Feeding frenzy, commence.

I haven't written any for maybe 10 years, but did both. I took a class as an elective in grad school. The teacher made us do a real grant as a class project(had to be submitted to a real grant org. for real attempts atfunding.

For those who were not taking the class with grant situations handy, he had a bunch of local places that needed help handy. I ended up working for free at a local environmental group, and eventually started getting pay (through the grants).

The next year, I helped a guy who came from the same class (we stayed on the list and te class was only every other semester) train up to be my replacement and do his project. I graduated and he took over the paid position for te year until he graduated, etc. etc.

The lady that he trained, decided to stay, and is still their grant writer.

I did some more work contracting for a few years while I was teaching, but eventually traded it in for tech writing contracting.

So, if you have no leads into the industry yet, taking a class at a local college ma y actually get you in the door someplace. Even if the prof. doesn't hand out leads like mine did, he/she may have local contacts.

A friend of mine was hired by the Alumni fund raising part of her school when she took a Grants class at her school ( The prof. was the director and liked her work).

You need to research the school /class / prof. though. Some places just have an adjunct that is only 2 chapters ahead of you in the book.

I'm on the board of a small non-profit school and I've always wanted to learn this. I'm going to bookmark your post to see what kind of responses you receive. Thanks for posting it!

Traigus, thanks so much. I know a lot of people in nonprofits here in Denver, and my instinct says that getting some grant training would be a good path. Now I need to start researching.

Lisa, I'll post about the process as it goes along.

I write grants as part of my current job and have also served as a grant reviewer on multiple occasions. When I first started, it was because I had to do it, not because I had any desire to do something I saw as drudgery. Seven years later, I actually enjoy it.

I would suggest serving as a reviewer so you can get an idea of what a good grant application looks like. Understanding how I needed to write so the panel could comprehend my information has been key to my success as a grant writer. I would suggest that you identify areas of expertise (or even competence) and looking for reviewer opportunities in those areas. The federal government is always looking for reviewers (and they pay!) If, for instance, you have experience in drug/alcohol issues, look on the SAMSHA website for review opportunities. Same for state government. Network with grant-funded organizations and find out where they get their money--contact their funders for grant review opportunities. (You cannot have a conflict of interest and may not be able to review locally, but might get a chance elsewhere in your state.)

Get involved with the board of a local group which awards grants--they usually have committees which meet to review submissions.

Good luck, and here is my grant writing advice from the reviewer perspective. Answer the questions in the order asked, do not skip any or get fancy with the presentation. Avoid acronyms.

Good luck!

You can just go and grab a book at the store, but every category of grant (non-profit, environmental, getting money from United Way, Alumni giving, government research grants etc.) all have their own style of paperwork and way they are done (not to mention deadline structures [ some types literally can only be applied for 2x a year]).

Knowing what you can get and who is more likely to give it to you, are things having a mentor or a teacher really helps out on. Having to have figure out who would or would not possibly buy my environmental group a boat for example, could have taken a year of trial and error. Having my prof. tell me who would definitely not saved me a lot of time. (We got a way too big outboard engine for free from a local boat store... for a tax write off and the promise we would mention that we got it from there.)

I would say 70% of grants writing is knowing where to go / apply and/or researching the same.

While only 10% is actually writing (most places that give money or will donate stuff have pretty easy to understand guidelines and/or forms to actully get what yo want).

The last 20% is often tracking and managing the grants and money, writing progress reports / analysis papers / usage evaluations to the people that gave you stuff (almost everyone will want to know progress/results, and if you do a good job reporting they are much more likely to give you money again).

These percentages are my experience, your mileage may vary.

It is possible to "learn as you go" from an actual volunteer position, but it will be much harder. You will spend a lot of time writing to the wrong people, whose website seemed to say they fund your kind of thing, but they never really do. If you are the only lifeline to the group, they may not be able to afford the time it takes for trial and error learning.

Again, this is all my opinion. I've never worked at a place with more than 2 grant writers. Some places like Colleges and big groups have whole departments where you may be able to get an entry level job.

If you want to try to be a person that gives out grants to groups instead, you can often find government (often entry level) positions on usajobs.gov (US govt job site). Almost all of them are in D.C. though.

I wanted to start writing grants, but now my other job has picked up. In the meantime I bought a few books that had sample grants and tips in them. Although I didn't attend it, there was a class offered only an hour from my home. I cannot imagine what they could cram into eight hours, but if you are a self-starter, perhaps just a few tips from a class would get you going.
Best of Luck!

undertow -- I have no grant writing experience and can only offer a very lame suggestion. Reverse engineering. That's when you take an item apart to see how it was made, so you can make one your self. It happens in manufacturing all the time.

The lame suggestion is this. Find grant proposals that received funding. Look at how the requested was framed, how it was formatted, what word and writing style were used, and what supporting documentation was needed to make the case for funding.

If there is a local or regional United Way in or near your community, they may share this with you. Grant approval by the United Way is usually done by community volunteers. It's a public transparent process. You could speak to them to find out what it was in the proposals, that convinced them to approve the request.

