As non-profit leaders compete for scarce grant funding, it makes sense for them to develop their skills at picking the grant writers they work with on sensitive projects. As the owner of a grant writing company, I have a powerful need to make the right decisions about who I hire and bring on as an associate grant writer.

Consequently, non-profit leaders may be curious to know how I identify heavy-weight grant writers.

My System

I have my own system, which is based, in large measure, on the strengths and weaknesses of my own personality. I have absolute trust in my abilities as a teacher. I also have my own way of doing things, the Lightning Fast way. Nevertheless, I do consider the major, obvious factors, that quickly come to mind when evaluating candidates for grant writing positions: total dollar amount won, years of experience, level of education, and any grant writing courses and/or credentials.

I have my own spin on all these factors. For example, I do look at the dollar amounts the grant writer has won so far. In contrast, I pay much less attention to years of experience.

I do look at the individual’s level of education. I am doing this, in part, because their level of education is an indicator of their IQ. Surprisingly, I find I am less interested in the subject matter they studied than in the level of education they have attained. I value higher education, that is those with an MA, MBA, or Ph.D. because I know earning a graduate degree is a great measure of someone’s level of independent, unsupervised discipline. It is also a good proxy for the candidate’s ability to read accurately, and faithfully follow the funder’s directions. After all, these are indispensable core skills of successful grant writing.

I completely disregard courses and credentials. I think everyone should study and master them, but I would not hire grant writers based on their coursework or credentials. After all, I have my own way of doing things and I think most grant writer training is obsolete if not downright self-serving and counterproductive.

For much the same reasons, I am reluctant to hire someone simply because they have taught a grant writing class. I do, however, make an exception if they have published a book on grant writing. (Those people are heavy-weight grant writers through and through.)

One other thing I should point out is that as an employer, I am looking for cost-effective grant writers. As such,  I like to hire extremely talented young people, picking them for their enthusiasm and willingness to learn. I do not mind bringing them on and teaching them grant writing if I am confident, they have a great attitude, and are interested in what I must teach them.

Ultimately, however, I keep people on board largely because of the results they produce. Before Lightning Fast Grant Writing retains or promotes a grant writer, I ask myself a few simple questions:

Can we trust them to work with our clients on their own?

Can they solve problems on their own without me hovering over them?

Can they save us time and expenses?

So, for better or worse, I identify heavy-weight grant writers by their actual performance working with me.  Why exactly do I do it that way? Here are my more detailed thoughts on the topic.

Differentiation By Total Dollar Amounts

Personally, I do not think it is fair to compare grant writers according to the amount of money they have won. This is because I have seen people with only modest skills bringing in millions of dollars simply because they work at a large academic research institution. Frequently, the main authors of these grants are award-winning faculty members who are experts in their respective fields.

Moreover, in my experience, many educational grants are quite large and are easy to win if you know what you are doing. In my view, people who have often won millions in grant money are not necessarily any better at grant writing than peers who have won fewer total dollars. Instead, they have employers who give them access to high-value target-rich environments. People who specialize in government grants will almost always be able to show massive grant totals simply because of the nature of their work.

I am no different. I have a client that wins almost $20 MM a year. They like having me as their grant writer. For the most part, they are expected to win $20 MM every year no matter what because they are a high-quality, government-funded program located in an area of great need. Although I like seeing the total dollar amounts of the grants I have written go up and up by $20 MM a year, I know in my heart that this does not mean I am a more skilled grant writer than someone who is working for a homeless shelter bringing in $250,000 per year.

If the dollar amounts you win are largely dependent on where you work, then we need to ask ourselves is there a better way to measure the quality of a grant writer?

Differentiation By Years of Experience

Common sense tells us that the years someone has spent as a grant writer might be another strong measure of their skill. This seems intuitively right. But is it?

I do know that the grant writers I hire who have experience are better and more dependable than the less experienced people who are exploring grant writing as a career. In some ways, longevity in the field of grant writing might be a proxy measure for the qualities that would make one grant writer better than another. One of the obvious reasons for this is that an experienced grant writer may have seen similar situations before and now they can more efficiently solve a similar challenge. They may even have useful templates they can recycle.

Among the obvious reasons for relying on experience in judging a grant writer would be that the longer someone is in the grant writing profession the more likely it is that they have developed good habits including a strong work ethic, proven contentiousness, capacity to overcome writer’s block, and a basic ability to write well enough that a client invites them to come back and write some more.

In many ways, the total dollar amount won by a grant writer is conflated with the number of years they have devoted to grant writing. Longevity is interesting to me because it indicates, at some basic level, that the applicant enjoys grant writing. They like the isolation, the structure, the challenge, the ability to influence projects, and the sense of being needed in a high-pressure, time-constrained situation.

