Grant Writing
There is no end of advice on the web on how to successfully obtain grants. This advice mostly boils down to a couple of basics: Know the grantors and what they support as well as you possibly can and make sure your proposals show as clearly as possible how they will advance the grantors' aims as well as meeting your needs. But there are still many things to learn about how to do this well. For more information check out what follows.
-
This is the largest community foundation in Canada and it makes grants throughout B.C. Find out the areas in which they give grants and whether you might qualify.The Vancouver Foundation -
The easiest place to get free information on many of the grant giving foundations in Canada is at Charity Village. This site provides capsule descriptions of what each foundation supports plus links to their websites.Charity Village -
Imagine Canada (formerly the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy) publishes one of the best directories of funding sources in Canada (The Canadian Directory of Foundations and Corporations). You can subscribe to it for around $375 a year. See the site for full details.Imagine Canada -
Perhaps the biggest source of information on grants from foundations, governments and businesses is Big On Line a Canadian for-profit organization based in Vancouver. Subscriptions to this service run on average at about $1,000 a year but could be less so it is worth talking to one of their representatives. They also provide a tour before you buy and a 6 month money-back guarantee. Their free newsletter contains useful articles on many aspects of fund raising.Big On Line -
This is the site of Community Foundations of Canada which provides information on all the community foundations in Canada and how to reach them to see if they might provide grants to your organization.Community Foundations of Canada -
The Foundation Center, a U.S.-based association of private foundations offers a free "Proposal writing short course" and a "webinar" covering all the basics for preparing proposals for grants.The Foundation Center -
Grantproposal.com is a very well organized site on proposal writing. It provides details info on writing cover letters, standard components of a proposal, a sample proposal, advice from funders, and more. An excellent section on researching funding opportunities is also included.Grantproposal.com -
An excellent grantwriting outline by the SeaCoast Web Design staff (U.S.). Includes sample grant applications and links to grantmakers.Nonprofit Guides -
This site is aimed primarily at those who make grants and seeks to help them do that better. Grant seekers will find it helpful to see what advice experts are giving to grant makers.Grantcraft