I ran into author Margaret Malone and she mentioned how much she enjoyed the Grant Writing for Artists workshop she'd taken with me years before. What do you do when you hear a compliment? I usually blush and forget it. But this time I asked her if she could write me a testimonial and a few months later, this lovely letter arrived. I'm printing it here because she mentions 3 tips you might want to use AND it's a great reminder that when someone compliments you, don't be shy: ask them to put it in writing. Hearing her words was one thing but having this letter from her means so much more to me and now I can use it to inspire and teach others.
Malone went onto win several grants (see details below). Her three tips include:
Use active language
Let your first draft rest before editing
Find and know how to use a buddy
What other tips have helped you? Please reply in the comments. I'd love to hear!
This is how Margaret used these tips:
Dear Gigi,
My husband and I both attended a workshop put together by RACC [the Regional Arts & Culture Council] over ten years ago. Neither of us had ever applied for a grant for our creative work (he is a filmmaker) but we both knew we needed to start if we were going to follow this path.
We went to your workshop and two things I remember the most (and that I still use today) were first, the importance of writing your grant with "active" language that assures the grant panel you'll be moving forward with the project you seek funding for with or without their funding. This was key, in terms of a well-written grant, and also turned out to be good psychological advice: it forced me to keep myself on track and acknowledge that I needed to continue with the project with or without funding and do the work, no matter what.
Second thing that stuck with me was the importance of writing a draft of the grant and then putting it away for a little bit before coming back to it to make changes - this ALWAYS makes the grant better, this breathing time - it is so much easier to see the grant for a panel judge's point of view when there is something distance between writing it and submitting it. Really great guidance.
I didn't go on to win the first grant I applied for, but I did connect up with another artist who attended that workshop and we started meeting up to trade drafts of grants and get feedback from each other (she is a painter who has since gone on to win many grants and fellowships as well from what I can tell by her bio). That was hugely helpful too.
Since then I've been awarded two fellowships, three professional development grants, and two project grants from local and state agencies.
You put all of that in motion for me a decade ago. Thank you so much!!!
Margaret Malone
Margaret Malone is the author of the story collection PEOPLE LIKE YOU (Atelier26 Books), Finalist for the 2016 PEN Hemingway Award and winner of the Balcones Fiction Prize. Her stories and essays can be found in The Missouri Review, Oregon Humanities, Swink, Propeller Quarterly and elsewhere. She lives in Portland, Oregon where she is a co-host of the artist and literary gathering SHARE.