All in all, I think years of experience are an indicator of a heavy-weight grant writer than the total amount of money they have won. On the other hand, individuals with many years in the field of grant writing can sometimes be stubborn when it comes to applying new methods and advanced technologies. Nevertheless, if I intended to hire someone without planning to train them too, I would value years of experience over the total dollars won.

Differentiation By Years of Education

Based on what I see when I am hiring grant writers, I think it does pay off to hire people with high levels of education. Years of schooling is correlated with greater skill in grant writing. Folks with college degrees seem to do better than folks without them. Likewise, those with master’s degrees seem to outperform college graduates. Finally, folks with PhDs seem to outperform those with MAs.

Again, it does not seem to matter what field they took their degree in. It is possible that getting a degree is an exact match with the skill sets that matter the most to grant writing including the ability to understand and answer questions, the ability to decern what someone else is expecting, and the ability to follow directions.

It may also be that securing a degree is also associated with less well-known traits of great grant writers including an interest in learning new subjects, the ability to work alone for extended periods of time without direct supervision, a high level of conscientiousness, and a strong mastery of academic style writing, that is supporting basic arguments with facts and statistics. At Lightning Fast Grant Writing, I seem to make better hiring decisions when I bring on people with at least a master’s degree.

Differentiation By Courses and Certificates

It is possible that people who have completed the most grant writing courses or achieved the most grant writing certificates are the best grant writers. Here, I may be a bit prejudiced. I have only attended three grant writing courses over my lifetime. One was at the Grantsmanship Center, another was at the Volunteer Center of Orange County, and the third was offered by the Foundation Center. All three of them were awful. The first taught me to research using a commercially available database, the second taught me to go after local funders, and the third taught me that some instructors do not like it if you ask questions even if they told you they did not mind if you asked them. Although I have issued certificates in grant writing, I have never actually earned one myself.

I tend to devalue courses and certificates mainly because the most important skills being taught might not show up in the individual’s day-to-day work. Even worse, they may be stuck with bad habits that interfere with doing commercially viable grant writing.

Conclusion

I imagine that the non-profit leaders who are searching for heavy-weight grant writers will most likely add all these measurements together and pick those who score the highest on the whole package. After all, if you rely on every conceivable standard of measure, how could you go wrong? In my next article, I will write about how you can go wrong with this approach and what we can do to objectively improve our measurement of grant writing skills.

How to Use Your Cover Letter to Influence a Grant Reader

In the History Channel's new Grant miniseries, they report on the blunt philosophy of Ulysses S. Grant. "The art of war is simple enough," he said. "Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on."

If you want to follow his exploits they now have an interactive map of his key Civil War battles which helps you appreciate what he did to win the war.

Ultimately, I see his views as a call for considerable focus. The same principle applies in the less physical risky and dangerous arena of grant writing.

As a political scientist, I was always interested in how political consultants used direct mail to raise money and advertise their political candidates. As a grant writing consultant, I have adopted a lot of these same techniques to benefit the non-profit clients we serve at Drew & Associates. Many of the political consultant's best ideas were the result of early eye tracking technology experiments.

For example, it turns out that when someone opens a letter the first thing that attracts their eyes is the appearance of their own name. Consequently, I am very careful about having my staff double check the spelling of the recipient's name and also their title. My view is that if we make a mistake with the grant reader's name, then we immediately make a bad impression. If we get their name exactly correct, however, we will have used that initial millisecond of exposure to immediately win the trust and confidence of the reader.

This is why I refuse to issue letters of inquiry or cover letters that are simply addressed to generic appellations like "To Whom It May Concern" or "Dear Sir or Madam." I also use a Ms. or Mr. when I address the letter reader too. If the person's name gives me little indication of their gender, then I try to Google them to figure out the appropriate term of address. If they have a non-English name that I am unfamiliar with, then I will Google that too.

I also avoid using the generic term Grant Administrator or Grant Coordinator. Instead, I review the funder's website or research printout and address the letter to their president or chair. To make sure that I get the name exactly right, I will cut and paste it directly from the website.

It turns out that the next place a person's eye goes to when they read your letter of inquiry or your cover letter is your own signature. Try this yourself and notice how your eyes move over the next letter you receive in the mail. I also seek to leverage this initial bit of information too. If you have ever taken one of my grant writing workshops, then you will remember that I spend time teaching people how to create a professional looking signature. Too often, I have seen people labor over a grant application and then - at the last minute - undercut their own effort by signing the application or cover letter as if they just finished an increasingly rare third grade penmanship class.

Instead, I recommend signing quickly, like you are a doctor signing a prescription. The signature, by the way, should be done with blue ink. We use blue ink so that the reader understands that the signature is applied with a pen and not done with a photo image the same color as the text.

