Tech & Learning - July 2008 - (Page 32)

THE MONEY ISSUE: HOW TO GET IT “Getting started on a proposal is the easy part. Knowing when to stop is less clear.” councils, student organizations, and civic organizations. Other ideas may rise from pressure within your school community. For example, parents of your school may be satisfied with academic gains, but want to see a stronger arts program. Brainstorming is an excellent way to track down good ideas. At the idea-generating stage, asking questions of many stakeholder groups will lead to grant and program ideas. Be sure to involve students as you search for needs. sales presentation should take less than a minute, the time it takes to ride an elevator in a tall building from the street to the penthouse. GET A SUPPORT GROUP There is nothing like a support group to make a grant application actually happen. Getting a grant team together early on will help you through the process. With the RFP distributed among team members, highlight the program mandates. Determine from the group what you have in place and what you would like to accomplish. Take a look at the gap. The work of your grant team will be to identify what is now and where you would like to be in the future. Team writing of the actual narrative is not recommended. A group-written grant tends to have neither a clear focus nor a single voice. The narrative writer should use the support group as a sounding board. Discuss whether or not your proposal makes sense. Is it doable? Keep group members involved by involving them in authentic tasks—developing partners for the project, creating required forms, and proofreading. (See Barbara Bray's article on page 36 for more on developing your ideas.) GET BETTER ORGANIZED Many years ago I found myself drowning in scribbled notes on paper napkins, journal articles that I wanted to save, and reams of paper that just didn’t fit into a heading in my filing system. I started saving these odds and ends in a lateral filing system. These half-baked ideas and random inspirations are great as grant starters. When I can’t figure out how to file something that I may want to access later, I simply place the material in a file folder and give it a number. I number my folders sequentially, then write a few key words on the folder, and enter the information into a database or spreadsheet. When I need to get my hands on that favorite article, I simply type in a keyword and I easily can find which numbered file folder to look in. As things in the file are no longer wanted or needed, I throw out the contents, recycle the numbered file, and change my electronic file with new key words. If you really like this method, you can invest in an automatic sequential numbering machine (a hand stamping device) with five or six digits that will stamp your folder with a number and rotate to the next number in sequence. TIP #2 SET YOUR WATCH A grant proposal takes time to develop and write. Estimate how long you think it will take, and then multiply by five. This is an accurate reflection of how long the process will actually take. Scheduling your own time and that of your support group can keep you on track. It is not uncommon to put in long days throughout the process, so plan for the unexpected. The copy machine will go on the fritz the day you need to make five copies. Your mailing service closes early the day the proposal has to be in the mail. Schedule, plan ahead, and have a back-up plan. PREPARE AN ELEVATOR SPEECH First you must have a sound idea that makes logical sense. What is the problem that you are trying to solve? What specific activities will kids do? How will you know when you have achieved your goals? Can others replicate what you did? Answer these questions and create your own elevator speech. This 32 TIP #3 | TECH & LEARNING TIP #5 TIP #4

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Tech & Learning - July 2008

Tech & Learning - July 2008 Contents Editor's Desk News & Trends In the Money How They Got So Rich The Better Ways to Win a Grant What's the Big Idea? Cover Your Assets Leader of the Year

Tech & Learning - July 2008

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