Miner and Associates, Inc. offers five different workshops than span the range from "Grants 101" to graduate level training.
- Proposal Planning and Writing
- Computerized Grantseeking
- Judging Grant Proposals
- Rising Stars in Academia
- Advanced Grant Writing -- New
Current Workshop Schedule: Dates and Locations Workshop Mechanics
1. Proposal Planning and Writing
Purpose
Proposal Planning and Writing is designed for anyone looking for the fundamentals of successful grantseeking. Since many non-profit and for-profit organizations have a gap between their agency needs and financial resources, this "Grants 101" workshop develops your skills in designing successful grantseeking strategies and helps you gain confidence in your ability to win grants.
Audience
Past participants have included executive directors, agency heads, development directs, health care professionals, grant writers, special projects directors, administrators, researchers, and marketing directors.
Topics
This workshop concentrates on the practical elements of proposal planning and writing. Equally important, it directly addresses some of the major barriers to getting grants -- overcoming inexperience, insufficient time and conflicting priorities. You will be able to successfully transfer the workshop experience into your regular office routine.
Concepts
Outcomes
· Identify funding sources
· Find public and private grant
· Match your needs with sponsor interests
· Submit more winning proposals
· Convince others of your needs
· Put it all together
· Make pre-proposal contacts
· Avoid common mistakes
· Write government & foundation proposals
· Write persuasively
· Construct budgets
· Submit multiple proposals
· Design readable proposals
· Handle site visits
Participants are encouraged to bring new ideas or existing proposal drafts for impromptu critiques. If you anticipate writing future proposals, refining existing ideas, or supervising proposal writers, this workshop is for you.
Purpose
Computerized Grantseeking is a unique course, the first of its kind in the nation, that blends some advanced-level grant development strategies with the latest in computerized grant information management.
Audience
It is designed especially for people who have either taken our Proposal Planning and Writing course or a similar one. Participants should have a basic knowledge of both grants and computers and a desire to work smarter, not harder, in writing successful grants.
Topics
You will learn how to use your computer to strengthen your proposal planning and writing capabilities. You will gain new skills in using your favorite word processing program to sharpen your proposal writing skills. You will also be shown some "hidden" grant information resources on the Internet. By using popular graphical interface software, browsing the Net is as easy as "point and click."
In Computerized Grantseeking, you will learn how to use the Internet to find funding opportunities, "hot" funding topics, key words, mission statements, RFPs, information about specific grant programs, research public and private funding sources, search award information and abstracts, and much more. You will learn how to download online copies of grant proposal forms, guidelines and policy manuals.
Concepts
Outcomes
● Computerized Grant Hardware
● Reduce time spent preparing grant proposals
● Computerized Grant Software
● Increase the number of proposals you can submit
● Crucial grant Internet sites
● Target your proposals to sponsors who share your values
● Researching funding sources
● Expand your competitiveness in the grants arena
● Grant award information
● Work smarter, not harder
● Sites for sample proposals
● Expand your initial draft in class to a final draft
● Word processing shortcuts
● Indentify new grantseeking trends
You will leave class with an up-to-date list of Web address on a disk that you can use on your home or office computer.
Purpose
Judging Grant Proposals shows you -- firsthand -- what reviewers really look for. It helps you increase the quality, competitiveness, and persuasiveness of your grant proposals via a simulated proposal review process. You will experience the grants process from the sponsor’s point of view.
Audience
This workshop is for anyone who wants to know what happens to their proposals AFTER they are submitted so they can write more persuasive proposals BEFORE they are submitted.
Topics
You will learn the differences in reviewing proposals in mail or panel reviews. Each type of review has significant implications for proposal writers. Reviewers judge proposals in different manners and you’ll review proposals just like actual reviewers. Prior to the workshop, you’ll receive several proposals, sponsor application guidelines, and reviewer’s evaluation forms. You’ll be asked to read, evaluate and rate each proposal, recommending an action for or against funding.
These same proposals will be reviewed individually, in small groups and in class as a whole. Typically, different reviewer reactions emerge, depending on the conditions under which the proposals are reviewed. After the panel review sessions are complete, the participants then pull together the many implications those reviews had relative to writing their next proposal.
