Denied! Why 90% of Grant Applications Don't Get Funded
March 28, 2023
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
About this Webinar
Accessing more than 30 years of combined grantseeeking and grantmaking experiences, this
workshop reveals the hidden barriers to successfully navigating the grant application process.
Grant proposals are declined for a variety of reasons, even though these projects have great
merit. This unfortunate event can happen often, and it can be devastating to project teams who
have invested many hours pursuing an award for worthy causes. It can often be most helpful to
learn where we may misjudge, omit, miscalculate, or ignore small details to own detriment. Join
us to learn the factors that cause this to happen so you can anticipate these surprising pitfalls.
The workshop will cover topics related to:
1. Common mistakes made in assessing whether a project and its budget are a good match
for a particular funding opportunity;
2. How proposals are evaluated by reviewers and understanding the identities of
reviewers; and
3. Where application content can easily go wrong when it comes to specific application
materials like narratives, letters, appendixes, and more.
Learn the pitfalls you can avoid to give your applications a more competitive chance of being
awarded.
Outcomes:
1. Knowledge of common mistakes made at every stage of the grantseeking process
2. Greater understanding of reviewer protocols, comments, and viewpoints, and what can
happen during the review process
3. Learning about the most common mistakes made by applicants
Presented by: Bess de Farber
Bess de Farber serves as grantseeking and collaboration development consultant at ASK Associates, Inc. She has had four careers: as a musician and arts administrator; as a program officer managing grant awards for arts and cultural, social services, and human and race relations; as a nonprofit management consultant; and as an academic research development professional. She has provided grantseeking collaboration training to thousands of library staff, nonprofit and academic professionals, artists, and university students in the past 32 years, and has led efforts to secure millions for nonprofits and academic libraries. Bess is the author Collaborative Grant-Seeking: A practical guide for librarians, and Creating Fundable Grant Proposals: Profiles of innovative partnerships, and coauthor of Collaborating with Strangers: Facilitating workshops in libraries, classes, and nonprofits. She holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Southern California, and a Master of Nonprofit Management from Florida Atlantic University.
Registration closes March 26, 2023
This project was funded under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Florida’s LSTA program is administered by the Department of State’s Division of Library and Information Services. For FY2022-23, 74% of the total costs for the SEFLIN Continuing Education Program 2022-23 ($218,625) is supported by federal money. The total budget of the project is $296,692.