Starting to feel accomplished

I am feeling much more accomplished this week, as I’ve started writing a grant inquiry letter. For me, its easier to just starting writing something than to wade through all the preliminary work. Too much preparation stresses me out, because I don’t know how things are going to go. I start worrying about the “What ifs?” Once I get started on something, it’s usually not as hard as I thought it would be, and actually doing it builds my confidence.

This week, I don’t have too many other writing projects because I’m concentrating on the grant letter of inquiry. It’s for the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, one of the top giving foundations in Michigan. Their total annual giving amount is $135,868,710. The only problem is, they rarely fund scholarships, which is essentially what our project is. The KEEP foundation isn’t undertaking any huge projects anytime soon, so my supervisor wants me to try to get grant funds regardless of the foundation’s giving history.

Grant writing is all about persuasion -- persuading someone that your organization’s cause is the most important and should be funded over other applicant’s projects. But this stipulation on scholarships makes it all the more imperative that I present a good argument for our case.