Abbey, Ashli, Mitch, Tyler and I wrote the grant for Bridgestone. The Bridgestone grants offers money to a variety of causes, though they truly value education. We decided to hone in on this value and highlight the Youth Development programs at NICE. When we first started, our group felt a little overwhelmed by this project. None of us felt we had a true grasp for what was going on or how to write a grant.
After some class and group discussions as well as the advice from Debbie, we felt much more prepared. One thing Debbie said that really stuck out and surprised me, was that boards making the grant decisions, although being generous, are not soley looking to help just anyone. As a company, they are looking to give to an organization that is in line with their values and promotes ideas and actions that coincide with them. For this reason, our decision to focus on the youth and education was definitely a smart choice since one of Bridgestone’s top values as a company is promoting education. Also, it is important to keep in mind the reader of the grants has to go through a bunch, so don’t anymore difficult than it has to be.
As a group we decided that short and sweet would be most effective. We tried to use the paramedic method and have simply sentences with leading active verbs. When writing my particular section, the “who would benefit from this grant?” part, I tried to give all of the necessary information without being overwhelming. I used simple facts to keep it from getting complicated or overbearing. Yet, I still packed all of the particulars regarding the youth development program, because then the grant readers have more to work with. I discussed the after school program specifically and the children that benefit from this program being funded. I also mentioned the cultural exchange program because I feel that is a beneficial addition to the refugee children and their families.
Looking over my peer reviews there were some sections where people felt I had too much and it wasn’t necessarily relevant information. It was helpful to have fresh eyes to clarify that. I took out a lot of irrelevant details that did not directly pertain to who was benefitting from the grant money. Also there were some sections I wrote that overlapped information already stated in the response to other questions. I took out any repeated information so that the grant reader would only be provided with the exact amount of details needed. I think everything is about finding a balance. Throughout writing this grant we tried to balance between compacting all the information, but keeping simplicity. I think our final draft really encompasses this.