Lesson1: An Introduction

Grant writing tips

This tutorial will provide you with the necessary information to complete the applications for Education Minnesota’s Foundation for Excellence in Teaching and Learning grants. If you are an active member and wish to apply for funds from your union, these tips can guide you through the application process.

As an active member of Education Minnesota, you are eligible* for the following awards:

Licensed professionals—the Classroom Grant for implementing innovative ideas that will directly improve teaching and learning.
Educational Support Professionals - the Professional Development Grant for improving job-related skills and techniques that will indireclty improve teaching and learning for you and your colleagues.

Throughout this tutorial you will see “For Classroom Grants” or “For ESP-Professional Development Grants”. The grants are not interchangeable—classroom teachers may not apply for the ESP grant and educational support professionals may not apply for the classroom grants. However, we urge you to collaborate with colleagues to work on grant writing teams together and to support one another in implementing grant projects (more on that below).

*Eligibility requires that you are currently paying full dues and employed in a school district in Minnesota. If you request that your annual, voluntary contribution of $5 dues be refunded, you lose eligibility for that year.

Why would you want to write a grant? Because you need financial assistance to fulfill a desire to make improvements in your practice and improve student learning. There are many ways to access funds and most of them require asking, i.e. applying. That means you must be able to succinctly describe what you need, why you need it and how you will make your desired outcomes a reality. Before you embark on this grant writing journey, take a few moments to consider the possibility of a positive outcome.

A. Think Ahead.
Ask yourself:

What happens if I get the money?
Is this dream/project outcome attainable?
Will I have help to carry out this project?
Are my students/colleagues/families in this with me?
Is this going to be “extra work” or will it be embedded in my daily professional life?
Do I have a starting point and a desired conclusion?

Each of these questions will be addressed as you progress through the tutorial. To help you to think about the possibilities, consider that, as of grant year 2008-09, your chances of receiving a grant from Education Minnesota’s Foundation were 2.5 to1. Forty-one grants were awarded from ninety-six applications considered.

B. Get organized.
Thinking ahead helps to get you mentally prepared; now, let’s look at some activities to get you organized for taking action.

Idea Journal -start a file of ideas and activities you find intriguing. If your interest is in improving reading skills of elementary students, you might have a collection of different types of reading programs which have been successful in other districts, cities or states. You might include articles from education journals and pamphlets from curriculum publishers.
Folders -create a physical space on your desktop to work in and save your tutorial notes and the grant application when you start writing. Electronic or hard copy, it will be a useful organizational tool.
Resources - in addition to this tutorial, you will probably want to see what some of the experts say about grant writing. You will find links and a bibliography with this tutorial and bookmarking them or marking as Favorites will give you easy access when you need them again.

C. Connect.
Most grants in educational circles involve teams—groups of interested parties who have a stake in the project being successful. Start thinking about who might be interested in brainstorming, implementing and contributing to your project’s success. Make a list and consider ways to bring those people together. How about an after school “cookies and milk”?

Brainstorm -the team you bring together will help you answer these questions from the outset of your planning: What do we need and how do we know? What can be done to fill that need? How can it be accomplished, by whom and when?
Implement -some or all of your team should be willing and able to assist in carrying out parts of the project. Foundation grants are more likely to be awarded where there is team “buy in”.
Contribute -your team members have an interest in making the project a success. They should understand that they may be called upon to lend moral support, join in celebrations, or “bring the doughnuts”. Make each one feel like a contributing part of the team.

Remember-you’re reading these tips because you are the likely coordinator/writer for the project. Your team will be valuable to you throughout the process-keep them informed, invited and included in the activities whenever possible.

D. What's next?
Before you proceed to your first quiz, be sure to assemble your materials (grant application) and open a file for saving your quizzes because they will make up the "guts" of your application as well as your request for clock hours.

September 24, 2009