5 tips to continue momentum while waiting on a grant

You have followed the best practices for submitting a grant proposal, including being grant ready, getting all of your registrations in order, bringing collaborative partners together and writing strong letters of commitment, not just support. The application has been submitted, and now the waiting begins. Government grants often mean long waiting periods with your application pending.

Given how long the application decision-making process can be, often, when an award is announced, the funded agency needs to pause to remember what it was that was proposed including the details of the work plan, budget, timeline, and collaborative partners. So much time has passed that the energy and momentum related to the newly funded project need to be reengaged and the initial award period runs slower than originally anticipated in the proposed work plan.

Rather than lose the momentum that you gathered during the application process, here are some tips to consider in order to continue the momentum of the proposed project while you wait to hear about the decision on your application.

1. Engage grant team and colleagues. Identify and begin relationship development and proposal development for matching requests that will help match requirements to the pending proposal. Starting a funded grant with the full match requirement ahead of you can be a big burden, so get a jumpstart on your planning and drafting of requests.
2. Engage grant team and collaborative partners. Continue to flesh out details of your program plan that was outlined within the submitted pending proposal. There are always additional details and more detailed action plans to be worked out after the proposal is submitted, so use the waiting time to flesh out those details.
3. Step back to look at the engaged collaborative partners. Think about if all of the natural players for the project’s success are at the project table. Should others be brought up to speed and brought to the table for full engagement once funded?
4. Look at the action plan within the proposed proposal. Are there are pre-implementation steps left to be addressed by you and your colleagues in order to ensure a successful project launch once the project is funded?
5. Do some worst-case scenario planning with your colleagues. Determine what steps you will take and what other funding opportunities may be available if the proposal is only partially funded or denied. Knowing that you believe in the strength of the original application and proposed project design, you want to ensure you are ready to quickly pivot and find another way to see the vision implemented to achieve the goals you outlined and meet the needs for the target audience.

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Do you have any other activities you have tried to continue the momentum of your grant team during the application waiting period while you wait for the funding decision? We would love to hear about what you have done in the comment section below. 

This article was originally posted Oct. 16, 2018. It has been updated.