4 reasons you haven't submitted your grant
Alicia Kiremire
Alicia Kiremire
Photo by ahmad gunnaivi on Unsplash
You love your work.
You want to make even MORE of a difference.
You've been thinking about a grant, but...
You haven't submitted. And I understand.
There may be lots of reasons it just hasn't happened yet. Here are a few:
1. You haven't found the right grant.
When I first interviewed people about what to include in grant training, this is what I heard the most - so you are not alone! Maybe you don't know where to start. My advice is to take a few hours to research grants. Think of this as brainstorming - there are no stupid ideas! Google at least 5 different things (like "grants for community health," "grants in Michigan," "Philadelphia foundations for youth art," etc). During this brainstorming stage, you can also ask around - your colleagues, leaders, friends in professional organizations, etc. Make a long list of potential grants. Then choose five that look most relevant, and start narrowing them down until you choose the best one. (My Complete Grant System walks people through this process - see link below)
2. Your idea isn't clear enough (yet).
You need an idea that solves a clear problem - and it needs to connect with an issue that other people (i.e. funders) care about. Since grants are usually for projects and not ongoing operating costs, your idea also needs to include clear goals. You need to think about:
- Specific activities - what will you and your team do as part of the project?
- A timeline - when will the project start and end? What will you do each month?
- A team - who will be involved, and what will each person do?
- A budget - for which types of things do you need funding, and how much?
3. It's too overwhelming (and you still have your "real work" to do).
This is a great place to be, as crazy as it sounds. It means you've found a good grant, and you have a clear project idea - you're halfway there!! But by this point, you've read the grant solicitation. You realize how much work will be required. "15 pages?? 10 extra attachments?? I can't."
Hidden within these thoughts is a fear of rejection. You might be scared grant writing will be a waste of time - what if you do all this work and don't get funded? Let me encourage you right now - your work is not lost! Even if you don't get funded the first time, you have a place to start (and probably feedback from the funder) to improve. You'll never start from scratch again. So break the big, crazy requirements into smaller, manageable goals. And put. it. on. your. calendar (or whatever system you use). Commit time to working on one piece of your proposal at a time, and it won't feel quite as overwhelming. And consider working with a couple other people so you can share the load.
Hidden within these thoughts is a fear of rejection. You might be scared grant writing will be a waste of time - what if you do all this work and don't get funded? Let me encourage you right now - your work is not lost! Even if you don't get funded the first time, you have a place to start (and probably feedback from the funder) to improve. You'll never start from scratch again. So break the big, crazy requirements into smaller, manageable goals. And put. it. on. your. calendar (or whatever system you use). Commit time to working on one piece of your proposal at a time, and it won't feel quite as overwhelming. And consider working with a couple other people so you can share the load.
4. You hit a dead end.
This one can really be discouraging. You've gone down a path, and then all of a sudden something blows up. After hours and hours of work, you realize you don't qualify for this grant after all (because it's for a different type of organization than yours). Or one of your partners backs out a week before the grant is due. Or the main activity you were planning becomes unfeasible because you don't have the right equipment. Or you change jobs, and your new employer isn't exactly supportive of your grant idea. Dead end after dead end. Maybe it's a sign... or maybe you're closer to a fit than you think. It's very normal to need to "regroup" in the middle of a proposal. Take a breath, then lean in and figure out your options for moving forward.
If you haven't yet submitted your grant, which reason applies most for you? I encourage you to choose an action step today. And if you don't know where to start, may I suggest my Complete Grant System Quick Guide, especially for Reasons #1 and #3. You can do it!
If you haven't yet submitted your grant, which reason applies most for you? I encourage you to choose an action step today. And if you don't know where to start, may I suggest my Complete Grant System Quick Guide, especially for Reasons #1 and #3. You can do it!