I want to help...but if this is just too over the top hit the delete key. I won't be offended.

Concrete Information About Grant Writing

Here is what happened to me - and I think it is something you should seriously consider trying:

I started out in November of 07 as a part-time assistant to the Director of Development -- at a small, social services agency. During the interview, I mentioned that I would love to use my writing background in the job (by the way, my "writing background" consisted of writing underwear copy for Sears Catalog, and toy copy for a major manufacturer)-- perhaps helping with grants.

After I was on the job - about four months, and after I learned a lot about the agency and it's mission, who the directors were, etc., the grant writer announced she was pregnant. So I began to assist her, proofing her grants, helping to gather information and materials, learning some of the conventions of grant writing. Then, my boss, the Director of Development, offered to subsidize sending me to a beginner's grant writing class (I'll get back to this later because it is very important).

When the grant writer went on maternity leave this past August, I stepped in and just started writing grants and reports. It was hard, but the grant writer had a awesome track record, meticulous files to plumb and some of the applications were to foundations who already worked with us. So on these, I did a lot of "cut and paste" work and minor updating (why mess with success?). I wrote the Reports from scratch -- again, using earlier material as a general guide. I did write a grant without precidence at the agency - and for this I am proud. Not only did I do it without any help - but we got the money!!!

Here is my advice:
1. get a job at an agency as an assistant to the Director of Development.
2. Learn everything you can about the agency and it's mission. Learn who the Directors are -- they are the people who you really need in your corner when you are on deadline and must have critical information to complete the grant.
3.Volunteer to help the grant writer. Or if that is not an option, ask to read every grant you can get your hands on.
4. I see you are in Denver. Here in Chicago we have an awesome resource called the Donor's Forum that provides all sorts of research materials for grant writers, conducts various grant writing classes, seminars, meetings with foundations to learn about them, etc. You might have such an organization in Denver. I found the most valuable class was the beginner's grant writing workshop -- it basically was all I needed - and reinforced what I was learning on the job. Oh, another important facet of this organization is that it is a huge resource for networking with other non-profit professionals - both foundations and charities. So check around and see if there is a similiar organization in denver.

Hope this helps! Good luck with your search.

Wow, look at all these wonderful responses.

Serial, I like your reviewer idea. I am on a board right now that is putting together a state-wide anthology and is seeking funding, so maybe I could look at that grant. It's all in the earliest stages.

Jane, thank you so much. I will check out the foundation center.

Traigus, I think you're right, that it's better to learn from people or oganizations, not a book. I still feel like some formal training is essential--better for the way I work.

Thanks for commenting, lalucas. I haven't seen you around much. Hope you are well.

OESheepdog, I would never delete your comment or advice. I think looking at grants that work is an excellent idea.

Lulu, good point. I think after I get a little training, I'll call up one of my nonprofit friends and volunteer my time to get a grant in under my belt. I like your consultant idea, and I do want street-cred. I have a lot of good contacts right now from when I was publishing.

Ann, I am very grateful for your perspective. I'm not quite ready to go for the agency job yet, but I may be after I get some confidence as noted above. Reading your experiences gives me some hope and enthusiasm, and I mag take you up on a private question or two as my new journey begins. Thank you!

Undertow -- feel free to ask any time. I am more than happy to help!

good lord, if figures that there would be this many DD's on here. :) I've been fortunate in that i was able to both work as a DD and as a funder, so i tend not to get to evil minded over the exact wording of recommendation letters, etc., as I understand that that's more a check off than a thorough read.

Make sure to follow the directions and to answer the questions asked, not the questions you think they should have asked you - and make sure the reports are submitted in very good time.

finally, and most important, while not suggesting you go for anything 'that might be a chance', you do (like any successful sales position) have to keep the pipeline full, and not have all your hopes and dreams pinned on any one grant, especially the way the funding models are changing under our feet. good luck!

Well, thanks undertow for this post, as I've always wondered about those grant writer want ads in the paper, thinking that perhaps I could do it. Even after all this, I'm not crystal clear on everything, but at least you got the ball rolling. Now, you can take Denver by storm and I'll do Cleveland. I'm not sure where Lisa Kern is from but she do there. :)

undertow,
i wrote grants for 5 years while seeking funding for a doc film. the first place i wrote a grant for was the national endowment for the humanities. i wrote and asked for a few sample grants for doc films that were awarded financing. they sent them along with very specific guidelines. i got close to getting a $500,000 grant from them after 3 years. my first grant i wrote for them was no bueno, second got better and the third i missed the funding by one vote. anyway, wrote grants for sundance, itvs, lpb, etc. most of these orgs sent me samples. for latino public bradcasting, i was able to go to their office and read past grants and talk to the director.

so guess what i am saying is try to get samples of winning grants from the orgs. and also, there is a grant writing class offered through ucla extension. many of these classes are offered on line now. so check it out. just google ucla extension and you can find the catalog of classes on line.:)

good luck.:)
mary