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Grant Writing

Some Recommended Resources for Writing Effective Grant Proposals

 

  • Bauer, David G. How to Evaluate and Improve Your Grants Effort. Westport, CT: American Council on Education, 1993 [2nd Edition, 2001].
    This book helps institutions consider their grants program, so it is largely focused on administration. But proposal authors need to know how institutions manage, or should manage, grants and contracts. In addition, David Bauer’s name constantly recurs in grants literature.

  • Brewer, Ernest W. Finding Funding: Grantwriting from Start to Finish, Including Project Management and Internet Use. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2008 [5th edition].
    There are many how-to books for grant writing, but this one is unusually comprehensive. It includes sections on the components of a project proposal, writing a proposal, reviewing a funded proposal, understanding how grants are awarded, and the players and their roles in the process. It is full of charts, boxed “tips,” and general straight talk. The fact that it is in a 5th edition is telling.


  • Cahalan, Kathleen. Projects That Matter: Successful Planning and Evaluation for Religious Organizations. Bethesda, MD: Alban Institute, 1998 (3rd edition).
    Although this brief, readable book is written for religious organizations and not specifically for academic schools and departments, it provides very clear thinking on planning and executing a well-defined project. Even more importantly, it covers the important points of evaluation.

  • Coley, Soroya M. and Cynthia A. Scheinberg. Proposal Writing: Effective Grantsmanship. Thousand Oaks, CA, 2007.
    
This book has been updated and revised to help beginning students and grants writers write an effective proposal, which increases their chances of success.
  • Corporation for Public Broadcasting (pdf)
    
 A brief, clear synopsis of the steps involved in preparing a grant, including: defining a project’s goals, identifying funding sources, determining personnel needs, and writing a proposal.
  • Greever, Jane and Patricia McNeill. The Foundation Center’s Guide to Proposal Writing. New York: The Foundation Center, 2012 (6th edition).
    This classic, straightforward guide has been revised and updated. It includes the “6 steps in the master proposal”: overview, executive summary, statement of need, project description, budget, and organizational information.


  • Henson, Kenneth.Grant Writing in Higher Education: A Step-by-Step Guide. New York: Allyn and Bacon, 2003.

    This book identifies different attitudes that prevent grant writers from writing effective proposals and suggests positive attitudes that move proposals toward acceptance. Henson is a professional academic administrator so this is not about content, it’s about viewing the process objectively and instrumentally.
  • Lone Eagle Consulting (website) 

    A useful Top Ten list of things proposal writers should consider.
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