Important Resources for Grant Seekers: Dr. Drew Culls the Key E-Mail Lists and Government Websites for Grants

As my recent grant victories indicate, one of my most important secrets of success is getting a jump on the competition. The sooner I get a rough draft outline distributed to the top staff, the sooner I start getting confident that the project will result in a large check.  


This is not as tough to do as it sounds. One of the best ideas for speeding up the opportunity recognition process is to make sure that you are subscribed to the most important grant-related e-newsletters and funding alerts available to you and your non-profit or government institution. Many of the leading funders, for example, are more than happy to include you on their list of upcoming grant deadlines and newly available RFPs.

California Department of Education Grants

One of the most important resources for schools in California, for example, comes from the state's Department of Education.

You can sign up for their free alerts e-newsletter by going to this site at http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/af/

I think that every school principal, assistant principal and senior administrator ought to be receiving and tracking this sort of free online information. Once you discover a plausible opportunity, then you can simply hire a contract grant writer like me or take one of the many courses available to help you write the grant or, if you prefer, you can learn to write the grant in class as part of my uniquely focused Two Day Grant Writing Retreat. One of the cool things about the resources available through the State of California Department of Education is that they have a lot of programs with multi-million dollar budgets that give away a large number of smaller grants. These are the easiest grants for schools or non-profit organizations to obtain and a great place to start your new grant writing career.


California Department of Alcohol and Drugs

There is also a lot of valuable possibiities available to you at http://www.adp.cahwnet.gov/Funding/adp.shtml regarding the grants offered through the California Department of Alcohol and Drugs. One of the secrets of success I've noticed in winning funding like this is that it pays to travel to Sacramento and visit with the politicians with a special interest in each of these programs and with the top bureaucrats who are making decisions by implementing the rules. They will not give you any special favors, but they will help you make sure you have a realistic view of what the government funder is really looking for in a winner application.

Dr. Drew Reviews the Top YouTube Video on the Topic of Grant Writing

I thought it would be fun to look through the top YouTube videos on grant writing. I approached this task with no expectations and an open mind. By far, the highest rated YouTube video comes from Brian Loyal, a biomedical engineer who provides a concise look at how to win funding from the National Institute of Health (NIH). The whole video is only about 10 minutes long and I think it is well worth your time in terms of its content.


I'm not the only one to be impressed. So far, this YouTube video has received about 7,868 hits as of October, 2011.

One of the things he says that got my attention is that your grant proposal needs to be feasible, relevant and backed up by an appropriate team of people. I have always had a powerful intuitive sense of how that works. I'm glad to see Brian articulate this concept so clearly and simply for his audience. All in all, I think he boiled down the most important secrets of success in a shrewd and insightful manner.

One of the funniest things about this video is that Brian repeats the comments he heard from another speaker on grants, Anthony M. Coelho, Jr. Ph.D. According to Brian, Dr. Coelho has been very honest when painting a picture regarding the state of mind of the average grant reviewer. In my workshops, for example, I explain that I'm writing for the hungover intern who is facing severe emotional problems.

In this YouTube, however, Brian says Dr. Coelho goes in for the kill and suggests that it is smart to assume the NIH reviewer is probably overwhelmed by late night hours, crushed by too much to read even as the reviewer is comforted by too much to drink. The line, of course, gets a big laugh. The takeaway, however, that it is important to provide your NIH reviewer with a document that is relatively easy to read and easy to understand even under trying circumstances.

I also like the way Brian suggests that it is smart to telephone the government "contact officials" in charge of each grant and ask whether or not your project is a fit. To me, this advice makes great sense in any proposal writing situation.


Moreover, Brian illustrates how he goes about his grant writing work by placing an emphasis on the idea that he is not writing about pure science. Instead, he is seeking to market pure science. As the last two grant I won for Orange Coast College suggest, you do not need to be an expert in a field of study to write a successful grant proposal. You do, however, need to know how to market to the overwhelmed grant reader. Brian illustrates his talent in this regard when he reduces his own scientific interest in the field of proteomics "...as like searching for the needle in a haystack by first removing all of the hay."

As a word of caution, however, I would like to suggest that the grant writer succeeds through abstinence and sobriety even as he/she assumes the worst of the grant reviewers. If you have a YouTube video you think I should see and review, please send me an e-mail. Better yet, give me a call at 949-643-8058 because I'd like to hear from you.

Drew & Associates Wins $450,000 Grant for Orange Coast College

We are celebrating success in the Drew household this month. I'm pleased to report that my team helped Orange Coast College (OCC) win an extremely competitive grant from the State of California to fund its new computer numerically controlled (CNC) technology program that is worth $450,000.

This victory comes on the heels of an earlier effort to help OCC win its first grant from the Orange County Health Care Agency for an alcohol prevention services project worth $220,000.


