Not sure where this should go – but facility operations seemed the closest.
My family recently expanded their small foundation providing additional funding for the performing arts – focusing on small groups in our region. While I believe we were able to help a number of smaller companies with grants up to 10,000 – in many ways it was a very frustrating process.
I would like to share this saga with ControlBooth in order to (1) – try to give you some hints when you have to write a grant proposal and (2) – see if you folks have any suggestions about how we could have made the process easier and smoother.
We started by sending out a mass mail introducing ourselves to all of the small performing arts groups we could find, telling them about our fund, our goals , and soliciting proposals. Our goal is to either make an organization better by funding a specific project( could be hardware, could be capital improvements, could be to hire in a professional for some aspect of an upcoming production, etc) OR If you were already performing at a high level, we would fund for general operating support.
The experience was "interesting"
The majority of the proposals were badly written. They usually cut and pasted in a whole lot of stuff about their goals and mission, claimed to be a regional theatre because they sell tickets in three counties, contained numerous typos and grammatical errors, and went on and on and on and on without saying anything specific. They were very poor at getting to the point. For most proposals it was quite difficult to understand what they wanted the grant for.
It was absolutely amazing how many mediocre or unknown companies thought they were performing at a high level and would qualify for general operating support. Over half of the small companies that made a proposal asked for general support. NONE of the small companies ( budgets under 1 million) got general support.
For those companies that had a comprehensive proposal, we typically asked some follow up questions. There were some interesting shake out there as well. One company did not really remember what they had asked for, so the project proposal changed to general support. Another company ( which asked for help in a sound system and hiring a sound engineer ) said “We will decide what to buy if we get a grant”. They did not get funded. One organization wanted to get some video projection equipment because they did not have money for physical scenery and believed that projected scenery would be less expensive. ( They did not get funded either)
The folks with project requests ( whether for extra rehearsal time, or help in purchasing a new light board, sound system enhancements, funding to send some artists to a convention, funds to purchase better costumes and wigs for Amadaeus, installing better sound dreading or air conditioning. ) were clear and concise. They knew what they wanted to do if they got the grant. When pressed for details they had them. They knew what they wanted to do and why.
In the end we made grants totaling about $60,000 to small organizations, and $45,000 in general support to some of the heavy hitters in the area. Now we will wait and see if we get a report of how things went from all of the companies.
So if you have the chance to write a grant for someone. Some things to consider from my side of the table.
1 – We want to give away money. We really do. But we want to make sure you will make good use of it, and that you will use it for the kinds of programs we want to support.
2 - If you would like some money , but don't know what you would do with it - figure that out before you make a proposal. Don't waste both of our times if you aren't "shovel ready".
3 – Read the proposal and what we are looking for. I don’t really care if you are bringing theatre to underserved high schools because that experience will help the students be better students.
4 – Be very clear what you are asking for. I have to read a lot of grants - make it easy for me to know what you are trying to do. There were some requests that even after a follow up email, I could not tell what they wanted to do with the grant.
5 - Spell check and proof-read everything. The well written proposals get quicker and better consideration.
6 – If you get a grant – we will ask for a report. Do not fail to write this or the next time we ask for requests ( and there will be a next time) you are unlikely to be considered.
7 – If you give out your email address to anyone – check it every so often. I had a small company that I wanted to support, but I could not get them to submit a request. My emails went unanswered.
Phew – thanks for letting me get this off my chest. Hope it is useful
NotJP
My family recently expanded their small foundation providing additional funding for the performing arts – focusing on small groups in our region. While I believe we were able to help a number of smaller companies with grants up to 10,000 – in many ways it was a very frustrating process.
I would like to share this saga with ControlBooth in order to (1) – try to give you some hints when you have to write a grant proposal and (2) – see if you folks have any suggestions about how we could have made the process easier and smoother.
We started by sending out a mass mail introducing ourselves to all of the small performing arts groups we could find, telling them about our fund, our goals , and soliciting proposals. Our goal is to either make an organization better by funding a specific project( could be hardware, could be capital improvements, could be to hire in a professional for some aspect of an upcoming production, etc) OR If you were already performing at a high level, we would fund for general operating support.
The experience was "interesting"
The majority of the proposals were badly written. They usually cut and pasted in a whole lot of stuff about their goals and mission, claimed to be a regional theatre because they sell tickets in three counties, contained numerous typos and grammatical errors, and went on and on and on and on without saying anything specific. They were very poor at getting to the point. For most proposals it was quite difficult to understand what they wanted the grant for.
It was absolutely amazing how many mediocre or unknown companies thought they were performing at a high level and would qualify for general operating support. Over half of the small companies that made a proposal asked for general support. NONE of the small companies ( budgets under 1 million) got general support.
For those companies that had a comprehensive proposal, we typically asked some follow up questions. There were some interesting shake out there as well. One company did not really remember what they had asked for, so the project proposal changed to general support. Another company ( which asked for help in a sound system and hiring a sound engineer ) said “We will decide what to buy if we get a grant”. They did not get funded. One organization wanted to get some video projection equipment because they did not have money for physical scenery and believed that projected scenery would be less expensive. ( They did not get funded either)
The folks with project requests ( whether for extra rehearsal time, or help in purchasing a new light board, sound system enhancements, funding to send some artists to a convention, funds to purchase better costumes and wigs for Amadaeus, installing better sound dreading or air conditioning. ) were clear and concise. They knew what they wanted to do if they got the grant. When pressed for details they had them. They knew what they wanted to do and why.
In the end we made grants totaling about $60,000 to small organizations, and $45,000 in general support to some of the heavy hitters in the area. Now we will wait and see if we get a report of how things went from all of the companies.
So if you have the chance to write a grant for someone. Some things to consider from my side of the table.
1 – We want to give away money. We really do. But we want to make sure you will make good use of it, and that you will use it for the kinds of programs we want to support.
2 - If you would like some money , but don't know what you would do with it - figure that out before you make a proposal. Don't waste both of our times if you aren't "shovel ready".
3 – Read the proposal and what we are looking for. I don’t really care if you are bringing theatre to underserved high schools because that experience will help the students be better students.
4 – Be very clear what you are asking for. I have to read a lot of grants - make it easy for me to know what you are trying to do. There were some requests that even after a follow up email, I could not tell what they wanted to do with the grant.
5 - Spell check and proof-read everything. The well written proposals get quicker and better consideration.
6 – If you get a grant – we will ask for a report. Do not fail to write this or the next time we ask for requests ( and there will be a next time) you are unlikely to be considered.
7 – If you give out your email address to anyone – check it every so often. I had a small company that I wanted to support, but I could not get them to submit a request. My emails went unanswered.
Phew – thanks for letting me get this off my chest. Hope it is useful
NotJP