Finally, the folks who taught me about political direct mail always stressed the P.S. at the end of the letter. For some reason, people will scan the entire letter first, but then zero in on the P.S., or post script, at the end of the letter. To take advantage of that habit, I like to place the most compelling message regarding the charity and its project in the P.S. I rarely send out any letter of inquiry or cover letter without including a P.S.

P.S. If you follow these tips, you will be using the reader's most basic habits to quickly get a powerful first impression established in their minds in six seconds or less.

Act Now! Amazingly SBA-PPP Loans Are Still Available

Our intrepid reporter, Eve Troutt, has been keeping track of the latest news about the SBA-PPP loans coming from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They say there are funds still left. Since small businesses have started applying, the loan amounts being given out are smaller than during the earlier distributions. 

Clearly, the SBA is processing more loans, but for smaller amounts. 

If a business has not applied yet, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce still thinks they should. Even better news is that they think there will be a fourth stimulus package which will have additional funds available for Paycheck Protection Program loans. Their recommendation is to get into the queue.

Applicants need to remember that the forgivable portions of your payroll and other eligible expenses start the day the PPP gets into the charity or church's business while the remaining 75% must be spent solely on payroll. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says it is okay to pay your employees with the loan funds even if they are not actually working...even it the business or charity is closed. 

If you want to keep your people busy, however, you can use their efforts to help you learn how to order online, establish no touch deliveries, or figure out the new normal procedures per the local city and county guidelines. For some organizations, they may need to keep one employee working full time just to keep up with changing procedures. Organizations can also spend the loan on hardship pay and even give their employees small bonuses. 

To make sure things go smoothly, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says it is a good idea to document all orders or events which were cancelled due to the COVID-19 crisis. 

The only bit of bad news is that the IRS has ruled that funds used from this grant will not be tax deductible expenses on your 2020 return. Nevertheless, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is hopeful this may change.

Are there other resources out there to help you? They say: Yes! 

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says it still makes sense to consider the SBA's Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) too. They were expanded due to COVID-19. SBA is currently processing the EIDL applications. They will provide an advance of up to $10,000. It will go into your accounts within three days. (They maybe a little slower than that, they caution.) 

"The first advance is a grant," writes Troutt, "the loan paperwork will follow. And yes, you can turn down the loan and still keep the grant. Even if you do not qualify for the loan, or eventually get a rejection notice, you may keep the $10,000 advance."

If you want Drew & Associates to help you apply for the SBA's Paycheck Protection Program or their Economic Injury Disaster Loans, please click on this link for more information. All it takes to get started is an initial deposit of $250. 

Don't Delay: There is Still Time to Submit an Application for a SBA Paycheck Protection Program Loan

The SBA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is a bold and timely reaction by the federal government to the present crisis. It provides $350 billion in relief to small businesses and nonprofits.

The popularity of this program has been so great that the first round of funding ran out on April 16, 2020. This is less than two weeks after the money was made available through the Small Business Administration.

There is a chance that Congress will approve a second round of funding, an additional $250 million. To have a chance at obtaining a piece of this funding for you or your charity, you need to take action now to keep or establish your place in line. 

PPP will give you the resources to pay salaries and benefits even as charitable contributions continue to decline. I'm sure many charity leaders and board members are anxious to benefit from this program. They do not want to be left out of what may be a once-in-a-lifetime deal that will keep their churches, charities or schools alive.

After all, the loans that will be given out can be completely forgiven. It will be like having an ATM in the lobby of your institution spitting out money all day long.

Buy Now

For most of us, the problem is we are not sure where to turn for help, whether we are eligible, if we are too late, or how to prepare ourselves to secure PPP funding if and when more money is made available. Even worse, we can be frustrated that only larger charities or small businesses with up to 500 employees will have the resources, connections or staff needed to be first in line to get this money. After all, this is exactly what has happened, isn't it?

I know what it's like. I had a tough time applying for a PPP forgivable loan myself to protect Drew & Associates and our staff. My lender, Wells Fargo, let me down. I ended up applying through another institution. I don't want anyone else to jump through the hoops I've had to scale. 

We are now working with a number of our non-profit clients to get them ready to apply right now. As one of them reminded me it easy to put this off because you're afraid it is too much work, that it is a waste of time, or that it only goes to more established charities. I get it.

Frankly, it seems silly for me and my staff to work hard to win you grants when the SBA Paycheck Protection Program is potentially available. I can't think of anything more important right now that to help you participate in this program. The amounts and benefits will be amazing.

According to the SBA, your total loan amount will be equal to your annual expenses for labor - wages, salaries, benefits, and 1099s - divided by 12 and then multiplied by 2.5. We have a spreadsheet calculator that will help you figure out the exact amount you can request. It is important to remember that if there person receiving the 1099 is classified as an independent contractor - someone who provides you with services and not just labor - then those payments need to be dropped from the mix. 

