What are Grants, and What is Grant Writing?

Learning Objectives

• Define grant
• Understand grants as scholarship
• Understand relationships among stakeholders for grants

Grants are . . .

A form of funding for philanthropic projects

Grants are a form of funding for projects that fulfill a philanthropic aim. Grants help make the world better by providing money that helps achieve a greater good. They can cover a range of projects, depending on the institution seeking and fulfilling a grant. Grant seekers might apply for funding to cover costs for innovative research in a wide variety of disciplines in the sciences, social sciences, liberal arts, or other disciplinary areas. In education, grant seekers might seek funding for afterschool programs, technology or other equipment, or tutoring services. Some grant seekers might need funding for social programs that help families pay bills while their loved one is being treated for cancer or help victims of domestic violence build a new and better life. 

There are several types of organizations that may offer funding for philanthropic projects. Government organizations at various levels (from federal to municipal), foundations created by wealthy individuals, corporations, and rotary clubs or other civic organizations are some of the potential sources of funding (Mikelonis, Bitsinger, & Kampf, 2003, pp. 77-78).

A Relationship Among Stakeholders

Grants are also a relationship between the grant seeker, the grant seeker’s institution, a sponsoring institution, and the people whom the grant benefits. Sponsoring institutions often seek to help certain populations or further certain causes. Further, an organization that seeks a grant and implements a project will often do so in accordance with the organization’s overall mission. Finding a match between your project, the people whom it serves, and the sponsoring organization helps create a strong relationship between you as a grant seeker, your organization, the sponsoring organization, and those who benefit from your project. That strong relationship is based on several factors that include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Grants are tied to your organization’s overall mission, which should align with your sponsoring organization’s mission
• Grants are tied to the results or outcomes for the population they are meant to serve
• Grants are based on a degree of credibility from your organization; the expertise and resources within your organization that give it the ability to administer the grant help foster confidence in your organization

Scholarly Activity

Grants are also scholarly activity. As Shore and Carfora (2011) explain, “The actual search for funding opportunities--the effort to link an idea that needs funding with a prospective source of financial support--is best viewed as a productive learning experience that sharpens the focus of scholarly inquiry” (p. 28). While not all grants will be written for advancing scholarship, most grant proposals rely on research of various sorts; research might help a fund-seeker determine a need that could be fulfilled through a grant, find a sponsor who will fund a project, and justify a need through various forms of scholarship. A grant writer may need to rely on published research available in the library or the latest statistics from organizations like the Pew Research Center. Those who seek grants may do research on the need they wish to fulfill, but they may also gather data on other projects that have sought to fulfill similar needs. Some research will be grant-specific, including the performance of a project after a sponsor has funded it or the costs of implementing a project.

Organizational Research Activity

Kachinske and Kaschinske (2010) also point to the need for what they call “Grants Research” (pp. 68-72): research that is more specific to the activity of grant writing, such as: 

• Finding sponsors and gathering background information about them
• Collecting and organization data about previous grant funding that your own organization has received (and who funded those projects)
• Researching your own organization’s grant writing infrastructure (including who has been involved with previous projects at your organization)
• Researching relationships that still exist between your organization and grant making organizations
• Researching competition with your own grant project

Resources

libguides.gcu.edu/grants

References

Mikelonis, V. M., Betsinger, S. T., & Kampf, C. (2003). Grant seeking in an electronic age. New York: Pearson/Longman.

Shore, A. R. & Carfora, J. M. (2011). The art of funding and implementing ideas: A guide to proposal development and project management. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.