Q & A

Holland from Washington asks “Grant Writing for a Coffee Shop Startup”

I plan to startup a coffee shop with a family member. We’re in the research and grant writing process right now, and I was hoping to see if there were any successful grant proposals which anyone could forward me to. I doubt a place like this would have many, but seeing as how this is a startup website…

My Answer

My experience of grant writing is that there is no “one way”. You need to know about the people/group putting out the grant. Ideally you meet with them, make up a few questions you would like to ask them and use it as an excuse to go in and see them.

Each grant body will have its own goals and motivations for offering the grant and they will have their own critiera by which they judge the submissions.

They will have a quota to hit and they will be balancing that off against too many failing while on the grant … they ware looking for success stories which prove “they allocated the grant money effectively”.

So basically you need to understand the grant body in order to understand how you should pitch the submission.

There are many consultants with this knowledge and contacts who help prepare the submissions. They do this on a success fee or percentage of the grant. Often the grant bodies help introduce you to suitable consultants.

Some consultants are good, others are sharks so be careful … that said, getting the right one though can make all the difference.

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