The Only Grant-Writing Book You'll Ever Need: Top Grant Writers and Grant Givers Share Their Secrets [Paperback]

Ellen Karsh (Author), Arlen Sue Fox (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0465018696 | ISBN-13: 978-0465018697 | Publication Date: August 25, 2009 | Edition: Third Edition

This book is designed to help nonprofit organizations craft proposals for grants from foundations, companies, and government agencies.

Ellen Karsh, a writer and former director of the Mayor's Office of Grants Administration, in New York, and Arlen Sue Fox, associate executive director for development at Sunnyside Community Services, also in New York, significantly update this edition from 2005 by including interviews with grant makers about how the current economic crisis is affecting their giving and how grant seekers can improve their chances of garnering support.

The book includes a proposal checklist, a glossary of terms, sample grant forms, and a list of Web sites that provide information on grants offered by foundations, corporations, and the government.
—from the Chronicle of Philanthropy

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Veteran grant writers Karsh and Fox not only rely on years of experience but also on interviews with dozens of foundations, associations, and government organizations to provide readers the best current thinking around a very tedious subject. What's more, the book's organization is attractive; 16 lessons, each prefaced with a truth-is-stranger anecdote and then expanded via a series of questions and answers and discussion and tested with pop quizzes, from fill in the blanks to independent study. The quotes from funders alone are worth the price of admission: "Less than 10 percent of proposals fit our guidelines." "I hate it when budgets make no sense." "Make it easier to use, with headings, bullets . . ." Yet, hands down, the appendixes win: 50 tips to improve your chances to win a grant and a proposal checklist, glossary, sample grant forms, representative list of community foundations, Web sites, regional associations of grant makers, and answers to pop quizzes. A must-have money reference. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

The best current thinking . . . . The quotes from funders alone are worth the price of admission. . . . Attractive. . . . A must-have money reference. -- Booklist, August 1, 2003 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 16 and up
  
• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; Third Edition edition (August 25, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465018696
• ISBN-13: 978-0465018697
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,206 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > Business & Investing > Skills > Business Writing
  • #2 in Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > Nonprofit Organizations & Charities
  • #20 in Books > Business & Investing > Reference

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

111 of 111 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Resource, January 14, 2005

By 

Ericka Menchen Trevino (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Only Grant-Writing Book You'll Ever Need: Top Grant Writers and Grant Givers Share Their Secrets! (Paperback)

I picked up this book the week before I started my first grant writing job and boy was I glad! I knew the organization relatively well, and combined with the insights this book gave me I was able to be successful, winning one major and several minor grants for the organization within my first four months. This book is perfect for grant writers, but there is certainly the bigger picture of fundraising that you ought to be aware of, especially if you are in a small organization. The book's title seemed a bit grandiose to me, but it lived up to its name.

69 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply the Best, June 9, 2004

By 

Aaron B. West (Fargo, ND USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Only Grant-Writing Book You'll Ever Need: Top Grant Writers and Grant Givers Share Their Secrets! (Paperback)

Purchased this book with a few others to get started on grant writing for a non-profit. Read the book front to back in less than a week because I enjoyed it so much. I found myself coming into my office each morning and checking out new websites from the book to help me. After reading the book, I truly understand what grantmakers are looking for in a proposal. Thank you so much!

95 of 101 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Handbook Way Overdue, July 30, 2003

By 

Charles L. DeFanti Jr. "Professor Emeritus of... (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Only Grant-Writing Book You'll Ever Need: Top Grant Writers and Grant Givers Share Their Secrets! (Paperback)

Having pursued many grants over the years, I anguish at the number of hours I could have saved with only a bit of the wisdom offered in Karsh and Fox's book. Herein we learn not only canny methodology, but correct protocols and language to keep our proposals off the junk heap.
Most remarkably, the material is presented in a jaunty style which belies the notion that grant-writing (or -reading) has to be an onerous or dryasdust task. "Realty checks" may spare you the agony of wondering whether your proposal dropped into a black hole. You can't write a successful grant proposal without inhabiting the mind of a grantmaker, and even failed proposals can fuel you for the next, successful foray.
I wouldn't dream of attempting another grant without this book at my side. Buy it!