Guest blogger Linda Yates is back with helpful tips on how to avoid fatal mistakes when submitting a grant application.  This is essential reading for those in local government who are new to grants, and a great review for  seasoned professionals in all grant arenas.  Have you had a similar experience? Please feel free to share it in the comment section below!

Grant writing paralysis. It is something that happens to everyone at one time or another, whether they are veteran professionals or municipal employees who only work on grants every so often. Temporary self-doubt makes starting that upcoming application increasingly difficult. Sometimes the more important the project, the higher the stakes, the greater the inertia. While we can't promise an instant cure, we have compiled a list of previous posts that provide valuable tips to help you get back on track.

I once met a businessman who became a millionaire by buying and renting port-a-potties. Being a naturally inquisitive person (i.e. nosy), I asked him, “How does one even get into the port-a-potty business.” His answer? “I found something that nobody wanted to do but everybody needed and became an expert at it.”

If you work for a unit of government or nonprofit organization, you already know that employees wear multiple hats. What is the scariest hat to wear? Hearing from your supervisor that you’re now the designated grant writer! When I think about the first time I wrote a grant proposal to one of the largest foundations in the world, I know how I felt...

Back in the day! We have all heard our elders talk about what life was like before color television, microwaves, and ATM machines.  Subsequently, who in the younger generation is not astonished to hear about a time when cell phones weighed almost as much as lap tops? Or horrified to learn their grandparents did their school reports on a thing known as a typewriter with the aid of a goopy substance called liquid paper? And you could not even play video games on it to keep yourself entertained!

This is always a popular topic for individuals assigned with the task of writing grant applications. We work so hard to research and write what we think is an award-winning proposal for funding. Then, weeks turn to months until that email arrives from the funder stating we did not get the grant award. The most devastating part of this communication is that we have to tell our employer, supervisor, or client that all the hard work and resources involved in the planning and writing processes now seems for naught.