There is a huge misconception that most grant writers have. You may think you’re talking to another rational adult in your grant, but you’re not. You’re actually talking to the “lizard brain.” Misunderstanding this leads to rejections, miscommunications, and frustrations. Check out the video to see why that is and what to do.
If you want more help understanding the layers of the brain, and how to communicate to each one in your grant, register for the Grant Dynamo 2.0 course, here.
4 replies to "#1 Grant writing misconception killer"
Appreciate the analogies with the reptilian and mammalian brain. It will help to have those concepts in mind to guide the aims and intro when I start back with my grant. I’ll focus on how ridiculously interesting and potentially popular my scientific ideas can be – AND try not to scare anyone with logical errors or crazy talk! Thanks!
Yeah – it’s a fine balance, because logical errors will flag a big “danger” signal – but too much dry logic and your grant lands like a dull thud.
So much in the community has steratd with CCF. Don’t they say, “giant oaks grow from tiny acorns?” Our dream and that $500 for our website gave us a start, but the investment didn’t end there. CCF monitors the investments they and their donors make closely. So yes, we got our very first donation EVER from that grant, but there was so much more to it than that. The fact that someone believed in what we were doing enough to give us that much money gave us the confidence to go forward. (It is still a LOT of money to us.) But the advice, support, professionalism, and actions are an investment CCF has made in us and so many other organizations in the community. CCF has taught us so much. Thank you Elizabeth Anderson. And thank everyone at CCF. We are not a giant oak by any means (maybe a very small sapling :-)), but with your guidance we are growing every day. Pam Sloat (Founder – Pattison’s Academy)
really good. grant writing funding levels are so low 4-10% acceptance rates-great to see a crtical thinking trying to understand who and what is exactly getting funded.