By Diane H. Leonard, GPC

When putting together a team for a grant team for an organization, you need to make sure that you have all of your key positions covered within the players at the table:

• Head grant writer/professional;
  
  
• Finance director/staff;
  
  
• Program director/vice president/manager that will be responsible managing the implementation of the program;
  
  
• Grant manager for funded programs in your organization if that role is different than the grant writer;
  
  
• Representatives from your collaborative partners for the project; and
  
  
• Your evaluator/data guru (whether they be internal or external).

 

In addition to identifying the key members of your grant team, you need to have someone who is ultimately facilitating/coaching the team and inviting others to the team to sub in as necessary, be it an Executive Director, Town Supervisor, or Grants and Foundations Director.

BY DIANE H. LEONARD, GPC3 R'S OF GRANT WRITING, GRANT FUNDER RELATIONSHIPS, GRANT RESEARCH, GRANT WRITING2

I often get questions about what is the best approach to a successful grant seeking strategy.  I wish that there were a perfect fool proof grant seeking formula like the featured cartoon above for you to apply within your organization in order to generate the grant revenue necessary to implement your programs and achieve your mission.

However, while there is no perfect formula to grant seeking success, there are some key best practices to follow that will help you create your own personalized equation for success in grant seeking.  I believe that you need to follow the 3 R’s of grant seeking in order to maintain a balance and proactive grant seeking approach.