"Good Money and Good Causes"

Karina Stokes' article advising beginning grant writers is of particular interest to me, as a career possibility I have been considering seriously lately.  Stokes segments the article into basic strategies for writing and effective grant proposal, but the bulk of her writing involves rhetorical techniques to persuade the funding agency that this particular cause is worthwhile.  She identifies the ultimate persuasive strategy as the ability to explain why the problem is meaningful to the funding agency, including "why this problem must be solved, who will benefit from a solution, and what will happen if the problem is allowed to persist."  I appreciated Stokes explicitly stating the skills necessary in a successful grant writer: creative thinking, critical reading, and strategic analysis.  Stokes also concedes that grant writing cannot rely entirely on the rhetorical skill of the writer, but the proposed plan itself "must be realistic, and the methods must be practical."

According to Stokes, presentation can be a huge influence on decisions about which proposal to fund.  She emphasizes conforming to deadlines and formal requirements and provides examples of situations where perfectly valid proposals have been rejected because of the writers' failure to adhere to directions stated in the requests for proposals.  Stokes also highlights the necessity of justifying costs explicitly as part of establishing credibility and convincing funding organizations to grant large sums of money to organizations they know nothing of besides information provided in the proposal.  I hadn't thought of the collaborative nature of grant writing, but Stokes clarifies the multiple individuals working on a given proposal and the necessity of communication among all involved in order to compose a coherent and complete grant proposal.

Most of all, I was pleased to read of the rewarding nature of grant writing.  Stokes explains that by following her suggestions for successful grant writing, one can actually make a living in this profession.  But even more importantly, she affirms the humanistic reward of knowing that you have played a part in improving the lives of others.