RFP stands for Request for Funding Proposal. The RFP is the document that funding
agencies create to guide the grant application process. It is the official document that grant
applicants review to guide their grant application preparation. A federal RFP
can be as much as 80-100 pages of new terminology in 10-12 point font. RFPs are like bad relatives. They come at the wrong time. They require
incredible attention. They stay too long, and they can’t be gone soon
enough. In short, they can be hell.
There seem to be two groups of grant
applicants; the people who don’t know how to manage an RFP and the people who
do. For the novice grant writer, a state
or federal RFP can be overwhelming and discouraging. But, for the experienced, successful grant
writer, the RFP is a familiar roadmap that guides project vision building,
grant writing team selection, grant application design, narrative construction,
and text choice and submission accuracy.
What always seemed unfair to me, as an
experienced grant evaluator, was that the schools that seemed to need the most
funding support rarely produced the best applications. The rich always seemed
to get richer. The needy remained in
need. The bad applications read like
pleas to any kind-hearted evaluator for funding attention. The good
applications were carefully organized and crafted pieces of technical writing
art that left the tired reviewer breathlessly yelling, “Fund this application
before you fund anyone else’s!” Public
school certification or administrative licenses almost never include courses on
grant writing. So, I started teaching
professional educators my successful strategy for writing grant
applications. My students learn GrantSuccess. They learn how to manage and use the RFP like
a windshield mounted, voice pleasant, full color car navigation system. My system starts with getting your computer
desktop ready to begin writing.
Getting
Your Computer Desktop Ready To Begin Writing: Open a folder on your desktop and give it a
project name like “Project Inspiration.”
Download the RFP, from whatever website it is on, to this new
folder. From now on, you use this folder
as the “go to” place for any grant related documents. Move existing district documents into the
folder. Include documents like the
district continuous improvement plan, building continuous improvement plan,
district technology plan, staffing and personnel lists. Somewhere there is a description of your
school district demographics. Find it
and make it a separate document.
Download the text of any former or current district grants that have
been funded. This folder will eventually
hold the three pre-writing documents that have shaped GrantSuccess, my strategy for creating successful grant
applications.
Getting
Your Writing Team Ready:
Create a document that includes all the names, e-mail addresses, cell
phones and office phones of anyone you think might be involved at any stage of
the grant application process. Somewhere
in the district there is a gifted secretary with incredible word processing
skills. Put her on the list. Ask your Director of Technology to create a
listserv for Project Inspire. Put everyone on the listserv. Instant electronic access and file sharing
capacity will save many potentially wasteful hours. Group your project team into at least three
subgroups. The first group is your
creative/vision building team. They work
on the front end of the application and help create the goals and
objectives. The second group is the
budget/acquisition team. This team works
the numbers. The third team is the editing/final draft team. This group helps
you catch writing mistakes that you have stopped seeing. This last team is your
group of “in house reviewers.” They compare your application with the
expectations of the RFP.
Now, you are ready for the next step: Building
the Three Pre-writing Documents. These
three creative documents will save you time and increase your chance for a
successful grant application. In next
few columns, I will describe how to construct these three helpful documents and
give examples. RFP’s don’t have to be
hell. They can be roadmaps that take you
to your destination of increased funding.
Dr. Douglas Brooks
Director, Partners In Learning
Miami University @ Oxford, Ohio
Corporate Partner, CIM Technology Solutions
Indianapolis, Indiana
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