One of the benefits of a
grant proposal course is the ability to work with a mentor. A mentor is someone who is very talented in grant writing that guides you and helps you improve your skills. Grant writing, whether it is for yourself or for others requires a seasoned professional skill set in order to prepare grants that are award winning. By award winning we do not mean they win awards like an Oscar or something like that. What we mean is that they are awarded the grant money when the grant is approved by the funding organization. The moment you get awarded your first grant is a terrific feeling. A good mentor will be right there next to you throughout the entire process, helping you with writing troubles and edits, as well as showing you where to get the information that you need.
People who try to write grants all by themselves without the proper training are often frustrated with their lack of success. If they dont know what is wrong with their grant proposals, because they dont have anything there to help guide them, then how will they ever be able to fix them? Another set of eyes to review the work is invaluable and the end result is better when having a mentor/editor help you, even if you are a skilled professional writer.
Another benefit of expanding your skills is that once you learn how to be a great grant writer, you can hire yourself out to work for others. There are literally US$ billions of grants given out each years and every single $1 of that grant money was awarded on the basis of a written grant proposal. When your skills in grant writing at top notch there is no lack of job opportunities that you can find whether it be permanent employee for an organization as their staff grant writer, part-time employment when they need to have grant proposals written, or freelance writing where you hire yourself out on a project-by-project basis. Freelance writing is an excellent way to get some experience in grant writing. You can also volunteer your services to help write grant proposals in support of your favorite local charity. For your first grant proposal go after some significant but not high dollar figure grant award. For example, $500 to improve the local city park by planting trees. These type of grants are readily available. Part of your skill set at becoming a good grant writer is learning how to locate the available grants.
The opportunities for grant writing are significant and as you polish your skills, get a few grants awarded from your efforts, you will increase your self confidence to try for more difficult or more complex grant proposal requests. Start with a good foundation by taking a
grant proposal course and build form there.
