Gerald Lindahl, NYSCA/SLP Program   Every year, NYSCA Decentralization Program attracts between 1,200 and 1,400 requests for support6 of community-based art activities and programs. The DEC process is administered by DEC Coordinators at 46 sites around the state. Your job is much more than just accepting the grand applications and sending them to the panel. You are the front line person who is expected to know everything, make on-the-spot decisions, and perform some serious hand holding.

This workshop - "Grant Writing Basics" - is designed to help you help your DEC applicants write better proposals. There are at least two reasons for wanting better proposals from your applicants.

First, the process of writing an effective proposal is an educational one. It encourages the applicant to "take stock" and look at what they do with a critical eye, and helps them to describe their programs clearly to you and to other potential funders. By passing this information along to your applicants, you are providing them with a valuable developmental service.

Second, well-written proposals make your job much easier! When information is presented clearly and accurately - in other words, when the applicant truly does the work of presenting the information - it can save you hours of phoning and meeting and mailing. And panel meetings will go much smoother when proposals are clearly written and budgets actually make sense!

First, to write less, but better. And second, to avoid stylistic and factual errors that distract the panel's focus on the merits of the proposed project. We will only be able to skim the surface of effective grant writing in this 90-minute workshop, but I hope you will take the materials with you and share them with your DEC applicants in workshops of your own.  

Each proposal that comes before a panel begins a new discussion. You, the proposal writer, want the discussion to be short and favorable to your project. You accomplish that goal with a good narrative and budget.

You don't want the discussion to get off on the wrong track, or on some minor point that doesn't support your argument for funding. Your job is to control the panel discussion, and make sure that nothing in your narrative and budget distracts them from your project.

The best way to accomplish a brief and focused panel discussion is by presenting them with a brief and focused proposal! Here are some tips:

1. Try not to project an attitude. Panels don't want to hear how "important" or "inspiring your program is. You invite a panelist to disagree with your assessment, and dangerously side-track the discussion. On the other side of this coin, avoid flip or sarcastic remarks; that works against your interests every time.
2. Keep historical and background information very brief. The proposal is requesting support for future activities, not past ones. (See II below.)
3. Don't write about activities that are not part of the proposed program.

Inexperienced proposal writers seem to think that quantity makes a good impression on panelists. In fact, too much information tends to confuse panelists and to cause exactly the kind of questions you are trying to avoid. (Is this what they want support for?" "When did they do that?")

Compare these two sample opening sentences and see which one tells the fundraising story better: The Atlas Dance Company began in 1956 when my father, Harold Atlas, determined that the state of modern dance in the Central New York Region needed serious improvement. or this: The Atlas Dance Company requests a grant of $2,000 in support of artist fees, musicians and costumes for its 1997-1998 season. Only one sentence can be the first sentence, and it is important to use it wisely. The first sentence of the request must clearly state how much money is requested, and what that money will be used for. This principle is simple: the most important relevant information appears first! The next most important and relevant information appears next, and so on. This is how people read - they start at the beginning and work their way down to the end. A proposal is not a history lesson! Or a music lesson, or an art history course, or a personal statement. It is usually a simple request for support of a project.

Context
Often there is a reason to place the current project in some kind of context. Perhaps it is the fifteenth year of a successful concert series; perhaps a current program is going to be expanded. This kind of context can help make a strong argument for support. However, it should appear later in the narrative, as briefly as possible, and not distract from the main point.

Your proposal narrative and budget provide the same information in two different forms. You should write them together, so that they support each other and strengthen your case. There are two fundamental mistakes made in project budgets (and many less fundamental mistakes!):

Including a budget item not mentioned in the narrative

Excluding a budget item that IS mentioned in the narrative

If you have been paying attention to Rules I and II, you know what the result is in the panel discussion when they find either of these basic mistakes. They DISCUSS those mistakes! And that's just what you want to avoid.

The Solution is to write the narrative and the budget at the same time, side by side. Here are some examples:

NARRATIVE BUDGET ITEM
The concert will include three musicians…Musicians (3 @ $250) $750
We plan to record the concert for future distribution Recording Service (include, engineer and possible sales equipment) 350
Recording tape 75
We will advertise our concerts in several local ;Advertising (Print) 600
Newspapers and with a mailing… Brochures (500) production 25
Mailing (500 Brochures @ .32) 160

As you see, every line in the narrative that describes any kind of cost must be reflected in the project budget.

INCOME
Many DEC project budgets project no income of any kind outside of the DEC award. This immediately raises two questions in the mind of panelists (or should raise the questions): If this project has value to the community, why is there no community support? And: If we award less than the request amount, how can they carry out the project? The best way to avoid these questions is to show other sources of support, earned or contributed, even in-kind support, that shows someone else besides the applicant cares about this project.

We have discussed the three basics of constructing concise and readable grant proposals - proposals that work for your project, not against it!

The three ideas are:

• Control the panel discussion with your narrative
• Don't waste the important first sentence
• Create the narrative and the budget at the same time.

Here is an example of a proposal that needs improvement. Read it carefully with the above points in mind. We will write an improved version. We'll also do the same with the budget.