Sunday, November 29, 2020

Planning Your 2021 Grant Writing: How to Make Next Year Better Than the Last

When we discuss ideas for Lightning Fast Grant Writing, we sometimes forget to mention the power and speed that comes from simply planning ahead.

For example, one of the tasks we recommend for grant writers to get done in the month of December is to chart out the due dates for their most important grant applications.

Often you can find out the upcoming deadlines by reviewing the websites of your most important funders. We like to take that information and add it to an Excel spreadsheet that is organized in chronological order. It also works to put everything into Outlook too. You can even set up tasks to remind you to work on those particular grants ahead of time.

Ideally, these due dates can also be included in your overall fundraising planning calendar so that everyone in your fundraising department, or administrative staff, knows what to expect in the year ahead.

Although it may not be possible to pick exact dates for upcoming federal or state grant competitions, you can often guess when these grants will be available simply by checking on your prior year's experience and assuming the government funders will follow the same rough schedule in the coming year too.

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