The Massachusetts Library System is pleased to announce that we have contracted with ALA to provide our members with access to their live webinars.  These webinars are free to MLS members who register through our calendar.  Please do not register directly with ALA. Members who register directly with ALA are responsible for paying their registration fee. 

Please help us keep MLS sponsored training free for all members. If you are unable to attend the live webinar, please cancel your registration. A cancellation link can be found in your confirmation email, or you may contact Sarah Donnelly at sdonnelly@masslibsystem.org to cancel. 

Please note: This is a THREE-PART webinar series taking place Tuesday, September 24, Wednesday, September 25, and Thursday, September 26th from 2:30-4:00 PM. Please only register if you can attend all three parts. By registering here, you are registering for all three dates. 

Description

This three-part webinar series will provide practical skills and knowledge on local, regional, and national grant planning and writing at cultural heritage organizations (libraries, archives, and museums). Emphasizing the high level of detail needed for successful grant submissions, this series provides a foundation on crafting a grant proposal, walking participants through the process and ensuring time for questions and scenario-based brainstorming.  

Grant writing as a skill is invaluable in many settings—applying for grants and gifts, of course, but also writing letters to donors, working with development teams and directors, and even scoping out project plans that have funding needs. Having a working knowledge of grants, appropriate agencies to apply to, and the application process itself can help you scope out work at your organization and create a series of tangible steps that can be taken to achieve funding needs. Your grant is more likely to succeed if you have an in-depth knowledge of how these dense applications are created and submitted.

Part I: Grant Writing Definitions & Roles 

The first session covers roles and responsibilities, application language and definitions, choosing worthy projects, and appropriate grant agencies. After this session, you will understand the roles and level of work that goes into a grant; know how to select successful projects and correspond them to appropriate grants and granting agencies; and know how to write the primary narrative section.

Part II: Writing Your Grant 

The second session focuses on specific features of grant proposals like justification, project scoping and scheduling, budgets (hiring, salary, fringe, travel, and training), letters of support, and appendices. After this session, you will know how to structure the grant once the narrative is written and create distinct, detailed, and often required sections that support the grant narrative.

Part III: Grant Review, Rejection & Acceptance 

The final session will explore how agency and peer review of grants unfolds, common grant rejections, and next steps after your grant submission is accepted. After this session, you will know what the grant process looks like for reviewers and agencies; why your grant would be rejected or initially sent back for redevelopment; and what it means when your grant is accepted.

Learning Outcomes

By participating in this webinar series, you will learn how to:

• Evaluate and apply for grants from start to finish at local, regional, and national levels
• Write grant applications, coordinate with colleagues on grant planning, and write letters to donors
• Review grants, avoid common reasons for rejection, and proceed with next steps when a grant is accepted

Presenter

Mēgan Oliver is a three-time graduate of the University of South Florida, obtaining her MLIS in 2011. After graduating, she has worked as the Assistant Librarian at Florida State University’s Ringling Museum; the Digital Collections Curator at State University of New York’s Purchase College; and as the Digital Collections Librarian at the University of South Carolina Libraries. She is currently Head of Digital Projects at the University of Missouri Kansas City and a lecturer at the iSchool, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Library Juice Academy.

Accessibility Information

This event will be hosted in Zoom. Automatic captions will be enabled for this event. If you have questions or requests regarding accessibility, contact ce@ala.org or at 312-280-5100.