Grantwriting is a critical skill for almost all nonprofit organizations. Proposals are often key communication tools used by nonprofit leaders to communicate with potential funders and generate financial support. But grantwriting does not simply involve sitting at your desk, churning out proposals. Nonprofits must understand the process of researching and seeking grants that are an appropriate match of the nonprofit's needs and the funder's interests, as well as working effectively within their organizations to create substantive, fundable proposals. When the grantwriting process is working at its best, development staff are aware of their clients' and organization's needs and capabilities, are intimately familiar with the programs and services offered, and spend the majority of their time matching these needs to funders' interests. At its worst, development staff create new programs on their own based solely on funders' interests with little or no communication with program staff until the final report is due. This course addresses these and other common problems in the grantwriting process and provides students with the skills and resources they need to overcome them. By the end of the workshop, students will:
1. Be familiar with the grant making process.
2. Understand what makes a good proposal.
3. Develop grant writing and program development skills.
This course begins with a discussion of the current trends in philanthropy and covers the strengths and weaknesses of various fundraising strategies. The focus then turns to grantwriting, specifically. During the class, students will learn how the grantmaking process works from identification of need to the final funding report. And because it is common for some amount of program development to be done during the grantwriting process, students will form small groups, create a program of their choosing, and use it in their final project, an actual grant proposal.