After looking over the grant information for the Pharos Fund, Praxis, and the Training Ground Grant, it seems that what funding institutions are looking for overall are efficiency and potential for change. Much of the language centers on how the program or service will make efficient use of time and money. This is particularly evident in the Training Ground Grant application, which asks for the specific amount that those requesting the funds intend to spend on training, staff, reserving a venue and pretty much everything else that goes into planning and holding an event. Being able to communicate the logistics of what you plan to do with the money seems to be crucial to acquiring funding. Another point that is emphasized in the applications is the purpose of the event or program for which you are requesting money. Funding institutions want to know how this program will help others. They want to know what the goals of the program or project are and how you plan to achieve those goals. Specificity is important to grant writing, which makes sense due to the limited funds available and the large number of groups and organizations that need it. Funding institutions want to invest in programs and projects they feel are actually making a difference.
So, I guess that leads me to ask how one goes about proving the worth of his/her project. Obviously everyone applying for funding believes that his or her program or project should be and is worth funding, but grant writing seems, at least upon first glance, so limited. How can I work within the restraints of the genre to demonstrate the need for my project to happen?
Right now, I’m not sure what type of funding would be helpful for my program. I know that some of the writers would like to see Rafael Casal, a well-known slam poet, and it might be fun to take them to a poetry reading, although I’m not sure what is and isn’t allowed when it comes to off-site events.
literate realities 