Storytelling for Grantseekers: A Guide to Creative Nonprofit Fundraising

ESTABLISH A SENSE OF TIME AND PLACE

Just as good storytellers do, grantwriters must become adept at establishing a sense of time and place.

Creating a Sense of Time

Unlike fiction writers, who can spin tales about the past, present, or far into the distant future, proposal writers always write about the relatively near future. This is a maxim in grantseeking. Why? Because grantmakers will not fund an agency’s prior work or activities. Foundations and corporations award grants to support future programs. Grantseeking is prospective. Therefore, you write proposals to secure funding for programs and activities that will be undertaken six months, a year, or, at the outside, perhaps two or three years in the future.

For this reason, it is ...