As long as you maintain at least 90% of your current staffing, you can spend this money anyway you want as long as you focus on payroll, utilities, rent and interest expenses. If you do that, your loan will be completely forgiven.

I have put together a new service to help you quickly, easily and reliably access these funds with the assistance of our conscientious team. 

Personally, I've got 25 years of experience in dealing with federal loan programs as a loan officer, a client of the SBA, and as a grant writing consultant. My skills will help you to get started and to secure this money. We will:

• Save you time by screening your charity for eligibility;
• Fill out the appropriate PPP paperwork for you;
• Help you gather the necessary documentation;
• If you do not have it, we will help you find it or create it for you;
• Work with your banker or help you find a banker that does SBA loans;
• Submit your application on time;
• Answer any inquiries or requests for additional information, and
• Make sure you get paid quickly.

As far as we know, you should be getting your funding within 30 days of receiving your application approval from the bank or lender. Later, we will work with you to make sure you collect the exact receipts, records, and financial reports you need to qualify for 100% forgiveness of your loan.

One of the cool things about this process is that we will help you become one of the first community leaders to protect their employees and their non-profit by accessing PPP funding. You will be a hero.

On the other hand, I have to be real with you. If you do not apply for this funding it may be catastrophic for your charity.

Buy Now

We have no way of knowing exactly how long this crisis will last or how much more PPP funding will be available. Since this money is given on a first come, first served basis, it will eventually run out and some people will not be able to get it. Even if you manage to survive without the income needed to cover your payroll, utilities and rent, your charity will be threatened because it will emerge from this crisis damaged, living on a tighter margin and potentially even more vulnerable to continuing financial and pandemic shocks.

All it takes to get started is to pay a small deposit of $250.00 and set-up an intake phone call with me at 949-338-5921.

In that phone call, I ask you some questions about your charity, screen you for eligibility, and then make a recommendation on whether or not it makes sense to bring you on as a client for this PPP opportunity. If it is not a fit, then I will refund your money. If it looks like you are a good prospect, then we will move forward with the paperwork. I'll provide you with a list of needed documents, a loan amount calculator, urgent program updates, official SBA application w/ instructions, unlimited email and phone support.

Once we are ready to go we will charge you an additional $250.00 The total fee for our service will be a flat rate of $500.00

The final result will be astounding for you and your charity. Your employees will enjoy the peace of mind and security that you have wisely provided for them. You will be able to keep up your rent and utility payments. You will be able to put your people to work again doing useful things even if they are no longer meeting with your clients face-to-face.

You will also be prepared to go after a second round of funding too. This will most likely happen if stay-at-home orders, quarantines or marshal law are declared in your area. All in all, you will be appreciated for leading your charity in a crisis and protecting its capacity to complete its mission now and in the years to come. I'm excited to work with you to make this happen. To get started, use the Buy Now button below.

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Bank of America Releases Information Regarding Paperwork Demands for Paycheck Protection Loans

LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA - Bank of America has given its customers a heads up on what sort of documentation they are looking for from their loan applicants. Specifically, they are asking for the follow documents:

• 2019 Payroll – total payroll for full year 2019, by employee, as reported to the IRS.
• 2019 Independent Contractor Costs – Listing of 1099’s-MISC for 2019 independent contractors, by person, as reported to the IRS. (Note: Do NOT include 1099’s for services).
• Payroll report – as of February 15, 2020, or closest date after that date, by employee.

According to Forbes, Bank of America was the first major bank to begin accepting applications for the Paycheck Protection Program loans. Unfortunately, they are limiting access to these loans to just the customers who are already borrowing from the bank. Just having a checking account with them is not enough to gain access to these loans.

"The banking industry fears they may end up holding too many low interest loans if borrowers fail to meet the SBA's standards for 100% loan forgiveness," said John Drew. "The toughest part about getting this loan may be finding a funder willing to work with you."

"In the worst case," he says, "we are advising our clients to apply for the Small Business Administration's Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program instead."

The EIDL is more attracting to banks because of its higher interest rate of 3.75% for small businesses and 2.75% for non-profits. The best part of an EIDL program is that it includes a $10,000 advance which does not have to be repaid.

Elsewhere, we see applications are now being accepted for the Paycheck Protection Program through JPMorgan Chase’s online portal. Citigroup says their applications will be “available shortly.” Wells Fargo is not yet accepting applications either. We called a few times with no luck.

Drew & Associates is recommending that its clients have these documents ready to go as PDF files so they will be ready to upload, if and when, their bank begins accepting applications on-line. Right now, we think it maybe best to apply through the bank that holds your mortgage or other loans rather than the bank that handles your checking account.

If you have news about your bank that you would like us to share with others, please call 949-338-5921.

For more information about having the Drew & Associates team assist you with your application for a Paycheck Protection Program loan, please click on the following link, Drew & Associates' Paycheck Protection DocPrep Program.

