Grant Writing for Newbies

Welcome!

Do you like to write? Do you picture yourself doing something to support a cause, advocate for social change or help others? These days it seems there is a non-profit somewhere for almost everyone to get behind and support. If there is a need and you feel a pull inside of you to respond, then let’s put those professional writing and rhetoric skills to good use, and begin writing for a good cause!

Grant writing is about articulating a need for funding to a foundation by providing them with concrete plans and ideas to help an organization or project flourish. Grant writing is in many ways a fusion of skills – the talent of convincing an audience that a cause is worthwhile– nay, undeniably necessary, and the art of doing so in a concise, coherent manner. Think this line of work, and other types of advocacy writing, is for you? Then keep reading.

This guide is designed to give aspiring grant writers the confidence and a proverbial nudge in a positive direction to move forward with your career hopes and dreams. It will lead you step-by-step through the entire process of grant writing along with regular updates of my personal struggles, thoughts, failures and victories. People make mistakes and have a fear of too much pressure and responsibility. Key point: This is true for everyone, especially when we’re learning a new skill and embarking on a huge life transition. But at the end of the day, success or not, writing skills used for a good cause are fueled by an intrinsic motivation– the genuine need to help advocate for others who cannot­– something genuine. Now, is there anything better?

The non-profit sector is a popular field of work for this generation of graduates, as it seems most have a distinct passion for one social issue or another. Elon's PWR program is capable of training technical writers but has yet to develop a specific focus catered to students interested in advocacy writing or grant-writing. My senior project aims to promote awareness of the grant writing job track for PWR students after college by providing you with my first hand experiences of grant writing and transitioning into the non-profit organizational workforce as a "newbie." This will explain the concepts and true realities of grant proposal writing and explanation of the various rhetorical decisions that go in to the creative process. The project is divided into two parts: an actual, real-life grant that I am applying for on behalf of a real non-profit organization, and the other half containing contextual narratives documenting the highs and lows of the transitional process and the writing process step by step, draft by draft.