Being the only person with the word “grant” in your job title, or even mentioned as “other duties as assigned” on an outdated job description, doesn’t mean you have to go it alone. While having a dedicated grant writer, team, or consultant is invaluable, grant proposals involve far more than just skillful writing. They require input and collaboration from team members across departments and roles.
Program staff offer crucial ground-level details about needs, activities, and impacts. Financial team members provide budgeting expertise. Organizational leaders ensure strategic alignment with the mission. Community stakeholders, like volunteers or beneficiaries, provide rich perspectives identifying needs and community assets.
This collective “grant-minded” mentality creates a shared investment in funding success. It increases accountability and bolsters morale around an often-challenging pursuit. But developing this organizational grant capacity doesn’t happen automatically. It takes intentional team learning and professional development opportunities.
One of the unique aspects of the Grants Lab from HayDay Services, developed by Amanda and me, is that it’s the training we wish we could have had when starting our careers as grant professionals. It offers up to 5 members from each participating agency or department the opportunity to engage in 27 hours of expert (and entertaining) grants-based training and interaction with two grant pros with a combined 50+ years of experience. The interactive classes, writing labs, and guided activities foster a collaborative learning environment—all for one package price.
The 14 hours of live online training (recorded and then available on demand) covers everything from research tactics to writing compelling program descriptions, budget building, evaluation, and sustainability planning–all aspects of the grant cycle. The Grants Lab is designed so that as teams learn and practice together, they organically develop those all-important shared processes and priorities.
Grants Lab also includes an audit of a recent grant proposal from your agency with written feedback, two hours of one-on-one coaching calls, and written feedback on every assigned writing or grants-related activity. Grants Lab participants leave with a list of prospective grant opportunities, a grant readiness audit, and a completed template of standard grant components for future grant applications.
In today’s increasingly competitive environment, organizations can’t afford for grant expertise to reside solely with one person. The team-based training approach of the Grants Lab is designed to build capacity and grant proficiency across roles and departments. With more stakeholders bringing their grant savviness to the table, proposals become tighter, smarter, and more likely to hit the mark with funders.
Grant success takes a village, but villages can’t reach their potential without developing cohesive grant capacity. For organizations looking to elevate their grants game, the collective approach and skills-building of the Grants Lab could be a transformative opportunity, propelling them toward greater funding success.
Click HERE to join the waitlist for the Fall cohort of the Grants Lab.
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