Find Yourself a Great CPA: How To Win Grants By Having Excellent Financial Records

Sadly, one of the obstacles that can keep a charity from winning a grant is having poor financial record keeping. This gloomy conclusion might make even more sense if you look at the non-profit organization from the point of view of the skeptical, even cynical foundation executive.

Although your grant proposal may have all the right research and all the right foundation buzz words, a lack of financial information can seriously weaken, even undercut all your great work as a grant writer. The role of solid financials is so great to your eventual success in winning grants that some grant writers refuse to even work with non-profits unless they have stellar financial statements already in place. 

As a rough and ready consulting firm, however, Drew & Associates takes a different approach. In particular, we focus on helping non-profits improve their record keeping, deliver reasonable financial statements, and secure low cost audits or even lower cost accountant compilations or reviews. 

 In our experience, most foundations know that a genuine audit including testing of your financial records by a competent CPA is just too expensive to justify. In my case, I have often told non-profit leaders that Trish and I would gladly donate to the charity if we were confident the money would go into a high quality audit.

Nevertheless, all the funders really want to see - in the end - is something that looks like an audited financial statement. 

In other words, they want you to keep your records in Quickbooks or some other financial accounting software and then produce for them a Statement of Activities which basically shows your income and expenses for the previous calendar or fiscal year and a Statement of Financial Position which shows the overall strength of your charity by reporting your assets and liabilities. I always thought it was odd that the Statement of Financial Position also reports what happens when you add your net assets and liabilities together. 

I always thought that the only really important number was your net assets - or your charity's actual net worth. Instead, I now understand that adding net assets and liabilities together shows the funder how large your organization is in general.

Compelling Power: Charismatic Leaders Teach Us the Value of Simplicity

As a political scientist, I have always been fascinated by the biographies of charismatic leaders like John Kennedy, Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Gandhi. As I studied their speeches and other communications I began to note certain common themes that gave their communications greater urgency, effectiveness and persuasive power. I will share one of their most compelling techniques in this article: They keep things simple. 

For example, when Napoleon returned from his exile on the Island of Elba to retake his throne in France, his directions to his band of followers was exceedingly simple - walk in a straight line to Paris.

Above all, I was impressed by the simplicity of their communications. I think simplicity is effective in grant writing because it give the funder confidence that you understand what you are doing, that you will be able to implement your project, and that they will be able to understand what you are doing and explain what you are doing to their bosses too. 

In grant writing, I am always looking for ways to simplify the presentation of an idea. I typically look for funding for the single most attractive aspect of the charity and pay less attention to the myriad of lesser programs that clutter up the agency's programmatic agenda. 

How to Leverage the Most Strategically Visible Parts of a Grant Application

While I have not seen formal research on where a person's eye travels when they first read a grant proposal, I paid attention to my own habits and have generalized them to assist our clients. Ironically, if you understand how to speed read, you will also have clues about how to position your information so that it has the most dramatic impact on the reader. For a quick overview of speed reading, check out the video below: 

 

How To Speed Read

For example, in most of the grant proposals that we write we include photos. Part of the reason we do this is that photos subconsciously send a powerful message about the quality of your non-profit and your attention to detail. Accordingly, I like to find the best lit, best focused, and most contemporary photos I can find off the internet or from the collection established by the non-profit itself. 

What people may not realize, however, is that I am betting that people are more likely to read the captions under the photos than the text of the document itself. Consequently, I make the caption extremely easy to read and I build into it the most powerful, compelling message associated with that charity. 

I also assume that people will be more likely to read your footnotes than your actual grant application. For this reason, I pay great attention to the footnotes, seeking to make them readable, persuasive, recent, and consistent with the winning message/image of the non-profit organization. 

Assuming that people scan headlines in a grant application just as they scan headlines in a newspaper or on a website, I also pay particular attention to making sure that each headline is catchy, interesting, and consistent with the non-profit's overall winning message. I have found it helps to spice up the headline by adding a little alliteration, a reference to a current movie or television show, or an interesting play on words. 

No matter what, I assume that the reader will most likely be scanning my application, looking for excuses to turn it down, and that the best way to win their support it to seed the most compelling messages into the portions of the grant they are most likely to first study and concentrate on reading.  

Borrowing from the Pros: How to Get the Most Out of Your Grant Cover Letter

As a political scientist, I am always interested in how political consultants used direct mail to raise money and advertise their political candidates. As a grant writing consultant, I have adopted a lot of these same techniques to benefit the non-profit clients we serve at Drew & Associates. Many of the political consultant's best ideas were the result of early eye tracking experiments. For a look at some of the most recent developments in eye tracking, please check out the video below: 

For example, it turns out that when someone opens a letter the first thing that attracts their eyes is the appearance of their own name. Consequently, I am very careful about having my staff double check the spelling of the recipient's name and also their title. My view is that if we make a mistake with the grant reader's name, then we immediately make a bad impression. If we get their name exactly correct, however, we will have used that initial millisecond of exposure to immediately win the trust and confidence of the reader. 