Concepts
Outcomes
· Types of reviews
· What turn reviewers "on"
· Types of reviewers
· What turns reviewers "off"
· Reviewers' evaluation forms
· How much detail to include in proposals
· Public vs. private review differences
· Criticality of pre-proposal contact
· Strategies reviewers use
· Persuasive writing strategies
· Common reviewer concerns
· Persuasive document design strategies
· Avoiding submission snafus
· Improved time management
Participants leave this workshop with a list of specific things they will do differently as they write their next proposal.
Purpose
Rising Stars in Academia provides a small group of dedicated faculty scholars with an intensive grant writing experience.
Audience
The Rising Stars Workshop of 10-12 faculty scholars is designed exclusively for up and coming faculty scholars who have fire in their belly, passion for their projects, and a commitment to success. These faculty scholars may have written grants in the past; successful or not, it doesn’t matter. What matters is the commitment to writing their best grant ever.
Topics
In this workshop, we take their commitment and ideas and lead them through the process of successful grantseeking. We begin by critically examining their proposal ideas. Often, those ideas can be refined to ensure a better match with sponsor needs. Next, we help flesh out the details of the idea from its needs, through methods, evaluation, and dissemination. From this conceptual framework, we provide extensive one-on-one coaching as participants write, revise, and edit persuasive proposal sections. Finally, we offer suggestions on how the proposal might be adapted to other grantmakers.
Concepts
Outcomes
· Refine & broaden your fundable ideas
· Write persuasive proposal narratives
· Match your needs with sponsor interests
· Edit effectively in four steps
· Identify essential proposal components
· Write for different reviewer reading styles
· Construct your need statement
· Garner internal & external support
· Persuasive proposal writing strategies
· Craft a persuasive proposal budget
· Common proposal errors
· Manage compliance forms
· Importance of proposal appearance
· Complete a working draft
The outcome of the all-day workshop: “Rising Stars” leave with a successful proposal ready for submission as well as a clear understanding of the proposal planning and writing process.
Advanced Grant Writing
Purpose
Advanced Grant Writing is designed for individuals with a basic knowledge of grantseeking who now want to acquire the skill set used by professionals. If you’ve written grants before, but want to expand you skills, this workshop is for you.
Audience
Past participants have included executive directors, agency heads, development directs, health care professionals, grant writers, special projects directors, administrators, researchers, and marketing directors.
Topics
This workshop concentrates on the practical elements of an integrated approach to planning and writing. You will learn what you need to know before developing a complete grant application. You will participate in a mock review of an actual proposal, which will help you write more persuasively. You will discover discrepancies between application guidelines and reviewer’s evaluation forms. You will spend time drafting your own proposal and receive individual coaching on it.
Concepts
Outcomes
During the workshop, you’ll learn about…
Afterwards, you’ll know how to…
· The RFP Analysis Process
· Design reviewer-friendly proposals
· The Persuasion Intersection
· Write persuasive proposal narrative
· Brainstorm fundable ideas
· Determine the review conditions for your next
proposal
· Matching your needs to sponsor priorities
· Write for different reviewer reading styles
· The proposal review process
· Creative a persuasive proposal budget
· The importance of the first draft
· Garner support for your proposal internally
and externally
· Documenting the frequency and severity of your
problem/need
· Recast your proposal for different sponsors
· Document design strategies
· Complete a draft that is “good-to-go”
With this workshop, you will be given a copy of Models of Proposal Planning and Writing, the only available “graduate level” book on successful grantseeking. You will leave the workshop armed with an arsenal of advanced persuasion techniques. Although it is not required, considering bringing a few tools that will help you get the most out of the workshop, including, your best proposal ideas, target grant announcements or Requests for Proposals, an electronic or hard copy of existing or draft proposals, a copy of your mission statement, business cards for networking, a highlighter, and a flash drive, if available. If you need to write winning proposals, this workshop will help you – in the words of Emeril Lagasse – “kick it up a notch”
When Miner and Associates was founded in 1992, we established one principle for which we have held steadfast, namely, we only go where we are invited. We are not grant "circuit-riders." We are grateful for the 100s of invitations we have received throughout the United States and even internationally. Some of our workshops are open to the public; others restrict attendance to members of the sponsoring organization. A few organizations even request that we NOT announce publicly an upcoming workshop for them. Here, then, is our current public schedule.
