Educational Grant Applications – Getting Educational Grants
Some grant applications fail because of ineffective links between the object of the grant, and the wider community environment beyond. The secret is to merge these two effectively, so that the grant application becomes a true expression of the deeper need. Keep these tips in mind, and your grant application will be in harmony with the community’s wider needs. In this way, grantors become partners as opposed to donors – something that they very much appreciate because this is so close to their own hearts.
Practical Example: Funding for a Pre-School Day-Care Center
- Develop a crystal-clear idea in your own mind regarding the root problem that your grant proposal intends addressing. Perhaps you are seeking funding for a pre-school day-care centre. That is great. However possibly the true problem that you wish to solve is that in a poorer area both parents have to work. Why does this worry you? Find out what other community programs focus on the same underlying issues, and develop ways that blend your ideas with these.
- Identify the specific gap in the overall program that your proposal aims to fill. Is the working parent problem you are concerned about related to a specific geographical location or sub-community? Alternatively, is it time-related because the parents are seasonal workers? Know which gap needs fixing, and how it relates to broader socio-economic issues as well.
- Take a longer view and visualize the changes that implementing your ideas will make to the lives of the beneficiaries. How will things be different when your dream is in place? Imagine parents returning home to greet their well-fed happy children, and these children getting better grades when they begin school too. If this is your objective, then that is the vision that must underpin your proposal for a grant.
- Determine objective measures for success. The original goal in the example used here was a completed pre-school day-care centre in a poorer area (and that is a worthy objective too). However, it is more than just that. The true goal appears to be a drop in poverty-related childhood diseases among local pre-school children, and also better junior school grades. Now we are getting closer to the goal for which you need that grant.
- Your grant application is far more likely to succeed when there is clear evidence of local community support and participation. In other words, you need a winning team. Letters of support from neighborhood leaders and district counselors are a good start here. Beyond that, how many temporary and permanent jobs will result? Who can help build the building, and who will operate it afterwards? Find evidence that local people can do the work.
The Real Need is Lower Childhood Disease, Better Junior School Grades, and Extra Jobs.
An educational grant application has better prospects of success when it addresses fundamental needs in a community, and produces other benefits too. When you follow these tips, your community has a better chance of benefiting from a grant. This is why blending grant and program planning is so important
