Grant writing as selling a vision
Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash
Getting funding to support your research program is never easy, and it seems like the field only grows more competitive with each passing year. There’s no shortage of great ideas out there. But, sometimes the objectively ‘best’ ideas don’t get funded while the ‘pretty good’ ones still do. The difference? How well the grant sells a vision to the funding panel.
In general, writing is a way of thinking, but grant writing should also convey the importance of your thoughts to someone else. When writing grant applications, you want your reader to come away from your words believing three things. First, you want the grant reviewers to believe there is an important, existing problem that needs to be solved. Second, you want the grant reviewers to believe that the solution you’re suggesting could successfully solve that problem. Finally, you want the grant reviewers to believe that you are the right person to get the job done. The end goal in communicating these three things to the reviewers is, of course, to then be awarded the funding you need to bring your vision to light.
To sell a vision to the funding panel is to have empathy for the grant reviewers. It’s not enough to write about what you know; you have to put yourself in their position. What do they need to know and in what order? Then take them on a journey of discovery with you. You share the problem and why the reviewers should care about it. You share what the field knows about this problem, and what the field doesn’t yet know. You describe your solution, why it is innovative, and why you think it should work. You walk the reviewers through your methods and your predictions, and how your plan is feasible given your expertise and the resources you have. And, in the end, you help the reviewers imagine a future in which your research succeeds: what changes in the field or in the lives of the clients you serve? Does the problem go away completely or do you make a critical step forward?
Remember that selling a vision requires clarity in the writing itself. Correct grammar, punctuation, and varied pacing in your sentences are all necessary. No run-on sentences or incomplete phrases disguised as sentences allowed. If the writing itself is not tidied up, then your grant reviewers may find it effortful to digest your vision. And when the act of reading becomes too effortful for too long, your audience will start to lose interest, or worse, they will become frustrated. These feelings will then be translated as ‘I don’t like this project’, and then those reviewers will start looking for justifications for those feelings. That results in a much lower score and pulls you out of the fundable range. That’s not to say that a grant that feels easy to read will always get funded, regardless of the soundness of the proposed research. But, a well-written and a well-edited grant will certainly have an edge over one that wasn’t written or edited well. And, even if you are not funded in a given round, a grant that is clear in its prose is also more likely to get constructive feedback that can put you on a path to funding success because the reviewers could fully understand and appreciate your ideas and methods.
Writing grants can often feel like an overwhelming task that has about as much chance of success as winning the lottery. But you can increase the odds in your favour by considering grant writing as selling a vision, and by taking the perspective of the reviewers and what they need to know to be as excited about that vision as you are. If you’re planning a grant submission and want help, book a call here and we’ll work together to craft and sell your vision.
Next week: Listening