Date Location
Workshop Mar 13, 2008 Grayslake, IL
College of Lake County
Open Enrollment
Contact Sue at 847-543-2994
Proposal Planning and Writing Mar 14, 2008 Grayslake, IL
College of Lake County
Open Enrollment
Contact Sue at 847-543-2994
Computerized Grantseeking Mar 28, 2008 Akron, OH
University of Akron
Enrollment Closed
Rising Stars in Academia Apr 8, 2008 Baraboo, WI
Prevent Child Abuse Wisconsin
Enrollment Closed
Cornerstones of Successful Grantseeking Apr 9, 2008 Greenville, NC
East Carolina University
Enrollment Closed
Proposal Planning and Writing Apr 10, 2008 Greenville, NC
East Carolina University
Enrollment Closed
Rising Stars in Academia Apr 25, 2008 Bethesda, MD
National Institutes of Health
Enrollment Closed
Obtaining Grant Funding From Foundations May 6, 2008 Kansas City, MO
National Council of University Research
Administrators
Enrollment Closed
The Last Minute May 12, 2008 Altoona, PA
Pennsylvania State University -- Altoona
Enrollment Closed
Proposal Planning and Writing May 14, 2008 Harrisburg, PA
Pennsylvania State University -- Harrisburg
Enrollment Closed
Proposal Planning and Writing May 15, 2008 Harrisburg, PA
Pennsylvania State University -- Harrisburg
Enrollment Closed
Judging Grant Proposals May 19, 2008 Whitewater, WI
University of Wisconsin -- Whitewater
Enrollment Closed
Rising Stars in Academia May 21, 2008 Waukesha, WI
Carroll College
Enrollment Closed
Advanced Grant Writing May 23, 2008 Milwaukee, WI
Medical College of Wisconsin
Enrollment Closed
Proposal Planning and Writing May 30, 2008 Eau Claire, WI
University of Wisconsin System
Enrollment Closed
Rising Stars in Academia June 5, 2008 Waukesha, WI
Waukesha County Technical College
Open Enrollment
Contact Jill at 262-695-6576
Proposal Planning and Writing June 6, 2008 Waukesha, WI
Waukesha County Technical College
Open Enrollment
Contact Jill at 262-695-6576
Computerized Grantseeking June 10, 2008 Milwaukee, WI
Medical College of Wisconsin
Enrollment Closed
Foundation Grants without Grief June 13, 2008 Waukesha, WI
Waukesha County Technical College
Open Enrollment
Contact Jill at 262-695-6576
Advanced Grant Writing August 22, 2008 Milwaukee, WI
Medical College of Wisconsin
Enrollment Closed
NIH Grantseeking without Grief September 11, 2008 Grayslake, IL
College of Lake County
Open Enrollment
Contact Sue at 847-543-2994
Proposal Planning and Writing September 12, 2008 Grayslake, IL
College of Lake County
Open Enrollment
Contact Sue at 847-543-2994
Computerized Grantseeking September 17, 2008 New Richmond, WI
UW-Stout, UW-River Falls, Otto Bremer Foundation
Enrollment Closed
Proposal Planning and Writing Oct 16, 2008
Joliet, IL
Joliet Junior College
Open Enrollment
Contact Mike at 815-280-1423
Proposal Planning and Writing Oct 17, 2008 Joliet, IL
Joliet Junior College
Open Enrollment
Contact Mike at 815-280-1423
Computerized Grantseeking
All four workshops typically last a full day, 9:00am to 4:00pm. We bring a laptop that plugs into your PowerPoint Projector. You have options on workshop handouts: (1) We can provide you with a copy of our PowerPoint presentation one week in advance of the workshop, allowing you sufficient time to prepare copies for participants. (2) For the Proposal Planning and Writing Workshop, some agencies prefer to purchase our book and use it as a handout. (3) Some organizations distribute PowerPoint copies to our workshop participants but invite those interested to purchase either or both of our books. Participants should have comfortable chairs and a table to take notes. Morning and afternoon breaks are scheduled as well as a one-hour lunch, noon to 1:00pm. It is helpful, but not obligatory, that we receive a list of the participant names, organizational affiliations, and, when appropriate, departmental affiliations as well. This information helps us tailor our workshop presentations to audience special interests. Speaking of "tailoring" workshops, we have a broad experience base and can customize grant workshops for particular interests. In the past, we have custom-made workshops for university faculty, child care specialists, first responders, stem cell researchers, and government finance officers, among others. Finally, we welcome participant evaluations of our workshops: use your own evaluation form or we can supply one if you will click here.