Grant Writing
A particular strong advantage of this service is that when I assist in writing a grant I work together with my clients to make sure that the grant proposal includes a ‘Methods’ section for grant funding agencies. The power of this approach is that when a foundation reviews a grant proposal that I have assisted in writing, the method of measuring the effectiveness of services provided by grant funds is already included with the proposal.
For instance, suppose a juvenile service provider is requesting funds from XYZ Foundation to lower the incidence of juvenile alcohol consumption in a target group of juveniles. Within the grant proposal will be a method of measurement that allows for the quantification of outcome goals. What this permits is that Foundations and other entities granting funds will know that there is a method already in-place by which the effectiveness of their funds can be measured by agencies receiving grant funding.
Foundations giving grant funds want to know that their money is being spent wisely and used for the purpose that it was intended. I provide the nuts and bolts of measuring service goals and outcomes for effectiveness. Similarly, I can show where program outcomes strengths and weaknesses occur in program delivery and adjustments can be made by the individual service provider which enhances the effectiveness of grant funding.
This service is especially important to social service providers relying heavily on State and Federal dollars for services. Given the extremely difficult financial atmosphere and the ever limited State budgets, social service providers find themselves looking for grant funds to provide needed services. As such, competition for grant funds is strong and this means that grant proposals are scrutinized for weaknesses in how the award funds will be used. Again, the advantage of having a strong ‘methods’ section for measuring outcomes of services adds to the grant proposal’s strength as it is reviewed by grant funding Foundations.