By Breanna Ouellette
Why Read Them?
Reading grant proposals allows us to get a sense of what we should be looking for when we receive our nonprofit’s grant proposals. We are able to identify what makes a strong grant proposal, and allows us to give the feedback to our nonprofits. Reading these sample grant proposals allows us to learn how organizations can improve their grant proposals for future reference, by identifying these strong and weak points. We also have the opportunity to rewrite one of the grant proposals, which is significant in allowing us to put ourselves in these nonprofits shoes and allows us to have a greater understanding of grant proposals in general.
Teaming up with Framingham State’s Grant Writing course was an interesting experience because it allowed us to get a different perspective of these Nonprofit’s proposals. It allowed us to focus on the language of the grant proposal along with the content input from our class. I truly enjoyed teaming up and working with both classes and dividing up into smaller groups with members from both class in each group to find the strengths and weaknesses of each grant proposal really allowed us to utilize each members thinking in a unique way. I also found it helpful to go over the four grant proposals because it prepped us for what’s to come in the future and let us set our individual expectations for our class’s nonprofits. We were also given a unique opportunity by teaming up with the Grant Writing course because one student from the class has volunteered to write a grant proposal to send out to various places to help us accumulate money for our nonprofit that we are fundraising for, Future Chefs.
I found that these sample proposals were similar to cover letters that everyone has to write when applying to jobs and it put me in the footsteps of my future employer. It allowed me to get a sense of ways that I could make myself stand out and what language to avoid and to be cautious of how I want to present myself to my future employers. I thought this was a really unique way to gain some insight into this portion of my life that is so relevant to me as I will be applying for internships next year and it allows me to present myself in a desirable way to potential employers. Overall, I found this experience to be very positive and enlightening for me and I enjoyed the understanding it has given me.
