Succeeding at Grant Writing by Doing Thorough Background Research

Background research of your topic area is a very important part of the grant writing process. By gathering data and information you will be able to convince the funder that you know what you are talking about. You will be better able to convince the funder that your idea will have a positive impact on the community. Research will sometimes make the difference in whether or not you get the grant money that you are seeking.

You should begin your research as soon as you decide that you will be writing a grant and before you begin writing. Most likely you will not obtain all of the data you need by the time you must begin the actual writing of the grant. The research can and should continue during the grant writing process. As you write you will find areas that need to be strengthened with research and data. Research will back up your idea with specific data and information. Listed here is some of the research you will need to do.

Gathering Background Statistics

Once you decide on the type of project for which you will seek funding, you must learn everything that you can about the program you want to start. This will help you to make many strong points when writing your grant. Statistics often help to show that the program is necessary and will benefit the population you want to serve. Imagine how much stronger your proposal will be if you can include background statistics in your grant such as: Children with a mentor are 55% less likely to skip school or 65% of men who attended a batterers group did not batter women ever again.

Gathering Research Data on Successful Programs

Conduct research on your idea. Find out if your idea has been tried in the community in which you wish to implement it. Find out if it has been tried somewhere else in the country. Find out what made it successful in other areas or if it failed, why it failed. Talk to the people who started programs like yours and/or request documents from them that outline how they started their program. This will help strengthen your program and also keep you from duplicating something that is already being done nearby. Foundations like to fund unique ideas. Thorough research will enable you to show why your idea is special and unique. You can do this simply by contacting people by phone or by mail or by interviewing directors of existing programs. You may also wish to request literature from existing programs.

Don't overlook knowledgeable people in your community. Talk to people about your project (Please see tipsheet The People Chase: Networking for Grant Support). Quite often the information that you need for your grant is available through a colleague. Do not spend countless hours searching for information. You simply will not have the time for this as you are always working against a deadline. If a colleague doesn't have the information readily available they may at least be able to tell you where to go to get it. For example, you need to have an idea of how many homeless people live in Lowell. You may want to start by contacting city hall, the police, or a homeless shelter to find out where to go.

by Mike Wall 
 
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