Comments on: No Experience, No Problem: Why Writing a Department of Energy (DOE) Proposal Is Not Hard For A Good Grant Writer http://blog.seliger.com/2009/04/05/doe/ Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:49:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Karen http://blog.seliger.com/2009/04/05/doe/comment-page-1/#comment-20207 Karen Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:02:42 +0000 http://blog.seliger.com/?p=227#comment-20207 Before working as a grant writer, I taught American History to 125 freshmen in a sitting. It is really far simpler to write housing, or, as I do now, wastewater infrastructure, grants. I love my job for a lot of the same reasons I loved 10 years of graduate school: I love to muck around in the "specialist jargon" (makes me feel smart), but I really just love to write well -- and to explain the hysterically obfuscated proposal guidelines -- clearly (and, as you point out, sometimes to the proposal authors!) Before working as a grant writer, I taught American History to 125 freshmen in a sitting. It is really far simpler to write housing, or, as I do now, wastewater infrastructure, grants. I love my job for a lot of the same reasons I loved 10 years of graduate school: I love to muck around in the “specialist jargon” (makes me feel smart), but I really just love to write well — and to explain the hysterically obfuscated proposal guidelines — clearly (and, as you point out, sometimes to the proposal authors!)

]]> By: National Institute of Health (NIH) Grant Writers: An Endangered Species or Hidden Like Hobbits? http://blog.seliger.com/2009/04/05/doe/comment-page-1/#comment-20187 National Institute of Health (NIH) Grant Writers: An Endangered Species or Hidden Like Hobbits? Mon, 12 Jul 2010 02:27:20 +0000 http://blog.seliger.com/?p=227#comment-20187 [...] in NIH grant writing even if you think you should find one. Isaac addressed this problem in “No Experience, No Problem: Why Writing a Department of Energy (DOE) Proposal Is Not Hard For A Good ...:” “Looking for qualified grant writers is about the same as looking for unicorns: [...] [...] in NIH grant writing even if you think you should find one. Isaac addressed this problem in “No Experience, No Problem: Why Writing a Department of Energy (DOE) Proposal Is Not Hard For A Good …:” “Looking for qualified grant writers is about the same as looking for unicorns: [...]

]]> By: Julie Rodda http://blog.seliger.com/2009/04/05/doe/comment-page-1/#comment-6630 Julie Rodda Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:15:03 +0000 http://blog.seliger.com/?p=227#comment-6630 Isaac, bless your pen! I enjoy reading your posts utilizing the absurd to enhance the obvious. For those without the proper sense of humor to appreciate life, the point of your argument will not be taken to heart nor to the bank for a proposal awarded. Those of us who are able to decipher what the 'powers that be' dish out will be busy doing so at a frenetic pace...the rest will still be attempting to locate the unicorn, or at the very least, party-hatted ponies. Up, up and away! Isaac, bless your pen!

I enjoy reading your posts utilizing the absurd to enhance the obvious. For those without the proper sense of humor to appreciate life, the point of your argument will not be taken to heart nor to the bank for a proposal awarded.

Those of us who are able to decipher what the ‘powers that be’ dish out will be busy doing so at a frenetic pace…the rest will still be attempting to locate the unicorn, or at the very least, party-hatted ponies. Up, up and away!

]]> By: Terri Thal http://blog.seliger.com/2009/04/05/doe/comment-page-1/#comment-6625 Terri Thal Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:18:02 +0000 http://blog.seliger.com/?p=227#comment-6625 That's such an important point to keep making! In the early 1980s, when I managed a university's publications department, I was asked to write grant proposals. One was to obtain money for a research project that used lasers. I knew nothing about lasers. I talked with the scientists, prepared a clearly-written, to-the-point proposal, and Yeshiva University's project was funded. In 1990, I was development and public affairs director of a hospice. I left to become executive director of an agency that worked in maternal-child health, although, as I told the board, I'd never been pregnant. I wrote successful public health grant proposals for funding for projects such as substance abuse treatment programs, parenting education, teen pregnancy prevention, social marketing programs to bring women and children into funded health care, projects involving women with mental illness and developmental disabilities, breastfeeding promotion and education. Now, as a consultant to not-for-profits and government, I have been retained to write grant proposals for two fire districts. I know nothing about fire departments. I expect the proposals to be more competitive than most because I know how to write lucidly, how to dot every "i" and cross every "t," how to organize material -- and what information to omit despite the client's belief that it is crucial, because the reader would consider it extraneous. That’s such an important point to keep making! In the early 1980s, when I managed a university’s publications department, I was asked to write grant proposals. One was to obtain money for a research project that used lasers. I knew nothing about lasers. I talked with the scientists, prepared a clearly-written, to-the-point proposal, and Yeshiva University’s project was funded. In 1990, I was development and public affairs director of a hospice. I left to become executive director of an agency that worked in maternal-child health, although, as I told the board, I’d never been pregnant. I wrote successful public health grant proposals for funding for projects such as substance abuse treatment programs, parenting education, teen pregnancy prevention, social marketing programs to bring women and children into funded health care, projects involving women with mental illness and developmental disabilities, breastfeeding promotion and education.
Now, as a consultant to not-for-profits and government, I have been retained to write grant proposals for two fire districts. I know nothing about fire departments. I expect the proposals to be more competitive than most because I know how to write lucidly, how to dot every “i” and cross every “t,” how to organize material — and what information to omit despite the client’s belief that it is crucial, because the reader would consider it extraneous.

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