This is why I refuse to issue letters of inquiry or cover letters that are simply addressed to generic appellations like "To Whom It May Concern" or "Dear Sir or Madam." I also use a Ms. or Mr. when I address the letter reader too. If the person's name gives me little indication of their gender, then I try to Google them to figure out the appropriate term of address. If they have a non-English name that I am unfamiliar with, then I will Google that too.

I also avoid using the generic term Grant Administrator or Grant Coordinator. Instead, I review the funder's website or research printout and address the letter to their president or chair. To make sure that I get the name exactly right, I will cut and paste it directly from the website.

It turns out that the next place a person's eye goes to when they read your letter of inquiry or your cover letter is your own signature. Try this yourself and notice how your eyes move over the next letter you receive in the mail. I also seek to leverage this initial bit of information too. If you have ever taken one of my grant writing workshops, then you will remember that I spend time teaching people how to create a professional looking signature. Too often, I have seen people labor over a grant application and then - at the last minute - undercut their own effort by signing the application or cover letter as if they just finished an increasingly rare third grade penmanship class. Instead, I recommend signing quickly, like you are a doctor signing a prescription. The signature, by the way, should be done with blue ink. We use blue ink so that the reader understands that the signature is applied with a pen and not done with a photo image the same color as the text.

Finally, the folks who taught me about political direct mail always stressed the P.S. at the end of the letter. For some reason, people will scan the entire letter first, but then zero in on the P.S., or post script, at the end of the letter. To take advantage of that habit, I like to place the most compelling message regarding the charity and its project in the P.S. I rarely send out any letter of inquiry or cover letter without including a P.S. 

P.S. If you follow these tips, you will be using the reader's most basic habits to quickly get a powerful first impression established in their minds in six seconds or less.

Start 2020 Off with a New, Inspiring Resume

One of Dr. Drew's biggest secrets of success as a grant writer is his skill at tweaking the resumes of the charity's key talent so they are more likely to win really big, life transforming grants. In our increasingly media saturated world, a fresh -- strategically designed -- resume can be the difference between winning or losing either a job or a multi-million dollar grant. At any rate, we thought it would be fun to offer a special starting in January 2020 for everyone who is seeking to find or get a better job. Here are the details of Dr. Drew's resume writing package.

Here's What Dr. Drew Will Do to Improve Your Job and Career Prospects for 2020 

This is a special service of Drew & Associates.  Dr. Drew will ask you to email him a copy of your existing resume or curriculum vita which he will 1) read and analyze, and 2) discuss with you by phone for one (1) hour.  Then, he will 3) rewrite your resume curriculum vita, improve its format and look, so that it will tell a positive, uplifting, and attractive story about your life, your value to others, and the special skills you bring to the marketplace. 

Discounted price: $400. 

Regular price, after January 30, 2020: $500.

Payment by Check

For payment by check, mail to: Drew & Associates, 25195 Via Catalina, Suite A, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677.

Please make checks payable to “Drew & Associates.”

OR

Payment by PayPal

Read What One Professional Says About Dr. Drew's Resume Writing Services and Why a New Resume is a New Life.

I highly recommend John Drew's resume writing services for anyone in the job market. As a full time community college faculty member and department chair, I decided to expand my job goals to seeking a position in administration. John helped me immensely with updating my curriculum vitae and creating a new cover letter tailored to the specific job I am seeking.

I felt his knowledge of the community college system, strong writing skills and his connections were extremely valuable to me - helping me gain insight and add information that I would not have considered myself.

He gave me a lot of time from our first phone conversation until we came up with a final product I felt good about. His interpersonal style made me feel as if I were speaking to a motivational coach who was helping me discover my strengths and abilities to move toward my career goals. 

I strongly recommend his services - personable, well-qualified, knowledgeable and outstanding writing skills. With his help, I got a great new job. Thank you!

-- Dr. Irit Gat, Antelope Valley College

Funder Research: How to Narrow Down or Enlarge the Field

As I have grown my business, I have found I now have to spend more time training our staff on the basics of grant research. It turns out that grant research is both extremely important and surprisingly difficult to do right. Most grant researchers find that they stumble on a ton of possibilities or else none at all. Consequently, they need to know how to adjust their search to find more or less prospects. By and large, I think most grant researchers are unfamiliar with the options available to them when they use a standard grant research database. In particular, they may be unfamiliar with their range of options.

There are four general categories that will be most useful to you: subject matter, location, target population, and type of grant.

