Reflection on The Only Grant Book You'll Ever Need: Lesson 3

This section of the grant writing book concerns how to approach grant writing so that it will best appeal to funders. Karsh and Fox state that when application packages are sent, the most crucial thing that can be done is to read the guidelines that are provided, address each point that they are asking for, and to try and adhere to the formatting that is asked for if that is provided. This is to say that when funders compose their application packages, they are explicitly stating their expectations for the grant applications. So, it's best to have every concern as to the eligibility of the applying association addressed before the writing process begins. Funders ought to be accessible for questions if there are any, and not every association is eligible for every grant that is offered.

"Don't look at an application package only in terms of preventing disqualification. You want to apply for grants for which you are very, very qualified, and you want to get an edge on other proposal writers who are competing for the same grant by deeply understanding every syllable of the application package." There are likely companies that are so desperate for certain kinds of grants that they will modify the information that they present in order to appear to qualify for it, and errors like these are highly noticeable. By reading and comprehending the application package to its fullest and addressing any concerns so that it's clear what the audience aka the funders are looking for, it's more likely that future grant applications could be successful.

For the Poverty Simulation Video with the CAC, it was important to know what the simulation would look like. There are promotional videos, pieces of literature, sample packages, but those might not address all the concerns that need to be present in the video. Initially, there were some questions about how much understanding a participant of a simulation would truly get about a person who is living in poverty. Perhaps they'd get more information than they would if they had read a testimony, but those questions were pertinent to address. The CAC was easily reachable for questions regarding their project and prompt in addressing any concerns before we began work on the logistics of the video. In the same way, people writing grants must be able to contact potential funders with questions about their application packages before they go about submitting their work.

Also, knowing how the CAC envisions the final product of the poverty simulation video is important. In the initial video, there was information and statistics, clips from a previous simulation, and then information scattered throughout. They had a set format, and it's entirely possible that they would wish us to adhere to that kind of format when approaching this project. When funders put together application packages, they have questions stated in a certain order, and it's usually best to stick with the given order rather than reformat it completely.