In both cases, I can report that success came from moving quickly when I first learned about the grant opportunity. By quickly creating a rough draft that laid out the key elements of both proposals, I was able to give the staff at OCC the tools and framework they needed to add in the telling details and personal stories that made a big difference in beating out the other competitor colleges and institutions.

Testimonial: Dr. Drew Wins $1.1 Million for NCACC-OC Alcohol & Drug Prevention Services

I'm especially proud of this letter from Grant D. McNiff.  He has been quite an inspiration in my life because of his personal financial success, his leadership role in Orange County, and his rather remarkable vision and personal courage.  They are always writing about what sort of leader you might take a bullet for.  I'd take one for Grant.  Here's a copy of his recent testimonial letter.

I've written elsewhere about all the important things I learned about grant writing from Grant McNiff.  One of the most important is that he sees building a grant as similar to putting together a winning race car.  I think he thinks of me as one of his mechanics.  I was, no matter what, proud to be part of an important winning team. 

Testimonial: Dr. Drew Wins $2.1 Million for Coast Community College District

Corine Doughty, Dean of Business, Career & Tech Ed
at Santiago Canyon College

I'm breaking new ground by publishing a testimonial letter from one of the most important clients I've served over the years - Ms. Corine Doughty, Dean of Business, Career & Technical Education at Santiago Canyon College. I met Corine in 2004 when she was looking for a grant writing instructor to teach at Rio Hondo College.

With her support and encouragement, I wrote a rather startling series of successful grants for schools in the Coast Community College District (CCCD). If you click on the image below, you will be able to read her letter as a larger document.

In my various workshops and retreats, I teach that grant writing is a team sport and not a lonely academic, scholarly pursuit. Consequently, I do not think my regular readers will be surprised to learn that the secret behind all of these successful grant applications was the speed with which Corine and I worked together to study the newly released RFP, to draft a compelling narrative, and to rally the faculty and administrators needed to make the grant significant, feasible and properly staffed as a project.

Ironically, I should have waited another week before asking her for this testimonial letter. It turns out that Orange Coast College won yet another grant with my assistance that funded just last week. It was a grant for buying new CNC (computer numerically controlled) machining technology that was worth $450,000.00. This was one of the last grants Corine and I worked on before she advanced to a new position as a Dean at Santiago Canyon College.

Fantastic New Resource for Those Seeking Work As Grant Writers

Rodney Walker's energy and creativity never cease to amaze me.  Now he is offering a new service that helps grant writers find work - all over the nation.  I'm going to try it myself.  In the meantime, please check out his new website feature at http://www.grantwritingonlinecourse.com/jobs   This new job site reminds me that in a tough economy, there is still always plenty of work for grant writers. 

Two Day Grant Writing Retreat with Dr. Drew Attracts a Visitor from Guam

At my last Two Day Retreat, I was startled to learn that we had a participant who flew in all the way from Guam. Her name is Zenaida Natividad, Ph.D. She was trained at the University of the Philippines and took a doctorate in education with an emphasis on research and evaluation. Guam is a territory of the U.S. It is an island in the North Pacific Ocean that is about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines. Dr. Natividad wrote her first successful grant about two years ago when she won about $224,903 in 2008 from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for a group called Sustantia. Sustantia is focused to teaching children and parents about proper nutrition to address the problem of childhood obesity on the Island of Guam. She succeeded with this grant application, in part, because she was given total authority to make it work. One of the most important secrets of success in grant writing is the successful delegation of authority. In my experience, I've seen a lot of charities and schools miss out on important opportunities simply because they were running their grant writing programs according to the rules of a larger committee. Where grant writing succeeds at a profitable level, I've usually found that one person has been put in charge and held responsible for grant writing activities - this was the case with Dr. Natividad whose first grant was an extremely prestigious and lucrative one. Dr. Natividad has travelled to the U.S. and Brussles to present papers on the good work she is doing for the children of Guam. I was deeply honored to get to know her better during her participation in our most recent Two Day Retreat.

The Never Quit Guarantee: We Keep Writing Until Your Charity Wins a Grant

As you may know, I'm working with a business coach, Jay McDowell, who is helping me improve my business model and staff organization. In the process, we have developed a unique selling proposition (USP) which has already made a difference for my consulting business and changed our relationship with our clients in a favorable manner. Today, we offer what I like to call our Never Quit guarantee which states that we will keep writing until your charity wins a grant. To me, this guarantee is not that hard to stand by since preparing additional copies on an existing grant is a low cost, high perceived value proposition. Moreover, as the charity learns from its rejection letters (and phone calls) it will become increasingly focused on creating a powerful argument that really breaks loose funder resources. Besides, I never felt completely comfortable with the existing model where I write some grants and then disappear for a year. I care too much about the clients our charities serve and about the survival of these charities themselves. At any rate, I'll be curious to hear your reaction to our new guarantee. As always, I appreciate your feedback, so do not worry about my feelings. My goal is to make the new Drew & Associates operate like clockwork.