Developing a Strategy to Play the Grant Game
If there’s anything that needs a strategy, it’s the “grant game.” Before you even begin to seek grants, you should begin developing your grant strategy. Grants are not about selecting a company with a pretty website and writing a quick cover letter, they require great effort and research. Therefore it’s important to have a grant strategy to play the game. This will allow you to show the close attention to detail that will improve your chance of earning that coveted grant.

The first thing you should do while trying to play the game, is be sure you’re following the rules. This means find the list of the company’s requirements, as well as things that will exclude you from possibly receiving the grant. Sometimes this means calling or emailing someone on the selection committee to request that list, or to clarify items. Never guess on the rules of the game, always be sure you have clear, concise explanations.

Once you know the rules, you can bend them slightly. If your business is lacking in one or two requirements, but is very powerful in the rest, there’s no reason you can’t still apply. The idea, when developing a grant strategy to play the grant game, is to do everything you can to show off the strengths of your company. This isn’t the time to be modest – the competition won’t be. It’s good to acknowledge that you fail to meet one or two specifications to prove that you’ve thoroughly read the rules, and once you’ve done that you can then explain why your business is still the best choice in spite of that.

There are two arenas in which the game can be played. Public funding – such as government grants, and private funding – such as grants won from corporations. When applying for either grant it’s important to do your research, and find out what their priorities are. Sometimes you’ll find that they’re looking for someone who wants to study the mating habits of moths, and their company is invested in pest control. Therefore you want to offer your grant proposal from the side of someone interested in studying what interrupts the mating habits of moths and therefore may reduce their population near houses. Public funding grants are begun at the state level. Small businesses want to stay at the state level as there are no federal grants for businesses, but non-profits will be able to go up to federal grants.

Developing a grant strategy to play the grant game is not easy by any means. It takes a lot of work to develop a winning grant strategy, and you must be constantly ready to adapt your strategy any time the rules of the game change. However, grant hopefuls shouldn’t be discouraged by the work it takes – if grant writing were easy, everyone would be doing it, which would make the competition even more fierce. Always be vigilant, is the number one rule you should have for yourself. Read websites, newspapers, newsletters, magazines, anything to find grant announcements or new online searches for grants. Keep one ear pricked for conversation of grants, and join related forums to discuss grant strategies and availabilities with those who may be better at the game than you.

Joining a forum seems like a fairly silly idea – after all, that’s just opening up to the competition. However, one thing to remember is that not all grants are equal, and you may be looking for grants to fund your cold fusion experiments, while another person is looking for grants to fund their wildlife reserve. Join as many forums as you can find – one trick is to look around the forum and be sure at least one topic has been updated the day you choose to join, or the board will be too slow to be of any use to you – and become an active contributor. Don’t come right in demanding help, instead contribute to conversations and establish yourself as a useful member before asking for help. Once people recognize your username, they’ll be more likely to come to a thread to begin asking for help; few established forum members like to go to “newbie” threads and answer questions when that may be the only post that person ever makes.

The rest of the grant strategy development is yours – do you want to call or email businesses and ask them about grants? Do you want to send query proposals – short paragraphs about your business – to potential grant awarders to be sure they’ll accept your work? Do you want to hire a small staff of people to constantly be on the lookout for grants? Anything you choose to do is your custom strategy, and once you’re satisfied with your grant strategy and try it you’ll usually find it works for you – the principle is the same as a good business plan.