“Walk a mile in my shoes.” This familiar idiom was the advice given to an audience of rural health grantees, grantors and stakeholders in Kansas City, Missouri on September 30, 2014 at the Federal Grant Writing Workshop during the keynote session by Kim Moore, President of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. “In order to write a good grant application, we must think like the grant funder,” said Moore. What does the funder want to accomplish in awarding this money? What will motivate the funder to choose my application?
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| Kim Moore |
1. Consider the “lens” of the funder and write the application in those terms
- What aspect of health care is the funder’s focus? Disparities? Social determinants? Social justice? Cultural competency?
2. Understand the rules and limitations of the grant
- They can be complex and the same language may mean different things to different people
3. Do not fight the rules and limitations of the grant
- Some of the limitations may seem unfair, but you are very unlikely to persuade the funder to change the grant
4. Do not assume your project is not what the funder is looking for
- It may not be obvious at first glance, so dig deeper
- Go to Grant Makers in Health at www.gih.org to find funders interested in health in your state or region
5. Respect the process laid out by the funder as you would like to be respected as the applicant or grantee
- Do not go over someone’s head in an attempt to get funding
6. Give the information on a level your funder understands and needs
- Do not be too brief so as to leave questions and doubts in the mind of the funder, but don't be facetious either
7. Show how you will leverage limited funds to create significant impact
- The biggest challenge of philanthropy is creating positive change with limited resources
- How will not completing your project be more costly in the long run?
8. Show how your project is likely to be sustainable beyond the term of the grant
9. Show the funder the risk of investing in your project is likely to pay off with lessons learned that can be shared and used by others
10. Create a strong evaluation plan
11. Create measurable outcomes
12. Have a dissemination plan for the project results
13. Point out the secondary benefits of the project
14. Include support letters from involved entities expressing their endorsement of your project if possible
15. Discuss in advance how the grant award will be announced
16. Become known by your funder beyond the written application
Mr. Moore told the audience, “Your work is more than a job. It’s a personal passion to advance the rural health system.” It is the same with funders. Most want to do more than give away money. They develop learning communities for grantees, hold webinars, conferences, workshops, provide technical assistance and generally want to see their grantees succeed and create positive change that can serve as examples for others to follow. Funders want partnership with and among their grantees.
The benefits of collaboration cannot be overstated. Grantees in the rural health arena or any other must align with and build on each other’s work. It is not just about getting and giving money. Success will come from aggregating resources, sharing, learning and disseminating together. Perhaps if we attempt to walk a mile in each other’s shoes, it will help us to appreciate and capitalize on our common goals for the greater good of improved rural health care.
- Funders want to provide short term money that will have a long term impact (NOT vice versa)
- Include a plan for how your project will continue once the money runs out (Hint: Do NOT say it will only continue by seeking other grant sources unless you have very likely ones in mind)
- The purchase of equipment or training people how to do something new are good examples of sustainable use of grant funds
9. Show the funder the risk of investing in your project is likely to pay off with lessons learned that can be shared and used by others
10. Create a strong evaluation plan
- How will you know your project is successful?
11. Create measurable outcomes
- Do not over- or under-promise
- Measurement should be commensurate with project scale
- What is your cost per unit of service?
- What is the quality of work?
- Will people be healthier or happier because of your project?
- The data should grow out of the work and inform the grantee of whether the project has been successful
- Outcomes should be logical, appropriate and likely to occur
- If XYZ happens, we will be happy about it and celebrate it
12. Have a dissemination plan for the project results
- Are you going to write a report? Hold a webinar? Put the results on a website? Convene a conference or workshop?
- Collaboration and sharing of lessons learned is one of the best ways to use grant funds wisely
- Most problems cannot be solved in siloes
- Bring all the stakeholders and their resources together for sharing
13. Point out the secondary benefits of the project
- Will the project establish new working relationships? Develop a new and improved culture? Cross boundaries of traditional roles?
14. Include support letters from involved entities expressing their endorsement of your project if possible
- Do not create such a negative picture of the need that you lose the opportunity
- Balance the need description with the assets realistically available in the community
15. Discuss in advance how the grant award will be announced
- Be careful to handle the process legally and within the guidelines of the funder
16. Become known by your funder beyond the written application
- Get to know your funder personally if you can
- Learn about each other
Mr. Moore told the audience, “Your work is more than a job. It’s a personal passion to advance the rural health system.” It is the same with funders. Most want to do more than give away money. They develop learning communities for grantees, hold webinars, conferences, workshops, provide technical assistance and generally want to see their grantees succeed and create positive change that can serve as examples for others to follow. Funders want partnership with and among their grantees.
The benefits of collaboration cannot be overstated. Grantees in the rural health arena or any other must align with and build on each other’s work. It is not just about getting and giving money. Success will come from aggregating resources, sharing, learning and disseminating together. Perhaps if we attempt to walk a mile in each other’s shoes, it will help us to appreciate and capitalize on our common goals for the greater good of improved rural health care.
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| Kim Moore presenting at the Federal Grant Writing Workshop in Kansas City, Missouri on September 30, 2014 |
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