Profiles of innovative and successful grant proposals

CHICAGO — Grant money can make all the difference in developing new services, creating worldwide access to your unique collections, or enabling you to showcase awarded projects that advance your career. But competition for grants is as fierce as ever. To get a leg up, you need an insider who will share proven strategies for success. In “Creating Fundable Grant Proposals: Profiles of Innovative Partnerships,” published by ALA Editions, Bess G. de Farber, who has led the management of 187 awarded grant projects from under $5,000 to more than $1 million at the University of Florida, does just that. Drawing from profiles of 57 grant proposals, sponsored by 31 funders including federal agencies, foundations, and library organizations, her detailed 10-step workflow guides you through submitting and managing collaborative grant proposals. You will learn:

• about successful projects related to digitization, preservation, research, technology, and more, including such initiatives as digital publishing on Black life, audio of the sounds of the Panama Canal, digitization of scientific fieldwork from the 1960s, and supporting learning with smart pens;
• the crucial components of a fundable project plan, with a particular emphasis on collaboration, both internally and with external organizations;
• the fundamentals of crafting your own grant proposal, using as models the successful grant proposals included in full, with budgets, as weblinks;
• how to recruit partners and shape ideas;
• ways to incorporate assets and supporting materials into your plan; and
• advice on anticipating the unexpected, how to stay in communication with your partners while the proposal is being reviewed, what to do once you receive notification, and fostering a culture of grantsmanship at your institution.

de Farber is the grants manager for the George A. Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida and previously held the same position at the University of Arizona Libraries. She has provided grantsmanship instruction to hundreds of library staff members, nonprofit and academic professionals, artists, and university students over the past 30 years and has led efforts to secure millions in grant funding for individual artists and scholars, nonprofits, and academic libraries. She is also author of “Collaborative Grant-Seeking: A Practical Guide for Librarians” and coauthor of “Collaborating with Strangers: Facilitating Workshops in Libraries, Classes, and Nonprofits.”

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