Every proposal is made up of two main parts: the project narrative and the project budget. The budget is important as it shows the grant funder what you will use the funding for. While funders may skim through the proposal, they pay critical attention to the budget.
A grave mistake is to assume that if you get a 60-minute meeting, you get 60-minutes worth of attention. The typical attention span in a business meeting is 15 minutes. To be a successful entrepreneur, you must learn how to make the most of each clock's ticking. If you can earn the investor's attention in the first five minutes, you can be guaranteed that they will invest more time listening to you.
The search for a more productive workday has led to many misconceptions about productivity, and it’s a lot more than checking tasks off your to-do list. Truly productive people aren’t focused on doing more things; this is the opposite of productivity. If you want to be effective, you’ve got to do fewer things.
With both grant writing and fundraising, you need to do research, pursue leads, prepare talking points, evaluate opportunities, and cultivate relationships. The essence of both practices is the same. What is different is focus and context.
Jim Collins, renowned business author, lecturer, and researcher, once said, "Great vision without great people is irrelevant." There is nothing more accurate than this, considering the essential contributions of grant writers in the development and sustainability of any organization.
