Grant Writing Commitments for the New Year

Yes, I call them commitments, rather than resolutions. There's something more permanent about a commitment. If you keep your commitments to yourself the way you should be keeping them with others, they will last long beyond January.  They will become part of you.

Here are several ideas for commitments for the new year to fire up your grant writing:

1) Make time for grant seeking. Grant seeking takes more time than you think, especially if you do it right. Doing a quick search at grants.gov or The Foundation Center is good (although that takes time, too), but the payoff really comes when you take the time to dig deeper. We have written a FREE white paper on grant seeking and grant research.  Send a message if you'd like to see it.  In any event, schedule some time at least several days a week to work on grant seeking.

2) Plan ahead for what you need. Take a look at your strategic plan and your organization's needs and make some decisions about what you need and the next steps for you.  That will help target your search. You'll also need to gather organizational data.  Start now.  Of course, what you'll really need is time.  Schedule it.  Yes, put it in your calendar.  Time to look for grants.  Time to write.

3) Give yourself time to write.  If you're working a full-time job, time is what you have the least of.  You're busy doing your job.  However, if you don't make time to write, you'll never get the success you want.  Schedule the time.  Close your door.  Don't take any calls.  Make it a priority.
4) Make the time to learn more about the art and the craft of grant writing. Read some books about grant writing (check out the sidebar for some of my suggestions).  Become a member of grantgoddess.com and take advantage of the many learning resources there. I don't care how good you are or how successful you have been, the only way to get even better is to keep learning.
5) Go the extra mile.  When you're working on a deadline, there's the tendency to take short cuts here and there. You skip an explanation or two.  You don't take the time to make that extra chart or graph.  You get by with one less revision. Unfortunately, in grant writing, that's a recipe for failure.  This year, commit to yourself to go the extra mile with each and every project.  Treat each one like your livelihood depends on it (because it just might!).