By Diane H. Leonard, GPC
Grant professionals (or grant writers if you prefer) such as myself are quick to climb on the soapbox of the importance of preplanning for grant applications. Preplanning makes the application more competitive, it makes the lives of those involved in the application less stressful, and ultimately aides the organization seeking the grant in securing the funds necessary to achieve its mission.
However, the question of “how much preplanning do I need to do?” or “what does preplanning really involve?” is a question I field frequently. Program design and specific project budgets are often difficult to solidify prior to a NOFA or RFP release by a grantmaker. The specific NOFA or RFP will often contain new language about priorities or specific information about eligible or ineligible expenses which will modify the design of a project or approach to other funding sources.
Regardless of the specifics in a NOFA or RFP, one thing that you, as a grant seeking organization can consistently achieve in the preplanning phase in order to make yourself more competitive in the process is collecting your data.