Grant writers in space! Fitting “Why us?” into Every Proposal.

Grant Pros live a lot of their lives fighting space battles. We grizzled veterans carry the scars of vicious combat with character counts under our photon armor. But this isn’t about how to save a word or character-  this is about getting three important (so important they make the difference between the funded orgs and those repairing their spaceships in retreat) items into almost every proposal, limited space or not.

     Grant seeking, especially private grants but more than most people think in government grants too, must be more than informative to win awards consistently.

Grants have to be persuasive AND demonstrate brand distinction with messaging.

  Wait. Brand distinction? Messaging? That sounds like marketing stuff. It is, but it’s nothing most grant pros don’t do naturally once in a while depending on the question in the grant application.

THAT”S the problem.

     Far too often we all, even after we’ve become savvy with experience, just answer the question. Occasionally I’ve seen the “differentiation” question. “What distinguishes you in the local landscape of non-profit organizations?”  “What does your org see as its role in the non=profit community?” Even this one is getting at the same thing:  “What is your organization’s core competency?” 

    They want to know how you’re different. Why You? 

     If one of those comes up, grant pros are going to nail it! We’d better, because if they are asking about brand differentiation in one of these veiled ways, then they probably care a lot about it.  

But… If one of those “what makes you different?” questions isn’t there?

       We still need to answer it!   

        And that starts a big, fat space battle. We have to work it in somewhere else despite character counts, word limits, page restrictions, tiny prison cell fillable PDF fields.

        First, you need to know all the things that make you the best choice for funding, and even have a few that fit the particular funders interest best.  If you’d like some extra ideas on all the amazing “Why Us” reasons that can make a big difference, those are coming in my Newsletter on Monday. You can subscribe at my website, www.whywisefundraising.com I’m sure there’s at least one idea in there that can help.  

       Second, back to winning the space battle for this, which is what this article is all about.

     3 easiest ways to get "Why Us?" Brand Distinction and Messaging into Grant Proposals with limited space.  

1.      The Because/Through--also appositive two-step. 

This is the easiest to work in anywhere: Need Statement, Project Description, Sustainability(!), target population, any kind of staffing or qualifications questions and, depending on the format, even the budget narrative. It doubles a message of a reason to pick you that they didn’t ask for.

Specific examples of how it works:

Differentiation Message: We’re the most knowledgeable    In: Program Description

“Through our intense commitment to constant education in our field, we learned this new approach could greatly benefit the people we serve. We also mastered best practices for adopting it.”

Extra words: 19      Extra Characters:  118

Differentiation Message: We’re committed to incorporating/centering participant input/client voice    In: Need Statement

“Because we’ve committed to valuing student input, we learned that beyond the national statistics above, one need specific to our program is (an element of this project. Explain it here.) Also, by listening, we gained valuable insight into it’s delivery."   

Extra words: 13      Extra Characters:  85

We just sent, AND reinforced! An extra “Why Us?” message in sections too many grant writers only deliver info instead of persuading. I say that’s worth 118 characters most of the time.

2.       The places Grant Writers DO have extra space.  

Generally, grantors make those length restrictions quickly with little thought to how long something really takes. That’s the problem for most questions, so…

Don’t lose the bonus it provides on the other ones! There are some usual suspects when it comes to places where you don’t really need all those characters. Target Population and “measurement system” for instance.  You listed the service area, the necessary demographics, or the outcomes/results database and how many people work on it and you have 200 characters left? You’ve answered the question they asked- NOW use that space for messaging!

(Quick bonus: I usually choose to add story elements to Target Pop. Dig it. “Jen, like 37% of our participants identifies as a racial minority. Though she lives in our Generic County service area, like 83% of our target population her family struggles with the burden of inadequate education because of their low-income status.”)

Example.  You have the usual 250 characters for Measurement system/data collection method.

You could answer the question: “We use the Cerulon Database to track and record outcomes. Our full time data specialist insures accuracy and analysis.”  120 characters. You have 130 to tell them why they should pick you. Don’t waste it.

“Because we know the immense benefit of using data to improve our services, monitor shifting needs, and reveal opportunities for increased efficiency, we use the Cerulon Database to track outcomes. Our data specialist ensures accuracy and analysis.”

 250 on the dot! Plus good reasons why YOU should get the grant 😊

3.      In the Usual Grant Attachments.

Board Roster? Project/Program Budget? Organizational Budget? They want the names and companies or just the line items. Do I message there anyway? Depends a little on what I know about the grantor, but…heck yeah!  

 Those grant attachments rarely take up a whole page. A board roster is a perfect place to stick a picture of a board member looking hard at some document.  Here’s some nice Why Us caption choices:

    “Board Member Gary Konectid is among those whose commitment to our mission means meticulous oversight and giving extra hours to ensure we are the best we can be.”

    “The many hours our board puts in each year to ensure our effectiveness is just one example of how we constantly search to leverage the talents of volunteers to make grant funding go further.”

    Now that’s a message worth sending.  Your grant funding does more with us, because we leverage the talents of volunteers. That’s why us!  

      What about a budget? Line items and the line cost or income almost never take much more than half the page. What can we do with all of that whitespace on the right?

    One idea is to add a pic of a client/patient/patron/student happily benefiting from our services.    Caption:

“We see the results of our strenuous budgeting process and financial stewardship every day beyond just the numbers in our financials. The responsible deployment of financial resources shows up for people like Kara who benefit from our sustainable programs.”

    I think that’s enough specific examples for you to get the idea. If you start, you’ll find more and more places in your grants to add “Why Us” messages (and Why YOU the Specific Funder and Why Now to build urgency) all over your grant proposals. I hope something here helps you win the space battle those messages require. Most of all, I hope you get the funding your good work deserves.

   If you’re not, reach out. As a Grant Space Warrior it's my quest to help.