As I have shared before, the first thing I do when I start writing a grant is develop the most appropriate winning message for that charity. This winning message needs to present your charity as the best possible social investment for a funder - especially when your charity is compared, side-by-side, with competitor charities.
As I write and revise the grant, however, I find that my knowledge of the charity and its proposed project increases over time. At the same time, I have found that the clarity of the grant writing process itself sometimes inspires the charity's leaders to make needed changes in their mission and their project once they are face-to-face with how a well-meaning, yet thoroughly objective, observer reacts to their plans. As we work to put ideas down on paper, I have often found that new, completely fresh information comes to light at the last second which causes everyone to rethink and reconsider the grant application.
Under these circumstances, I become careful not to change the spirit of the winning message as I am buffeted by the "fog of war" towards the end of the grant writing process.
Instead, I hold tight to the winning message and then carefully add details to my details so that even the tiniest bit of new information nevertheless supports the winning theme. In my experience, the addition of relevant details actually makes the charity's grant proposal more, not less, attractive to funders. As they say, "God is in the details." These carefully added details will bring a crisp twist to your proposal, a twist that make it even more memorable to the potential donor.
By holding tight to the winning message, even in the last few moments of grant writing, I'm able to generate a document that is both compelling and simple for the funder to understand. In the end, I make sure the details add up to communicate the message that the charity is "all in" when it comes to making its project a reality.
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