Writing multiple grants gives you several advantages:
1) The more quality applications you submit, the more likely you are to get at least one or two funded.
2) Completing a second, third, or fourth grant application gets easier and easier because you will essentially use the same data again and again, just in slightly different forms.
3) If you have a large project with large expenses, you may have to get grant money from several sources just to cover everything.
4) Quality practice improves your application. Your second, third, and fourth applications will probably be much better than your first. You will be better able to describe your needs and be more convincing in your narrative. You have to be very careful and stay constantly on guard to get your highest quality application the first time through.
If you already have time problems, you may not have the luxury of submitting several different grant applications. However, there are many advantages to submitting multiple applications.
Below are two mistakes you might be tempted to make. Don't do it. It is a virtual waste of time to submit the same letter to foundation after foundation. The grant reader will know exactly what you're doing. Applications for grant funding should be individualized and personalized based on the giving patterns of the foundation and the needs of your school. A generic letter sent to multiple funding entities never works. You will always want to use the granting agency's own application form if they have one. If not, follow their directions for applying by letter exactly and completely.
If you are seeking funds to buy particular commercial programs, never cut and paste their advertising material into your applications. They may tell their story well, but your job is to demonstrate how the commercial product fits into the overall program you are developing. Many grant readers view the use of advertising copy in a grant application as a lazy, impersonal way to get grant money. You may want to use their copy; just put it in your own words and describe how the product will be used to benefit your students.
I firmly believe that multiple grant applications are the way to go when you are seeking grant funding. The warning never to put all your eggs in one basket may be old and trite, but it applies today as well as it ever did. Multiple grant applications may mean multiple streams of money for your school.
That's not usually the case with many well-known foundations, but it is true with foundations that are not in the public eye as much.
How does that impact you and your school? Instead of everyone trying to get Bill & Melinda Gates to give them money, they should be concentrating on the foundations that are not as popular and more closely match up with their schools' needs. It is extremely important to find a foundation with a strong emphasis that just happens to be the same emphasis you have at your school. That may be bringing up test scores for at-risk students, or it may be building a reading program that works equally well with all students, not just good students.
Even though more money is given to schools with high at-risk populations or more economically depressed populations, that is less true generally of foundation grants than federal or state grants.
Here's the problem. How do you find all these foundations and find out what their main mission is? If you search the Internet, you will find some of them. Newsletters often list a few foundation grants.
If you want to get anywhere near finding all the foundation grants for which you are eligible, you will probably need to subscribe to a grant database. A database is a perfect place to find foundation grants because it usually allows you to search by state or region, and it also allows you to search by type of grant need.
However you happen to find the foundations, please consider applying to a few of them for grant funds. Find those that are less competitive. Phone them. Tell them what your school is trying to accomplish. Get them interested before you even apply.
Making this contact will also be easier if you use a grant database. The database will often give you a telephone number, an email, even a website link to each foundation. That makes it easier to make contact. That contact may very well help you improve your application and get the grant money you need.
Foundations give schools billions of dollars each year. Why shouldn't you get grant money just like other schools?
The problem is that you can't get any money unless you apply, and you can't apply until you find the foundations that give grant money to schools. Use the Internet, use grant newsletters, and, above all, use a good grant database to find that grant money for your school.
Don Peek has sinced written about articles on various topics from Education Grants, Education and lose 20 pounds. Don Peek is an expert in the area of school funding. He created The School Funding Center in 2001 to provide grant information to schools throughout the United States. The SFC database contains over 100,000 grants worth over $6.5 billion.. Don Peek's top article generates over 1600 views. to your Favourites.