 minutes has a fabulous duet of Dave Matthews and Emmy Lou Harris on Long Black Veil and then the concert closes with September When it Comes -- a breathtakingly beautiful song which I already had on CD.
So once again I have begun what seems like a fruitless quest for this concert performance. If anyone knows where I can get it, please let me know. Otherwise I'll have to wait until this time next year, when I'll probably miss the broadcast again.
Posted by Deborah at 7:29 AM | Comments (0)
September 15, 2004
Secret Sites for Government Contracts Questions
Government RFPs, RFAs, RFQs, etc., are not exactly written for easy reading. Many are filled with jargon, confusing terminology and -- worst of all -- contractual language and clauses that seem to have been written by people from another planet. Maybe that is a bit harsh, but the fact is that all or most of the contractual stuff contained in these documents is legal mumbo-jumbo that normal people don't always understand.
If you receive a government solicitation that contains contractual language or terms that you don't understand, you can contact the government Contracting Officer whose name and contact information usually appears on the cover sheet or cover letter, and ask for a more detailed explanation or guidance. Or, if you are fortunate enough to have a contracts specialist or attorney on your own staff, you can ask him or her to interpret the confusing language for you. Or, you can try reading applicable portions of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) to see if they will shed more light on the matter.
There are also a couple of "secret sites" on the web where you can get help with your contracts-related questions. Well, OK, so they're not really secret, but they don't often turn up high in the search engines. Here they are -- check 'em out:
- Discussions on Federal Contracting from the wonderful Where in Federal Contracting site. These are various forums that are populated by the people we need the answers from -- government contracts professionals. They ask and answer questions from one another, but you can ask questions too, and you don't have to give your name or the name of your organization. You do need to register to ask a question, but registration is free. Note: there is also a Q&A forum on grants, but it doesn't seem to be very popular.
- Ask a Professor from the Defense Acquisition University operates along the same lines. Questions and answers are categorized by topic area and, like the site above, you can read the Q&As submitted by others.
Posted by Deborah at 5:35 AM | Comments (0)
September 9, 2004
Here's what happens...
when you get taken in by the scammers who promise they will get you a grant to start your business. I can't count how many of these e-mails I've gotten over the years, but here's the latest one which arrived today:
This poor woman has basically thrown away $300 because there aren't any grantors who are going to give her money to start her business. Now the person she paid wants more money and doesn't anwer the phone. What a surprise.Hello, my name is xxx, i want to start my business by opening a store. I submitted a grant to someone to prepare it for me back in Feb. I prepared the business plan. I feel that i've been getting the run-around because when we first started i was told one amount, and i was told that the grantors have contacted him, and now that amount has changed tremendously. but he never tells me when they have contacting him. i can never reach this person on the phone because they never answer the phone. i feel as though he tell me whatever to get me out of his face. i paid this person $300.00 to submit my grant. is there anyway i can find out if the grantors accepted or rejected my proposal? any feedback would be appreciated. thank you.
Posted by Deborah at 4:01 PM | Comments (0)
September 8, 2004
I Dunno
I can hardly believe that I'm still dealing with the workplan project, which I initially started on over six weeks ago. But my client has not been available or responsive, as I've mentioned a number of times in this blog. This week, my main contact there returned from a lengthy vacation and I spoke with her yesterday. I told her that things did not seem to be moving and that, in my opinion, they would be better off doing this work internally or getting someone else to do it. She asked me if I would be interested in continuing on if she could get things worked out. My response: I dunno.
So this morning I get a call from the CEO, who tells me that he is going to do something TODAY to ensure that I get the contract that I've been waiting for for two months. I have heard that before, so it's hard to believe that this will actually happen. He wants to give me an open-ended contract because they have a lot for me to do. I've heard that before as well. The problem is that it's not the contract that is holding things up. It's them.
On Friday I am going down there for a meeting with one of the staff, and will also meet with my contact and the CEO. Will see what happens then. As for now, I just dunno.
Posted by Deborah at 3:45 PM | Comments (0)
September 7, 2004
Formatting Your Proposal
After a wicked weekend of work, I've managed to get back to this blog. I'd like to remind all of you who have not confirmed your subscription to my blog to please do so as soon as possible via the confirmation e-mail that you received when you subscribed. Otherwise, your name may be automatically deleted from the subscriber list.
I spent much of the weekend working on the draft proposal from my international client. Most of my work consisted of reorganizing, rewriting, editing, and providing comments. I also wrote some smaller subsections. In addition to all this, I reformatted the individual sections which will eventually be combined into one document. All of these sections were written by different people, with no consistent formatting style.
