It can be daunting to apply for a position that asks for the job applicant to address selection criteria, especially if they don’t have what they consider to be strong job application writing skills. A job application writer can assist the inexperienced applicant to craft their responses to the selection criteria in a way that answers the criteria and gains them an interview for the position.

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When the grant writer Sydney, is writing a grant for a not-for-profit client the important concept they are sharing with the grant funder is the answer to the question – will this project or program make a difference?

Grants are designed to enable the successful grant applicant to effect change, deliver projects and services, build community capacity, or create opportunities. A good grant application written by grant writer will clearly address the WHY does it need to happen. Within their grant proposal they are answering definitively where your project or program will happen, who will benefit, when and how it is going to happen and how much will it cost to make it happen.

It is important that the grant writer NT clearly establish the necessity or WHY for your project or program.

To ensure they establish the WHY the grant writer will compile a winning grant proposal that provides the required information to the grant funder that:

• Defines and describes your organisation. What are your organisation goals, mission, values, and philosophy? WHY is this program a priority for your organisation and how does it fit with your mission and the parameters of the grant? The grant writer will outline your governance and accountability experience and identify how you will deliver what you have said within your proposal.
• Identifies the issue or need – what is the issue, problem, or challenge? Is it important to the community – who benefits? Where will the project be located – region, town/city, site? What do you know about the target area or demographic group? What information can the grant writer include to prove or validate that your project will meet community needs?
• Defines the project or program. Where will it occur? What is the exact purpose of the project? What is the scope of the project? What resources will you need materially, human, and financial?
• Clearly outlines the strategic plan of the project or program. What are the expected outcomes and outputs and how will we measure success? What approvals, licenses, insurances do you need, and do you already have these in place or what is the plan to provide these? How will the project be implemented and operated?
• Identifies the people involved within your organisation and their qualifications, skills or qualities that make them the right fit for the program.
• Details the timeline for delivery. When do I need to start and finish the project or program – is it already underway and this grant is to help fund an ongoing program? What are the program or project milestones? Will it continue after the grant funding discontinues?
• Details the funding being sought for the project or program. How much will the project or program cost? The grant writer will include a detailed budget in the grant proposal covering the information required by the grant funder to decide about your application. What is the budget and funding required? How much will the project cost? How much cash and in-kind resources are already available and dedicated towards achieving success? A detailed budget will include project management on-costs, approvals, materials and resources, plant/equipment, labour.
• Identifies your organisation and the program or project suitability for the grant. The grant writer demonstrates in the grant proposal that the project represents good value for the grant provider and for public funds? They clearly define how the project fits with the grant objective.

A professional job application writer will be able to assist the job applicant in crafting the perfect cover letter to accompany their job application. While your resume is supposed to lay out the facts about you your cover letter is meant to convey more personality. (more…)

There is almost a completely new language for the grant writer to learn when they first begin grant writing. There is a shorthand of a whole range of acronyms that are frequently used across the grant writing procedure.

It helps if the grant writer knows and uses these acronyms as it simplifies the application and award process if everyone involved is familiar with the industry jargon. (more…)

As a business owner and potential employer, I used to receive 2-3 unsolicited resumes every week from people seeking employment and each time I advertised a position I would receive 20-30 responses.

I always took the time to peruse every resume submitted as I believe in giving the resume writer a fair opportunity to sell themselves as a potential employee; but having said that I have to admit there were a great many resumes that I would dismiss from consideration immediately. (more…)

While it is sometimes tempting for a NFP organisation to randomly apply for any and all grant funding simply because they have become aware of it and let’s face it they can all use a funding injection it is important to actually have completed significant groundwork first and to be clear in what they want to fund if they intend to actually be successful in their application. (more…)

As a grant writer it can be tempting to try to write the ‘perfect’ grant as soon as you commence the project.

Reality is that when grant writing it is often more effective to let creativity flow for the first draft of the application. As you read the grant invitation start writing what comes into your head in note form, bullet points or sentences. The important part of this process is to simply let your thoughts and ideas flow. They can be organised later.

As you write the first rough draft, add notes about facts or research you want to include or information you need to find out, documentation you have to read or include. It can be useful to use different coloured fonts to highlight these in your draft.

If the grant writer finds themselves struggling during this process and unable to get the sentences to form or the paragraph to be complete simply highlight them to look at later and continue moving on. This first draft – the free-range draft if you will – is all about brainstorming and following the flow of thoughts that are prompted by the grant invitation. This is your rough diamond; the cutting and polishing can come later.

On this first draft don’t try and stick to word counts or word limits. It is actually better to have too many words and be able to refine and edit than to have to add more words later. Our grant writer in Sydney can edit the free-range draft to be more specific and focused after all their ideas and thoughts are committed to either paper or screen.

When the grant writer starts editing, they can highlight the key words from the grant invitation in order to demonstrate that they have addressed each criterion in focused and specific detail.
The most effective time to write the introductory summary that will be in the grant submission is after everything else is written, edited, polished and finalised. Having written all the more detailed requirements of the grant submission such as the work plan, the benefits, the needs statement for the grant application writing the summary should be relatively easy and straight forward.

The grant writer will demonstrate clearly why the project or program funding is being sought for is important. They will provide an outline of what the need is and how it can be addressed as well as why the applicant organisation is best qualified to provide a solution for the need. This is where the grant writer is persuading and motivating the selection committee to select the organisation and their project or program to receive the funding so be persuasive and convincing.

When the free-range draft is complete the grant writer can then begin their polishing process. As part of their editing and polishing the grant writer pays attention to formatting –

• Using short sentences; short paragraphs; and bullet points rather than large blocks of information.
• Using bold headings to clearly identify each section of the grant application.
• Selecting a professional and legible font and appropriate font size for clarity and ease of reading.
• Checking word counts

The grant writer also ensures the free-range brainstorming draft has now become a professionally written grant application that is simple and concise to read. Avoid the use of jargon instead choose concise and clear language. The grant writer attaches all the requested documentation and supplies detailed information about the applying organisation or company and the core personnel who will be associated with putting the grant project into place.

When submitting a resume one of the most important facts to keep in mind is that you have 7-10 seconds to grab the attention of the reader before they put it aside for the next applicant. If the resume writer grabs their attention, they will then read the entire resume carefully, looking for confirmation that the job application writer has the skills and capabilities to match the position. (more…)