Part 1 – Getting Started

A baffled professor once came to my office with the written critiques they had received from reviewers of a failed proposal.  One of them included this killer remark: “Reads like a journal article.” While there are many reasons grants go unfunded, this book will assist you in writing successful grants, avoiding some of the pitfalls we, as well as others, have made while writing small foundation to larger federal grants. Grants are becoming increasingly competitive, so it is essential to think through this process more critically than before. Fundamentally, you are trying to sell your idea, so it’s important to be an effective communicator, on paper and in person. This chapter will help to provide the foundation of what is to be expected of you in order to be successful in the grant writing game.