Last week, my children and I were among the throngs in the Mall celebrating the swearing in of our new President. I was standing near the Washington Memorial and so couldn’t actually see or hear the ceremonies. Instead we watched them on one of the Jumpotrons – now they are a great invention.

When I saw the dignitaries come center stage, it to occurred to me that they were just a few people on the TV screens and that these few people represented all of us standing shoulder to shoulder on the Mall. I saw that we elected them to represent us and their job was to represent our concerns. Now, I’ve heard politicians and heads of government say hundreds of times that they are representatives but this was the first time that I really understood it. When I mentioned this to a friend, she said “Yes, and standing on the Mall you represented the millions of us watching TV at home or in movie theaters.”

So, what’s all this got to do with grant writing? Well, every time we write a grant proposal our responsibility is to represent our community with our words. The people reviewing the proposal will often know nothing about you, your organization, or the community you serve. It is our job to represent it accurately to the reader and create a heart-to-heart connection.

What is Representation?

Before we talk about ways of doing that, let’s look at the word Re-Present for a moment. The online Merriam-Webster dictionary has 12, yes 12, definitions for the word including:

1: to bring clearly before the mind
3: to portray or exhibit in art
8 a: to give one’s impression and judgment of : state in a manner intended to affect action or judgment
b: to point out in protest or remonstrance
10 a: to form an image or representation of in the mind
b (1): to apprehend (an object) by means of an idea
(2): to recall in memory

For me, it means a chance to recreate something in the present moment – to re-present it, right now.

So, how do we do that? It usually means getting personal and getting detailed. When I write my goal is for the reader to really know what it is like to live in the community described. Sounds simple doesn’t it. But often we take a lot for granted and leave the reader to make their own conclusions. So, let’s look at two specific things that you can do to truly represent your community in a grant proposal.

Getting Detailed

I was once discussing a proposal with two women from Texas and Florida.  It included cross-country skiing as a program element. One of the women said that she didn’t think it was such a good idea because the participants wouldn’t be able to do that very often. Living in the chilly climes, I explained that there was a good chance that there was snow cover from Thanksgiving to April and that the participants were probably able to ski for nearly 6 months of the year. It was obvious to the writer and to me, but not so for our friends in the sunny climes.

Action 1: I recommend making a quick list of everything that you know or take for granted that affects the programmatic decisions that you make. Then take a look at the list and see which ones a person from the other side of the country would not know. Make sure you cover these in your proposal.

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