Northern Lakes Economic Alliance • info@northernlakes.net • www.northernlakes.net
Jessica Lovay, Office Manager/Grant Administrator
Hundreds of Billions of dollars spent in grant funds each year.
Here is the million or should we say billion dollar question, is there a grant for that? And the answer is probably yes; so what can you do to have a successful grant application? During a breakout session at the recent Michigan Economic Developers Association (MEDA) Fall Toolbox conference taught by Edward Wollman (Michigan Grants Funding, Inc.), some helpful tips and strategies were shared for grant writing.
- Identify the activities required for the grant: who, what, when, where and how much of the grant application.
- Collaborate with others whenever possible; find others either on staff or in the community that have a stronger skill set in one of the required activities than you and ask them to help write that portion of the application.
- Learn the basic grant writing skills: spelling, grammar, conceptual development and the framework for the proposal.
- Practice: find real life grant applications to build your experience without submission.
- Advanced grant writing: find at least three sources with similar funding priorities/objectives and try to utilize one application with tweaks to complete all three.
Finding the grants, writing the application and attachments, and grant administration is a skill not everyone possesses or has the capacity to complete. Find a partner in your area that has that ability and get your piece of the billion dollar pie. For additional information or questions contact the NLEA at 231-582-6482 or info@northernlakes.net.