A lot of the time spent on reformatting can be avoided if the Proposal Manager or other individual prepares and hands out a style sheet to everyone who will be doing any writing. This is not difficult or time-consuming to do. The style sheet should contain at least the following information:
These are the basics. You can also get fancier by specifying styles, shapes, fonts, sizes, etc., for such things as tables, charts, text boxes, headers, and footers. But keep in mind that the writers may not know how or may not take the time to do more advanced types of formatting.
If you are stuck with the task of reformatting a large proposal that is written using MS Word, it will behoove you to learn how to set up and work with styles for each element. If you don't know how to use the styles feature of Word, check out Word's Help thingy or look for information on styles on Microsoft's Word website. Using the styles feature even for basic formatting elements such as headings and body text will considerably lessen reformatting time.
Posted by Deborah at 3:13 PM | Comments (1)
September 2, 2004
Busy Busy
I've been pretty busy the last few days -- not much time to think about blogging. For one of my clients, I'm working on putting together a fairly lengthy document that will ultimately be delivered to the government agency that has requested it. The document describes the contracting process and the services provided by my client to the agency. It will be used by the Contracting Officer to justify the agency's awarding sole source contracts to the company. The work is a bit slow going, since my client has sent me a lot of background documents and photos, portions of which need to be incorporated into the final document. But I am plugging along with it and will be sending a draft to my client tomorrow.
Also, by the end of the day tomorrow, I will have received revised drafts of all of the pieces of a proposal that another of my clients is doing for the UK Department of International Development. Over the past few days they have sent me several sections for my review and comment. Unfortunately, I had a lot of comments: things were out of order, incomplete or missing; the terminology was not quite right; and several subsections were just not on target. It really needs quite a bit of work. They called me about an hour ago to ask if I could "fix everything" over the weekend. Luckily, I have done a lot of work for this client over the past year and a half and know what they expect -- extensive re-writing, re-organizing, and new writing. Very time-consuming. Right after their proposal goes out on the 10th, I will be assisting them in preparing a Final Report for one of their other international projects.
I am still struggling with the workplan stuff. I called this client late this afternoon to talk about how things are going (not well). She has just gotten back from a 3-week vacation, so she's not up-to-date. She didn't have time to talk with me, but will call me tomorrow to discuss. Basically, I need to tell her that (1) after six weeks, I still don't have a contract; and (2) it has been nearly impossible for me to get the information I need for the plan because staff are unavailable and meetings don't take place. I am thinking about bowing out on this assignment, but will see what she has to say.
So that's pretty much it for today. I guess I won't have much of a holiday weekend.
Posted by Deborah at 5:39 PM | Comments (1)
September 1, 2004
Looking Good
I like my proposals to look good. In fact, I pay a lot of attention to the way my documents look. While a good-looking proposal is certainly not a stated evaluation criteria, it's my belief that you should do everything you can to influence the reviewers. A sloppy-looking document -- one that is poorly formatted or full of typos -- will not give reviewers a good impression of your company. And this impression may make them think that your project performance may be sloppy and unprofessional as well.
A good-looking proposal doesn't have to be fancy. In fact, many funders -- both government and non-government -- don't want fancy proposals because they consider them wasteful and expensive. So what you want is a document that looks professional and is easy to read. It doesn't take much to accomplish this. Here are some of the things that I focus on:
Headers and Footers: These can transform a plain document into one that is appealing to the eye. I usually put some or all of the following information in the header and/or footer: project name, organization name, date, solicitation number, page number, and restriction on use of data (government proposals only). Then I insert a horizontal line after the header and before the footer. It looks good and sets off the text of the proposal.
White Space: It's not always easy to use white space effectively, particularly if you have page limits and a lot to say. One inch margins look the best, in my opinion, but you can't always fit everything in. I also like to use more spacing before and after headings and subheadings to set them off. You can also indent things such as lists and blockquotes to create more white space.
Fonts: There's a lot you can do with fonts. Use bold, underlined or italicized headings and subheadings, and/or different or larger size fonts to draw attention to them. You can also use different, larger or smaller fonts with headers and footers, bulleted items, tables, text boxes, graphics, and the like. But be careful not to use too many font styles and sizes, because this can create confusion and a disorganized appearance. And be consistent with your use of fonts through the document.
Breaking up the Text: People can get tired and bored reading page after page of straight text. Make your proposal more interesting to read by judiciously using bulleted and numbered lists, text boxes, callouts, tables, charts, graphics, page and paragraph borders, color, and shading.
Posted by Deborah at 6:02 PM | Comments (0)
