A reality of public health work in this country is that a good amount of programming is supported by grant funding.  This means that to be an effective public health professional in this day and age it is important to have a strong skill set in grant writing.  As funding shifts and new funding becomes available, it is a good idea to brush up on those skills.  This of writing a grant as a road trip - there is a distinct starting and finishing point, and little stops along the way that will make the trip easier and more enjoyable.  And the key to a good road trip is planning and preparation, and the same is true for grant writing.  This article highlights some useful tips for you and your team to think about as you are reading through funding opportunity announcements, writing sustainability plans for your programs, and planning for the long term health and wellness of your communities. 

Is this trip worth taking?

• Ask yourself if this funding opportunity fits within the mission or strategic plan of the Tribal program or organization.  If it does not, then it may not be worth going for.
• If this grant represents a foray into a new realm for your department, then consider partnering with an experienced organization or hiring a consultant.  This will help to demonstrate needed capacity to work on the issue.
• Look at eligibility criteria.  Don't waste your time with planning if your program or organization is not even eligible to apply for the funds.  There is oftentimes some leeway for organizations within Indian Country, as grants are often eligible to Tribal governments, Tribal organizations and/or non-profit organizations - and organizations within Indian Country often fall into one or more of these categories.  If your program or organization is ineligible, then look for an organization or a fiscal agent that is eligible with whom you can partner on the application.
• Ask yourself if your program/organization has the capacity to do what is being asked.  No matter how promising, the funding may look and how closely aligned it is to the purpose of your program, if your Tribe or program does have the capacity or resources (i.e., staff, space, community support, infrastructure, history), then you are setting yourself up for failure should you choose to compete for funds. 

Making Plans

• Take plenty of time to read and review the grant - highlight important components of the guidelines - such as the intended goal, required activities, due dates, page limits and required components.  Highlight any questions that the funder would like answered within your application.  And be sure to take note of the rules of the application, such as mandatory page margins, font size, pagination, spacing, and required attachments.
• Distribute the funding opportunity announcement to your colleagues and team members.  Ask them to review it, and then gather everybody for a group brainstorming session.  Use the time to lay out ideas for activities, collaborators, frameworks, evaluation processes.  Honor everybody's input, and use it to construct an approach your team together and take Group brainstorm - honor everybody's thoughts.
• Do a literature review and internet to find out if anything relevant or similar has already been done in the field.  Either you could change your plan to avoid proposing work that has already been undertaken, or you could take those lessons already learned and apply them to your proposal. 
• Try to make assignments to divvy up the work. For example, have one person in charge of gathering the attachments, one person gathering letters of support, while another person starts writing a statement of need.  Create an electronic filing system where everything can be shared and saved.  Assign one person to take lead on the entire application - who will be in charge in putting all of the pieces together.
• Set deadlines for completion of each component.  Do not wait to the last minute - especially if you are thinking about collaborating with partners. 

Filling the Gas Tank

• When starting to write the narrative components, feel free to use language from older grant applications or reports (this is especially true when talking about organization structure, internal capacity, or community need).  However, do not just cut and paste the language.  Take time to update and tailor it to this proposal.
• Be very clear about what you want to accomplish with a solid goal for your proposed program.  Remember a goal is generally broad and lofty.  Your goal should seek to address an identified problem or issue within the community.  All components of the proposal should relate to achieving the goal. A simple and clear goal states what you want to do, and then the rest of your application explains how you are going to reach your goal.
• You should begin by writing a logic model for your program.  This will sketch out the problem, what you will need to address the problem, what activities you will undertake, and what changes you want to accomplish.  From there, you can write a workplan to explain the journey you will take to achieve the goal and operationalize the logic model.  Then you can write an evaluation plan from the workplan, and finally you should have all of the components to write a draft budget.
• Use charts and diagrams - especially the in planning phase to understand all of the moving parts in your proposed program.  Feel free to add charts and diagrams to your application, as well.

Hitting the Road

• When it actually comes to start writing the portions of the application, cut and paste components of the funding opportunity announcement right into your own documents.  Pieces likes questions that need to be answered or very specific language that they use to describe a component are very helpful to guide and include in the narrative component of your application. 
• Write a clear workplan that explains step by step what you are going to do.  A workplan usually includes a goal, objectives, activities, responsible parties, timelines (or deadlines), and may include other elements like deliverables or approval processes.  Feel free to use a table or a chart for your workplan and not just a narrative.
• Measure your results.  Create a work plan with outcomes that are feasible to measure.  Then ensure that you explain how you will measure all aspects of the project to promote project improvement, effectiveness and efficiency. 
• Timing is everything.  Let the reviewers know WHEN you will be doing the things you plan to do.  A detailed timetable lets them know that you have given this work some thought and that you have a clear idea of the time it will take.  A Gantt chart
• Staffing to match the work proposed.

Don't Get Lost

• Keep checking back to make sure that you are not exceeding the page length and that what you are proposing is in line with what they are asking
• If you are submitting the application online, about one month prior to submitting, check to make sure that all online government accounts, paperwork, passwords, etc. are up to date and functional.  This includes grants.gov, FedBizOpps, DUNS, and SAM (which has now combined ORCA, FedReg and EPLS into one site).
• Develop a realistic budget.  Itemize and justify all project expenses carefully.  Do not budget for extraneous things that are not in your workplan.  The staffing plan should reflect what is necessary to accomplish the workplan.  Reviewers can tell when a budget has been inflated, so don't pad the budget. 

Almost There

• Make sure that program staff's resumes or bio sketches are up to date.
• Do not include a lot of attachments that are not requested or directly related to your proposal. Use your attachment/appendices to make a case, and supply evidence of what you state in the narrative. 

Arriving at Your Destination

• Have somebody review the final draft for you - for grammar, flow, and most importantly - how does it line up with the funding opportunity announcement.
• Double check the budget using a calculator.
• Double check that page numbers are continuous, and that smaller components (like a table of contents and abstract) have been completed.
• Set aside a good chunk of time to move through the online submission process.  There are often times other online documents to complete as well, and uploading large documents (like appendices) may take time. 
• Print or save a copy of any confirmation that you received from the submission. 
• Notify all collaborators that the application was submitted and let them know of any future follow-up that will take place. 

Some of the above tips for the content of the application and others are for the process.  These tips won't guarantee a successful grant application, but they will help to create a smoother and more streamlined process, and hopefully a stronger and more competitive application.  Grant writing is a skill and with all skills, practice makes perfect.  So seek out opportunities within your Tribe to work on grant applications - start off with smaller assignments (e.g., statements of need) and move up to more challenging and complex components (e.g., an evaluation plan). With time, your Tribe and team will develop their own process that works for them.