Nonprofits are designed to be adaptable and responsive to their changing environments—or at least they should be. An organization must be ready to change when circumstances around them change such as politics, the economy and social expectations. What does this mean for grant writers? A lot.
One of the most important pieces of the grant writing process is evaluation. Funders want to know that you have goals and that you are able to reach them. In your proposal you must have a clearly defined plan of your benchmarks and the ability to measure your success.
As Ed Skloot, Director of the Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Civil Society and Professor of the Practice of Public Policy at the Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University (whew!), once said, “Systems without feedback are stupid”.
As a grant writer, it is imperative that you work with staff and program managers to determine what your organization can achieve and how you will achieve it over a set period of time. You are not the one guiding their program goals, but rather motivating conversation. Becoming an outcomes-oriented organization with funders means that you need to have processes in place before you ask for funding or at least before you receive any grant awards.
Grant writers aren’t simply responsible for getting good ideas on paper and making them great. It is wise to make sure what you are writing about can really happen. Ask the tough questions that will help your organization think about the big picture and design programs that can provide solid feedback to funders.
~Cheers!
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