Albert Einstein once said: “If you cannot explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” As grant directors, managers, and writers you need to understand what you are writing about in your proposals, especially if you aren’t involved directly in the project or program development. If you don’t understand it in writing, potential funders won’t understand it in review either.
This leaves you with asking questions — many of them — sometimes to the point of annoyance as you aim to present information while keeping the concepts of storytelling, data, requirements, and limitations in mind, according to Jessica Whitmore, research and grants director at Daza Development.
This process of continually asking questions can, at first, be unnerving to many, especially if you are trying to navigate an organization as a new employee or consultant. However, through the process, you should gain not only answers to your questions but also confidence in your ability to continually seek clarity. While the questions that need to be asked are clear to you, the process may not be at first.
“Take, for example, the importance of knowing how to ask questions. This results in learning how to best communicate and develop internal relationships with those who hold or plan the intricate information you seek to weave into a promising proposal,” according to Whitmore. Consider these communication questions you can pose to yourself as you develop a relationship:
- Does this person prefer email or face-to-face conversations?
- Do you need to schedule an appointment, start with an email, or just ask the questions as warranted?
- Do they need a Zoom, a phone call, or an in-person conversation?
- Can you bring up questions directly or do you need to preface it in some way with small talk?
- Can they answer immediately or do they need time to ponder and reflect?
- Are they the best person to answer the question or do you need to seek answers from someone else while looping them in?
This process also requires some introspection, especially because grant writing is truly a team activity, one large group project that continually repeats, not one where you can just sit behind your computers, your applications, and your data. Whitmore suggests you consider these questions:
- Are you confident in presenting the necessary questions?
- Are you prepared to remind those who hold the answers – or the planning process – that you both want the same thing – a strong proposal?
- Are you curious enough to think like a potential funder of potential gaps in the proposal?
- Are you prepared that your questions may result in finding internal gaps, not just in programs but also in budgets and potential organizational structures?
- Are you prepared to suggest a delay in a proposal because the application or program just isn’t strong enough – yet?
As you work through this process, take every opportunity to present, ask questions, interact with others, and reflect after going through your process of asking questions and communicating to determine what did and didn’t work with any refinements made to your process.
