My #1 Success in Grant Writing

I have a few things I credit my grant success when asked. One is a grant mentor who answered questions and took the time to explain the process. The other is Grants Magic U Taught by Maryn Boess.

 

For those of you who don’t know Maryn, I’d like to introduce you. Over her 20+-year career in the nonprofit world, Maryn has been an on-staff program developer and grant writer; an independent grants consultant; a grants project manager; a grants trainer; a grants reviewer, author, speaker, mentor and coach; and – yes – for the past 10 years, even a grantmaker.

 

GrantsMagic U, launched in fall 2015,  is the “virtual academy”; she created to make her extensive portfolio of practical and inspiring trainings on successful grantsmanship available (and affordable!) for anyone, anytime, anywhere.

 

As you can see, she is well qualified and the fact she has been on both sides of grants- writing and making- was a huge draw for me. I recently took Maryn’s course and it dramatically made a difference in my grant writing. I have a seamless process now that is defined and a whole lot less stressful. I understand the grantsmanship game (as Maryn puts it) and knowing the rules puts me ahead of my competition.

 

Beyond the process, learning what funders look for when determining if the organization is a good investment has helped me assist new nonprofits with program development, budgeting, collaboration, and setting the organization’s foundation.

 

Maryn’s course walks you through the entire process of creating a proposal – step by step. She  teaches you how to build a winning proposal from both sides – funders and organizations. She helps you understand the challenges funders face so your proposal becomes a solution and looked at on the top of the pile. Maryn says grant writing is 80% planning and 20% riding. Her course gives you all the planning worksheets and fill in the blanks sheets to help you plan and write a proposal that will set you apart.

 

According to Maryn, her one-page proposal has brought in $200,000 for one organization. It goes through the 10 most common questions. She has a free course on the website for a one pager but goes into depth in the course. She covers budgets, logic  models, change gap, and how to answer that sustainability question. And that’s just for starters!

 

For me, the biggest takeaway was a real system that helped me get the winning proposal ready and out the door. I have worksheets and visuals to show clients who are thinking of grants and programs, helping them understand and define the programs and organizations.

 

Want to know more about the course? Here is an in-depth look at the sessions.

8-session course schedule:

Every Monday starting Oct. 21, you’ll get access to a new training video of about 2 hours each, plus detailed handouts and resource materials. Because this is an on-demand program, once a session has been released, you and your team can watch at any time, on your own schedule.

Here’s the agenda:

Part A. Starting Right Where You Are – Right Now (Session 1, released Oct. 21)

The first week is all about meeting you right where you are – wherever you’re starting out – and getting you ramped up and ready for the journey ahead.  You’ll start by “packing your travel bag” – getting you grounded in the powerful concepts and paradigms you’ll be exploring – the very big big-picture thinking at the heart of “The Ultimate Grant Proposal Blueprint.”  Next, you’ll get your first look at the framework you’ll be working with. You’ll take a high flyover of our “Blueprint” territory and start exploring the key tools, processes, and ideas that will support you on your journey.

 

Part B: Your Ultimate Grant Proposal Blueprint, Unpacked (Sessions 2-7).

For the next six weeks you’ll be taking a deep dive, one at a time, into each of the key sections of your Ultimate Grant Proposal Blueprint. Working with the framework laid out in Part A, you’ll work with checklists, planning tools, formulas, and fill-in-the-blanks templates that guide you step by step through exactly how to shape the details that bring your project to life and create a clear, compelling proposal. Remember, once a session has been released you can watch it any time, on your own schedule.

Session 2: The Issue, Need, or Opportunity (released Oct. 28)

Session 3: Impact Outcomes (released Nov. 4)

Session 4: Work Plan/Partnership (released Nov. 11)

Session 5: Evaluation (released Nov. 18)

Session 6: The Proposal Budget (released Nov. 25)

Session 7: The Summary/The Credibility Statement (released Dec. 2 )

 

Part C: Turning Your Ultimate Grant Proposal Blueprint . . . into an A+ Proposal (Session 8,

released Dec. 9).

 

This final session covers how to transform your Ultimate Grant Proposal Blueprint into an A+ proposal that matches the requirements of any given funder. You’ll cover the elements of good writing; what to think about when making formatting decisions; how to “read” an RFP; things to think about when working with an online proposal submission; and much more.

Live Q&A Call-Ins:

As part of your course, you’re invited to take part in 3 live conference-call Q&A sessions with Maryn, where you, your team members, and your fellow students can get on-the-ground answers to all your questions about grants, grantseeking, grantmaking . . . you name it.

These one-hour sessions are exclusively for you and the other nonprofit teams participating in this Blueprint course.

Plus a whole lot more!

Based on Maryn’s 20-plus years of experience as a grant professional, and her unique 3D perspective as both a grantseeker and a grantmaker, this course will introduce you to a unique, powerful, success-proven approach to grantsmanship as a mission-centered, strategic organizational process. You’ll leave with:

A deep, practical understanding of what it takes to be a healthy – and successful – grantseeking organization

A new, powerful way to think about your role in the grants field

New, powerful strategies for organizing and managing a successful grants effort

New, powerful tools for winning corporate, foundation, and government dollars to support your organization’s work in the world

 

Train 2 additional team members free:

With GrantsMagic U’s exclusive Train-Your-Team Special, you can pay for one registration and train 2 more team members free – that’s 3 enrollments for the price of 1!

Maryn’s Grants Magic U course is open now and will remain open until October 21st. It is scheduled from October 21- December 9. You will have access to it for the lifetime of the course.  It will be the last time it’s offered in 2019. Check out the details for her course. If you decide to buy while you are there, just use code 1019AM to receive $100 off enrollment.