Subject matter: The first step, in my view, is to focus on broader terms like education, social welfare, healthcare, or justice. If this gives you too many hits, then you can simply switch to narrower terms like low cost housing, minority education, teen pregnancy, or electronic health records. Of course, it helps if you have a general understanding of the work done by non-profit organizations when you follow this procedure. In my experience, however, this sort of knowledge will just come to you naturally over time and you start researching grants. In a pinch, however, it pays to review sample grant proposals or the project innovator form filled out by the client to get a better idea of the range of wording available for your search.

Location: If I stall out with this option, I next turn to the project's location. For example, I ask if my project is going to have an impact on a specific city, county, state, regional, national, or international location? Most grant funders, of course, focus their resources close to home. Nevertheless, I think that adjusting your geographic focus will increase funding opportunities. In addition, it is generally extremely easy to use geographic search terms.

Target Population: After searching on subject matter and location, I then turn to the target population itself. This is basically the group of people who will most benefit from your grant project. Sample target populations would include single moms, the frail elderly, disadvantaged youth, the homeless, persons with low incomes, at-risk youth, international journalists, HIV/AIDS patients, and so on. In general, I find that there is more funding for children than the elderly and for less stigmatized rather than more stigmatized groups.

Type of Grant: Finally, I focus in on the type of grant that the charity or individual or business wants to win. Most of the database search engines you use will offer to search under a variety of different types of grants such as: capacity building, challenge, conference, construction, consulting, demonstration, dissemination, endowment, equipment, exhibition, general purpose, land acquisition, matching, operation, planning, publication, renovation, research, scholarship, seed, special project, subvention, training, and travel.

Start 2019 Off with a New, Inspiring Resume

One of Dr. Drew's biggest secrets of success as a grant writer is his skill at tweaking the resumes of the charity's key talent so they are more likely to win really big, life transforming grants. In our increasingly media saturated world, a fresh -- strategically designed -- resume can be the difference between winning or losing either a job or a multi-million dollar grant. At any rate, we thought it would be fun to offer a special in January 2019 for everyone who is seeking to find or get a better job. Here are the details of Dr. Drew's resume writing package.

Here's What Dr. Drew Will Do to Improve Your Prospects for 2019 

This is a special service of Drew & Associates.  Dr. Drew will ask you to email him a copy of your existing resume or curriculum vita which he will 1) read and analyze, and 2) discuss with you by phone for one (1) hour.  Then, he will 3) rewrite your resume curriculum vita, improve its format and look, so that it will tell a positive, uplifting, and attractive story about your life, your value to others, and the special skills you bring to the marketplace. 

Discounted price: $400. 

Regular price, after January 30, 2019: $500.

Payment by Check

For payment by check, mail to: Drew & Associates, 1231 E. Dyer Road, Suite 215, Santa Ana, CA 92705.

Please make checks payable to “Drew & Associates.”

OR

Payment by PayPal

 

Read What One Professional Says About Dr. Drew's Resume Writing Services and Why a New Resume is a New Life.

I highly recommend John Drew's resume writing services for anyone in the job market. As a full time community college faculty member and department chair, I decided to expand my job goals to seeking a position in administration. John helped me immensely with updating my curriculum vitae and creating a new cover letter tailored to the specific job I am seeking.

I felt his knowledge of the community college system, strong writing skills and his connections were extremely valuable to me - helping me gain insight and add information that I would not have considered myself.

He gave me a lot of time from our first phone conversation until we came up with a final product I felt good about. His interpersonal style made me feel as if I were speaking to a motivational coach who was helping me discover my strengths and abilities to move toward my career goals. 

I strongly recommend his services - personable, well-qualified, knowledgeable and outstanding writing skills. With his help, I got a great new job. Thank you!

-- Dr. Irit Gat, Antelope Valley College

Special Offer: Make a Big Impression with a New Resume in 2017

Patrick McGoohan in resignation
scene from The Prisoner television series. 

One of my secrets of success as a grant writing consultant is my ability to tweak the resumes of the organization's key talent so that they are more likely to win really big grants. Surprisingly, a professional looking, strategically designed resume can be the difference between winning or losing a multi-million dollar grant. At any rate, I thought it would be fun to offer a special in January 2017 for everyone who is seeking to find or get a better job in the coming year. Below, here are the details of my resume writing package.

Here's What Dr. Drew Will Do to Improve Your Prospects for 2017 

This is a special service of Drew & Associates.  Dr. Drew will ask you to email him a copy of your existing resume or curriculum vita which he will 1) read and analyze, and 2) discuss with you by phone for one (1) hour.  Then, he will 3) rewrite your resume curriculum vita, improve its format and look, so that it will tell a positive, uplifting, and attractive story about your life, your value to others, and the special skills you bring to the marketplace. 

Regular price: $400.

Payment by Check

For payment by check, mail to: Drew & Associates, 25195 Via Catalina, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677.

Please make checks payable to “Drew & Associates.”

