LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA – Writing a successful federal grant demands the exact same skills, resources, and product positioning skills that are central to Lightning Fast grant writing: Never rewrite something the same day you write it, always do a strategic positioning chart, and pay careful attention to the questions. The only real difference is that with a federal grant, the stakes are higher. Often millions of dollars are on the line. Accordingly, you need to apply these standard Lightning Fast skills with even greater depth and discipline.
Be Prepared
My success at winning large federal grants is what launched my career as a professional grant writer. At first, I had a perfect record. I won 10 out of 10 of the first government grants I wrote for various charities. The habits I learned writing federal grants still inform much of what I teach about grant writing, particularly the idea that you need to be prepared ahead of time so that you can move quickly when an opportunity to win money arrives.
The necessity of being prepared to take quick action is especially compelling if you understand the process surrounding federal grant applications. After federal grant appropriations are approved by Congress, the money slowly trickles down to the government agency, and then the pressure builds for the government agency to promote the existence of the grant competition and then disperse the funds as quickly as possible. I saw this happen with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in 2010 and the SBA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in 2020. These funds did not necessarily go to the best charities. Instead, they went to charities that were able to organize themselves quickly to secure them.
For whatever reason, the same process is still taking place today. The main season for federal grants runs from January to May. So, ideally, if you get yourself set up with grants.gov in the Fall, you will be able to apply for funding in the Spring.
Pay Attention to the Points
There are some things about applying for federal grants that are remarkably different from applying for corporate or foundation grants. It pays to know these differences. For example, federal applications list their guidelines so that you can find out what criteria are used to screen your application, and you can even find the score attached to each separate criterion. I have found it profitable to pay great attention to the weighting of the different sections of a federal grant application. If one portion of the grant application is worth 25 out of 100 points, then I devote 25% of the allotted space to answering that question.
Respond to Each Element of the Question
There are great advantages in answering questions exactly according to what the federal request for proposal (RFP) demands from you: word for word. This operating strategy can, at times, create an almost idiotic question-and-response style of writing. This style is useful to nobody in the real world. As crazy as this sounds, perfect and consistent compliance in answering the questions will win you funding in the long run.
Use Politicians to Your Advantage
In my experience, it seems to help to have a good friendship with your member of Congress, Senator, or another political official. They and their staff can be very helpful in assisting you in finding available pots of money. Surprisingly, you can even include letters of support from local political figures in your applications for funding – a fact that first struck me as almost like cheating.
Go After the Largest and Most Numerous Grants First
Finally, one good idea for winning money from the federal government is to focus on those programs which have the largest amount of money and the largest sheer number of potential grants. I like looking for programs like Drug-Free Communities which offer up to 300 grants every year in the $100,000 to $200,000 range. As a taxpayer, you may be very disappointed by how easy it is to receive funding from the federal government for your pet project. As a recipient, however, I think you will be very happy.