Writing Successful Grants KnowledgeBase

This KnowledgeBase archive includes content and external links that were accurate and relevant as of September 30, 2019.

The Writing Successful Grants KnowledgeBase is an online resource aiding education professionals in their pursuit of public and private grants to support local programs. Its five elements contain information and resources that assist the grant seeker with developing their project, writing the grant proposal and managing the grant upon its award.

Task 2: Brainstorm Project Ideas

Guideline: Each project team member brings their ideas and perceptions to the discussion. Brainstorming is a helpful tool to explore ideas in a non-threatening way to develop group consensus. Using such a techniques offers an abundant list of ideas to consider. When considering brainstormed ideas, organizations must be aware of the requirements and focus of the funding source.

Resources

Checklists

Questions to Ask When Assessing Project Ideas

This checklist offers a list of helpful questions when considering project ideas.

Creative Thinking Tools - The Six Thinking Hats

Individual group members often have divergent viewpoints. Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats is a system fostering collaboration, increased productivity, creativity, and innovation. The concept enables participants in a discussion to move from the traditional argumentative approach to a collaborative process and fosters a more productive dialog. The document provides an overview of the tool and additional resources about it.

Suggested Project Selection Process

This process is adapted from the Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Act website Grant Proposal Worksheet. The nine steps listed here with supporting worksheets may help project teams define broad problems, identify the underlying causes, and develop a project idea to address those causes.

Practical Tips

Brainstorming Techniques that Work

The resource from EffectiveMeetings.com offers a list of nine practical tips that will help you have brainstorming sessions that generate results.