OR

Payment by PayPal

 

Read What One Professional Says About Dr. Drew's Resume Writing Services

I highly recommend John Drew's resume writing services for anyone in the job market. As a full time community college faculty member and department chair, I decided to expand my job goals to seeking a position in administration. John helped me immensely with updating my curriculum vitae and creating a new cover letter tailored to the specific job I am seeking.

I felt his knowledge of the community college system, strong writing skills and his connections were extremely valuable to me - helping me gain insight and add information that I would not have considered myself.

He gave me a lot of time from our first phone conversation until we came up with a final product I felt good about. His interpersonal style made me feel as if I were speaking to a motivational coach who was helping me discover my strengths and abilities to move toward my career goals. 

I strongly recommend his services - personable, well-qualified, knowledgeable and outstanding writing skills. Thank you!

-- Dr. Irit Gat, Antelope Valley College

What is a Referral? Why Do We Pay $700.00 for Them?

White Flowers in Glass Vase,
by John C. Drew, Ph.D. Oil on canvas.

I thought it might be smart to take a moment to define what I mean by a referral. This is important, in part, because I am paying folks up to $700.00 whenever they make a referral to Drew & Associates that turns into business. We pay out this referral fee by cutting a check to you or by making a donation, in your name, to the charity of your choice.

To make this system work, I need to make it clear what counts as a referral. Specifically, a referral means that the prospect: 

1. Knows who I am and what I do,
2. Expects a call from me, and
3. Needs my services. 

In other words, a referral should be a guaranteed sale, unless I mess it up. I am happy to talk with you about referrals and our referral fee program greater at length. Please call me at 949-643-8058. When we speak I will answer your questions and give you more of my tips for making great, profitable referrals.

Please rest assured that the client does not pay any more or any less for my services simply because they have come to me through our referral program. My referral fee is an important part of my business because it reduces my dependence on much more expensive forms of business development like telemarketing and direct mail campaigns. We are, in a sense, sharing our savings with you when you make a successful referral.

Although we do not discuss the referral with the client, we will discuss it and provide full details if we are asked. We encourage you to share about the referral with everyone including the client so that others can also take advantage of this wonderful, cost-efficient business development system. 

What is a Referral? Why Do We Pay $700.00 for Them?

White Flowers in Glass Vase,
by John C. Drew, Ph.D. Oil on canvas.

I thought it might be smart to take a moment to define what I mean by a referral. This is important, in part, because I am paying folks up to $700.00 whenever they make a referral to Drew & Associates that turns into business. We pay out this referral fee by cutting a check to you or by making a donation, in your name, to the charity of your choice.

To make this system work, I need to make it clear what counts as a referral. Specifically, a referral means that the prospect: 

1. Knows who I am and what I do,
2. Expects a call from me, and
3. Needs my services. 

In other words, a referral should be a guaranteed sale, unless I mess it up. I am happy to talk with you about referrals and our referral fee program greater at length. Please call me at 949-643-8058. When we speak I will answer your questions and give you more of my tips for making great, profitable referrals.

Please rest assured that the client does not pay any more or any less for my services simply because they have come to me through our referral program. My referral fee is an important part of my business because it reduces my dependence on much more expensive forms of business development like telemarketing and direct mail campaigns. We are, in a sense, sharing our savings with you when you make a successful referral.

Although we do not discuss the referral with the client, we will discuss it and provide full details if we are asked. We encourage you to share about the referral with everyone including the client so that others can also take advantage of this wonderful, cost-efficient business development system. 

What is a Referral? Why Do We Pay $700.00 for Them?

White Flowers in Glass Vase,
by John C. Drew, Ph.D. Oil on canvas.

I thought it might be smart to take a moment to define what I mean by a referral. This is important, in part, because I am paying folks up to $700.00 whenever they make a referral to Drew & Associates that turns into business. We pay out this referral fee by cutting a check to you or by making a donation, in your name, to the charity of your choice.

To make this system work, I need to make it clear what counts as a referral. Specifically, a referral means that the prospect: 

1. Knows who I am and what I do,
2. Expects a call from me, and
3. Needs my services. 

In other words, a referral should be a guaranteed sale, unless I mess it up. I am happy to talk with you about referrals and our referral fee program greater at length. Please call me at 949-643-8058. When we speak I will answer your questions and give you more of my tips for making great, profitable referrals.

Please rest assured that the client does not pay any more or any less for my services simply because they have come to me through our referral program. My referral fee is an important part of my business because it reduces my dependence on much more expensive forms of business development like telemarketing and direct mail campaigns. We are, in a sense, sharing our savings with you when you make a successful referral.

Although we do not discuss the referral with the client, we will discuss it and provide full details if we are asked. We encourage you to share about the referral with everyone including the client so that others can also take advantage of this wonderful, cost-efficient business development system.