Tori ONeal-McElrath - Winning Grants Step by Step: The Complete Workbook for Planning, Developing, and Writing Successful Proposals

1. Chapter 4

1. Introduction

FIFTH EDITION

Tori O'Neal-McElrath | Lynn Kanter | Lynn English

Copyright 2019 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.

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ISBN 9781119547341 (Paperback)
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ISBN 9781119547365 (ePub)

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Introduction

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

Step 9

Step 10

Step 11

THE FIRST EDITION of this workbook was created and written in 1995 by Mim Carlson, leadership transition coach and former executive director of several nonprofits in northern California. Her strategic, tried-and-true approach to the first Winning Grants workbook created the template upon which each of the following editions has been built.

The approach taken for this edition was that three veteran fundraising practitioners are better than one. Accordingly, two creative and highly successful fundraising consultants (Lynn English and Lynn Kanter) joined forces with Tori O'Neal-McElrath as co-authors.

This workbook is a coming together of all aspects of the winning grants process: prospect research, program planning, grantwriting, proposal submission and follow up, as well as relationship building and stewardship. In this fifth edition, Winning Grants Step by Step will continue to augment the many workshops and clinics, as well as the various other forms of consultation available on grantseeking and grantwriting.

Readers will also find new information not available in any of the previous Winning Grants editions relative to public funding and navigating the online proposal submission process.

Special thank yous to our families, friends, and colleagues who supported us along our journey of creating Winning Grants, Step by Step, Fifth Edition.

TORI O'NEAL-MCELRATH has nearly three decades of executive-level experience in external affairs and organizational development with a broad range of nonprofit organizations and foundations. Since 2015, Tori has served as the vice president of external affairs at Demos, a national think-and-do tank that produces cutting-edge policy research, inspiring litigation and deep relationships with grassroots organizations, for the purpose of championing solutions that will create a democracy and economy rooted in racial equity. Prior to Demos, she served for seven years as the director of institutional advancement at Community Change. Tori was also the founding principal of O'Neal Consulting, an organizational development practice that specialized in fundraising, strategic planning, multi-funder collaborations, board development, and interim executive leadership. She was a contributing author to Nonprofit 101: A Complete and Practical Guide for Leaders and Professionals, as well as the author of the third and fourth of editions of Winning Grants, Step by Step.

Lynn English is a development consultant who has served as a fundraising executive and consultant for dozens of nonprofit organizations across the country and internationally. She has over two decades of experience in proposal writing for foundations, corporations, and local, state and federal agencies representing everything from small start-up programs to multimillion-dollar national initiatives. She also provides trainings, workshops, and coaching on the proposal writing process. Lynn holds a BA in English from Georgetown University and an MA in English literature from the University of Maryland at College Park.

Lynn Kanter has worked as a writer and fundraiser for nonprofit organizations for more than 25 years. Serving primarily as a grant proposal writer, she has helped raise over $100 million for nonprofits in the social justice field. As the writing director for Community Change, a national nonprofit focused on building power in low-income communities of color, she handled complex, multimillion-dollar proposals, and trained and led a team of proposal writers. Since 2016, she has worked as a consultant, writing for national nonprofit organizations. Lynn is the author of three published novels.

WINNING GRANTS STEP BY STEP, Fifth Edition, takes the grantseeker on a practical, step-by-step journey through the grantwriting process, illustrating the importance of research on the front end, following the directions provided by each prospective funder, building relationships, and conducting solid program planning as the keys the steps to winning grants. Implementing the strategies as outlined, grantseekers will significantly increase their ability to present their organization's programs and general operating needs in compelling proposals worthy of funder consideration. This workbook is the blueprint to creating winning grants.