Five Ways Grant Writers Can Communicate Better
Communications techniques you can steal today
By Heather Stombaugh, JustWrite Solutions
According to Kivi Leroux Miller’s Nonprofit Communications Trends Report, fewer than 33 percent of all
nonprofits have a communications plan.
When I first read this statistic, I was disheartened. Then I realized there’s a potential competitive
advantage buried in this sobering news. How can I, as a professional grant writer, use
communications tactics and trends to help nonprofits raise more money?
It’s not a stretch, when you think about the similarities between grant writing and communications.
They both
• Work best when the writer creates a balance of compelling story and evidence
• Require that the writer know his or her audience well
• Should be easy to read. For instance, a 60-70% readability score on the Flesch-Kincaid Scale2 is a
good measure that both communications pros and grant writers often use.
But there are also differences. For instance,
• Promotional writing tends to be more informal, while grant writing begs for details.
• You can also follow your own grammatical rules in promotional writing (within limits of course)
something grant writers cannot do
• Grant writing often requires understanding several style guides, such as the nonprofit’s own style
standards, the Chicago Manual of Style, and the funder’s style.
Ultimately, though, both forms of writing tell stories that compel people to give to our nonprofits.
Five Communications Strategies That Will Make Your Grant Writing Better
1. Have a communications plan that is integrated with the development plan (which should
of course include a plan for grant seeking).
Whose messages do you think are more likely to be seen by funders: an organization with or one
without a communications plan? Whose messages will be conveyed the most clearly? Do you think
funders will find an organization with a communication plan to be more credible than one without?
An effective plan of any kind is based on
specific, measurable objectives.
You should, for instance, include grant maker cultivation and stewardship activities in the
communication plan. You can then measure your success against the resource investment spent on
cultivation or stewardship efforts. This information is then directly transferrable to grant proposals’
project description, sustainability, or recognition sections.
2. Know your audience well. Different appeals speak to different people.
Some people are motivated more by emotion than logic, while others are motivated by the credibility
of the messenger. Some people are motivated equally by all three. (Remember Aristotle’s Rhetorical
Triangle?)
What is important is to stand out against the hundreds of other grant proposals in the funder’s stack.
To do that grant writers use emotion, logic, and credibility to motivate different types of readers.
Grant writers tend to focus more than communicators on measurement and numbers, but both must
rely on stories of the human element to “sell” ideas to readers. If you don’t know your audience (i.e.
who actually reads proposals), how will you know how to motivate them?
3. Know your messages. Communication professionals offer sage advice: “Someone will tell your
story. It better be you.”
Can everyone in your nonprofit tell your story succinctly and in a compelling way in just 30 seconds?
You cannot always convey every activity your organization does, but everyone should know the
highlights in an elevator speech or list of talking points.
These messages are immediately transferable to grant writing, as they can be woven within the
statement of need, organization description, or project description with ease.
The messages you create (or a communicator creates) about your organization can and should serve
multiple purposes.
For instance, if you have a great message associated with your Social Return on Investment, consider
using that message across your annual report, quarterly newsletter, grant proposals, and on your
website.
4. Grant proposals NEVER stand-alone. Think about it. Aren’t your messages also on your
organization’s website? How about your brochures or other materials you send as attachments with
grant proposals?
These communication channels support all grant seeking, whether we intend them to or not. Many
private and corporate grant makers will use your website during your review. If the messages do not
match, the funder may be less inclined to give.
Grant proposals do not live in a vacuum, and messages contained in proposals should be married to
messages used in multiple communication channels, such as community meetings, fundraising
collateral, blogs, traditional media, social media, and infographics.
People need to hear or read about something multiple times before they are ready to act. They need
multiple “cues to action” that ultimately lead to giving. So craft messages that can be communicated
across multiple channels.
5. Use visual cues to improve reader understanding. Think about it: are you more likely to
respond viscerally to a six-sentence block paragraph about animal abuse or to a picture of an abused
animal in need of care?
However, one of the first things I learned as a rookie grant writer was that one never includes pictures
of any kind in a grant proposal.