In the grant announcement you may find a request to submit a letter of intent prior to filling out the complete grant application. However, this is not a binding obligation by the applicant. Some grant makers use this letter to determine whether the program is even something that they may be interested in funding.  

If this letter is required, the grant maker will state that you must submit a letter of intent by such and such a date to be able to submit a full proposal. Only those submitting this letter of intent by the specific deadline will be eligible to apply for this grant. This letter should be short and to the point and no longer that one page unless otherwise indicated. Some grant makers will supply a form that you just complete and send in by the deadline.

You will then be notified to proceed with a full proposal to be submitted by the deadline, if you have peaked their interest. I have discovered through the years that the vast majority of grant makers want your entire proposal right upfront by a given time, but I did want to make you aware of other options.  Only send a letter of intent when it’s requested. Remember that if this letter is required, then submit it by the deadline for the complete proposal submission. 

I have always believed that grant awards come to those writers who exhibit the following energetic and leadership image:

I must be the expert, totally believe in this project, think Win-Win at all times, a “Take Charge” Leader and know everything there is to know about this project. I have the expertise, confidence, honesty, perseverance, high energy and listening power. I possess effective communication and problem-solving skills to bring this proposal to successful fruition. 

One of the major dilemmas that I identified over the years is that there are proposals written that never get “off the ground”, much less submitted. I’m aware of organizations that have spent days and even months on developing a specific proposal, yet it never gets submitted. 

After investigating this predicament, I discovered that it occurs because of a simple omission. No specific person was assigned the leadership role of getting the proposal written and submitted. Many times, an organization will select team members because of their ability to write one specific section of the proposal. This is fine, except the problem here is that this proposal lacks the leader who is needed to pull all of the sections together and get it submitted in a timely fashion. 

I strongly recommend that to produce a successful proposal, someone must be clearly designated right up front as the team leader who is the sole person responsible for getting the proposal written and submitted on time. It’s as simple as that, yet many times, organizations do not designate a specific person for this role. Thus, the grant-writing process suffers because the proposal pieces are never gathered and assembled to meet the deadline.

When you are both the team leader and the key writer, immediately, let everyone know that you are ultimately the “boss” for getting this proposal submitted. It is vital that right up front, you let everyone know who you are and what your role entails.  Regardless of the others who contribute to the proposal, in the end, you are the one who is totally responsible for the success or failure of this grant proposal.  

You want to be first when it comes to a grant award because second best is no better than being last. In both cases, you come away without the “prize”. The keystone of a winning proposal is to be detail-intensive, generate an award-winning piece and most importantly, submit the proposal on time.

Get Dr. Pat's comprehensive book on winning grants on Barnes and Noble or Amazon!

​My ongoing research through the years includes why some of my entrepreneur graduates succeed in business and why others are less fortunate. Business success is defined in many ways, but the bottom line is profitability. 

Profit is considered the money remaining after a product or service is sold, earned revenue and paid out its cost of operating the business.  Costs are everything from buying supplies, paying employees, liability insurance and all of the overhead expenses incurred in the operation. 

If a business isn’t producing profits, then it means that more money is being spent than earned. Businesses can’t go on very long when operating at a deficit.  

There are many opinions by experts about why a business succeeds or fails. I have tracked my entrepreneur graduates for years and the ones who have succeeded in business demonstrate certain skills such as the following:

• Target the right group of customers
• Stay informed about whether or not they have enough customers 
• Aware of their customers’ wants and needs
• Have a clear purpose of their business in writing
• Utilize an updated Business Plan
• Have written specific goals and objectives
• Keep abreast with their full operating costs
• Familiar with their specific business expenses 
• Adhere to their budget
• Accumulate data about their competitors’ strengths and weaknesses
• Aware of their own strengths and weaknesses
• Carefully calculated their prices and continue to sell at a profit
• Use effective leadership and management
• Stay involved in professional groups and the community 
• Bring in above-average profits due to exemplary planning
• Maintain the image of a “winner”

Where do you begin?

I’m Dr. Pat and I have written hundreds of proposals and been awarded over fifty million dollars in grant funds. There are certain secrets that I will share with you if you want to succeed as a successful proposal writer.

The first thing that you must locate is the Request For Proposal (RFP) because without this, there is no reason to write a proposal.  This is a request for a proposal and states that the grant maker is seeking an organization that they will give grant money to in exchange for implementing a specific service or project. Without the RFP there is no reason to write your proposal.

I have always predicted that a grant is awarded to those writers who exhibit energetic and leadership skills that include being an expert in the field of interest that you want funding for, can accept challenges or problems as opportunities and be the “take charge" grant producer. Problem solvers and effective communicators tend to bring a proposal to successful fruition.

One of the major dilemmas that I have found over the years is that there are great proposals written that “never get off the ground". Many times an organization seeking a grant award will gather together several talented individuals who comprise the proposal-writing team. I usually find that they have omitted one winning factor; they lack the leader whose job is to pull all of the proposal sections together and to get the proposal submitted by the deadline. 

I strongly recommend that to produce an award-winning proposal, one person must be clearly designated as the team leader whose sole responsibility is to get the proposal written, assembled and submitted on time. It’s as simple as that, yet many times, organizations do no have that specific person and the grant-writing process fails. More of my winning secrets can be found in my book called “How To Win At Grant Writing" found on Amazon or Barnes & Noble sites.