Grant Writing – Is the selection process generally above board?

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Grant Writing Is the selection process
generally above board?
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Grant Writing Is the selection process
generally above board?

• This might be a strange topic to write about in
  the grant writing world are grant submissions
  all considered fairly and equally and if not
  why not?
• Experienced grant writers I think would generally
  all agree that the selection and evaluation
  process at times is not what it seems
  especially in the Government and Council sectors.

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Grant Writing Is the selection process
generally above board?

• When discussing with our grant writing clients I
  am always upfront in that I cannot promise any
  outcome except that our grant writers will
  produce great documents that will wow our clients
  and if anyone independent was to assess our
  submission they would think it was outstanding.
  That in essence is as much as we can do because
  from there it is in the lap of the gods.

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Grant Writing Is the selection process
generally above board?

• I will now address what can go wrong in the
  selection process at Government/Council level and
  then in the Philanthropic world.
• I am not going to rehash what a good grant writer
  will include in their grant application but
  rather discuss how the assessment process can and
  does get manipulated.

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Grant Writing Is the selection process
generally above board?

• Certainly in the Government world with Freedom of
  Information and Right to Information
  restrictions and the supposed principle of
  equity, merit and the best grant application/s
  supposedly being selected well as an ex public
  servant of 18 years including in senior roles I
  can assure you that at times not everything is as
  fair or based on merit and equity as one would
  hope.

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Grant Writing Is the selection process
generally above board?

• Certainly generally and I say generally without
  any interference or undue pressure from above
  public servants will assess applications fairly
  and generally without bias.
• The problem comes when senior bureaucrats get
  involved and then when Ministers, Mayors,
  Councillors etc get their snouts in the decision
  making process.

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Grant Writing Is the selection process
generally above board?

• Senior bureaucrats generally do the bidding of
  what the Minister or the Mayor or a strong
  interfering Councillor requires and these people
  are elected by popular vote.
• As such they will try and interfere at times in
  grant selection and approval processes to ensure
  that the outcomes might assist them in their vote
  winning requirements.

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Grant Writing Is the selection process
generally above board?

• So Governments will ensure that projects in safe
  seats or in marginal electorates are successful
  as opposed to projects in safe Opposition seats.
  Why fund projects in seats where the Opposition
  political party has a very safe margin?
• Similarly in Local Government why fund projects
  where you wont get a return at the ballot box?
• This could be seen as a cynical look at how
  projects are selected in the grant writing world
  but this is reality.

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Grant Writing Is the selection process
generally above board?

• Similarly public servants at the local level
  might have an understanding of a local
  organisation, an affinity with certain
  organisations or even have links with some local
  organisations there is nothing stopping them,
  despite the claims of merit and equity, from
  them approving projects where they have links or
  a preferences for certain organisation.

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Grant Writing Is the selection process
generally above board?

• Even though there are Freedom of
  Information/Right to Information implications
  this is all very subjective as to what is a good
  project what is not and what projects meet the
  grant programs criteria and requirements and
  which dont.
• So being subjective makes it very easy to
  manipulate the outcomes.

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Grant Writing Is the selection process
generally above board?

• In the Philanthropic world it is even more
  difficulty to ensure good projects get approved
  purely because there are no Freedom of
  Information/Right to Information applications and
  no issues of public sector probity.

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Grant Writing Is the selection process
generally above board?

• If Philanthropic grant makers want to fund a
  certain project or organisation then can there
  is no possible independent review of their
  decisions.
• So if the Board members or assessment panel want
  to fund projects that only involve one legged red
  frogs there is nothing stopping them from doing
  that.

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Grant Writing Is the selection process
generally above board?

• In essence the skilled grant writer can only do
  their very best in the grant writing process and
  then yes it is in the lap of the gods when it
  comes to decisions.
• You can obviously try and lobby and inform
  decisions makers and elected representatives but
  that will be an article for another day.

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Grant Writing Is the selection process
generally above board?

• Contact us at Red Tape Busters -
  http//www.redtapebusters.com should you require
  more information about this article or if you
  require specialist grant or tender writing
  experience to help your organisation or business
  win grant funding or achieve successes with
  tenders.

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Grant Writing Is the selection process
generally above board?

• We are specialists in providing the following
  services-
• ?Lobbying
• ?Tender Writing
• ?Grant Writing
• ?Resumes/Job Applications
• ?Organisational/Business Development.

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Grant Writing Is the selection process
generally above board?
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