My years as a grant writer were preceded by years as an essayist, freelance editor, and poet. Long before I helped nonprofits translate complex landscapes of need and care into logic models, budgets, and word-count-limited narratives, I translated complex landscapes of need and wonder into sonnets, villanelles, and sestinas. I learned that writing with strict rules can give words more power–the same way water pushed through a hose can kill a fire.
Many people groan at the word grant (unless it’s followed by award!), and many rightly question the hyper-competitive, laborious, often inequitable process of finding and winning grants. To me, grant applications are creative opportunities to tell complex stories clearly, and to make meaningful, unexpected connections:
- Between problems and solutions
- Between science and stories
- Between local passion and federal programs
- Between philanthropists and families
- Between justice and jobs
Ultimately, grants are a practical tool for connecting money with mission, and if you had to be a poet to win one, the 1.8 million U.S. nonprofits would be in trouble. That being said, if a nonprofit you’re involved with needs grant writing help, there might be an advantage to hiring someone who understands what the poet Dylan Thomas called “the force that through the green fuse drives the flower.” TRQ Solutions clients have won over $13.5 million in grant awards, and we’re working every day to help them win more.
