Understanding The Purpose of Grants is Key To Winning Them

The golden egg for everyone from students to scientists to businesses is to get a grant to do something. There is a host of information in books and on the web regarding the best methods to make this happen. Some sources are better than others, but many people applying for grants lose the forest for the trees.

The average grant application is very interesting to read. Why? Well, the vast majority of applicants seem to have really failed to understand why the grant provider is offering support. When they inevitably get turned down, they take the position that "grants don't happen" and so on. Well, they do. The key is to understand why a potential grant is being offered.

I'll give you an example. A few years ago a friend of mine was interested in living in Eastern Europe. He applied for a host of legal grants that were available from the U.S. government. His applications were all along the lines of providing training in civil litigation lawsuits to attorneys and the legal profession in those countries. He could not understand why he was getting turned down right and left.

I took a look at the grant packages he was applying to. The answer was incredibly obvious. The grants were tailored towards the proposals that would encompass the establishment of court processes and constitutional legislative drafting. Put another way, the agencies offering the grants were looking for someone to help set up the courts and write legislation, not someone to teach Eastern Europeans how to sue for negligence!

Grants can be critical forms of support regardless of what you are trying to do. In this economy, they are pretty much critical. To get them, it is vital that you understand the mission of the organization providing them, whether private or public, and what is trying to be achieved. If your idea does not fit within that scope, don't waste your time or theirs by applying for something you have no chance of getting.

About the Author

Thomas Ajava writes for MoneyMakerStop.com - your online resource for information on grants and more.