Guest Post, Cindy Willard: More Words ≠ More Money

Why a Shorter Application Might Get You Further

The longer I’m in the third sector, the more I continue to be impressed with and inspired by the passion people bring to their work. And 90 percent of the time, I think it’s a huge asset. The 10 percent that gets people into trouble is when they forget to translate that passion succinctly into a written grant application. As a foundation program officer, I’ve seen this go very wrong too many times. So here’s my mantra for all you executive directors, program managers and grant writers out there - More Words ≠ More Money.

As a program officer, I read a lot. And the majority of us program officers are really good at understanding and synthesizing the information we read. It’s what we get paid to do! Like you, we’re smart, dedicated people who keep up with the current issues and trends in our field. We have a frame of reference for your work, even if we don’t live it every day. We’re the other side of the coin, not a different currency. So it can be big disappointment to read a grant application that keeps saying the same thing over and over. We don’t need the same idea repeated with small word adjustments. I want to know about the great changes you’re making, not whether you use a thesaurus.

Basically, we need you to get to the point – why, who, how and most importantly, the “so what”. (At one point, the Colorado Common Grant application committee considered having the application just include the 5W and H.) Consider that the average program officer reads literally hundreds of applications and letters each cycle. The way to make your appeal stand out is not to make it longer. Impress me with your ability to communicate your fabulous work in short form. I want to understand your passion, but I want it to be like reading a great short story – you know the ones where you come away so impressed that you know so much after such a short read? I do not want it to be like reading Moby Dick and chasing the white whale for an endless number of pages.

In my experience, Foundations are as likely to award $100,000 on a three-page proposal as a ten-page one. We want to know what’s great – and we’ll get it the first time. We’re looking to support you. I know it’s tempting to think that length makes your program more important and impressive, but it can do just the opposite for the reader. If you’re trying too hard to embellish your work, it leads me to ask ‘how good is the actual program’? Think lipstick on a pig. Have confidence that the organization’s results, your work, and yes, your passion, can be communicated briefly and thoroughly. I want to understand why you go to work each day, but I need to be able to do so in a reasonable amount of time, so I can then move your proposal forward – in a brief, but still passion-filled way. 

 - Cindy Willard, Private Foundation Sr. Program Officer