EMS Grants Help

How to not win an EMS grant proposal

Here are four of the most common mistakes in public safety grant writing and how to avoid making them

Grant proposal writing isn’t any more complex than running a cardiac arrest resuscitation or leading a team of firefighters at a residential structure fire. It’s a learned skill. Like any fire or EMS skill, it takes practice, practice and more practice. You don’t improve your intubation skills without practice. The more grant proposals you write, the better you will get.

Inexperienced grant writers tend to make similar mistakes. Here are four of those common mistakes.

1. Not following instructions

Almost all funders, whether a government agency or a foundation, will tell you exactly how to present the materials. The request for proposal and proposal guidelines will tell you what information they want and how they want you to format the proposal. They will tell you what font type and size to use, the page margins, line spacing and other seemingly unimportant stuff. If they don’t tell you, opt for simple: 11 or 12 point Times New Roman, single spaced, with one-inch margins all around. You may also encounter word limits or character limits, especially with online applications.

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About the author

Mark is Grant Professional Certified (GPC), through the Grant Professional Certification Institute, and is a member of the Grant Professionals Association. He has been a full-time grant professional since August 2006 and has more than 19 years of experience identifying and securing grant funding. He has been a grant consultant since January 2012.

He has written 160 successful grant proposals, totaling more than $37.7 million and reviewed/edited 15 successful proposals totaling more than $17.03 million. He averages 11 successful grants per year and more than $3.8 million per year in grant funding. He has achieved 61 successful health and health care-focused grants, totaling more than $25.18 million, for hospitals, safety-net clinics, and fire/EMS departments. Contact Mark by email at mark.dunlap@emsgrantshelp.com.