Ever wonder how some organizations seem to have a knack for finding the funds to do all the things? From the outside, it might look like they are just one of those lucky groups of people that sneeze horseshoes or have a leprechaun or two stashed in their desk drawers. But don’t be tempted into this line of thinking… as whimsically amusing as it may be. The reality is that the awarding of grants and other funding opportunities is usually the result of intense effort to complete extensive applications in a way that is not only correct, but provocative, insightful and even creative.
If you have applied for a grant before, then you know how complicated and time consuming the process can be. We’ve all been there. We’re excited by the possibility of securing funding, but quickly grow discouraged by the complex forms, and the time and effort it takes to get them done on a deadline. It would be great to have a dedicated staff member to do them for us, or to have the money to hire a professional grant writer. Yeah, we know: Pipe dreams, right? Sadly, many people give up because they don’t have the time, energy, skill or patience (or all of the above) to successfully complete a grant application.
That is where we’re here to help. Believe it or not, when you take the time to learn about the general process of grant writing and what is going to be required of you each and every time, you’ll find that it’s not as intimidating as you might think. Make the grant writing process faster and easier with the tools and tips in the Tourism Grant Writing Ready course in our CCT Learning Lab. You will learn how to reduce the stress associated with responding to funding opportunities by quickly discerning if the opportunity is a good fit, how to complete applications more easily, and how to position your organization to be the ideal applicant.
Turn yourself into a grant writing pro
For those of you not familiar with CCT’s Learning Lab, this is an extraordinary online resource portal that we’ve created to help you develop your skills, knowledge and offerings as they relate to tourism in your greater community. We want you and your business or organization to become a vibrant part of the visitor economy (a.k.a. “tourism,”) here in Central Counties, so we’re here to support you on this journey. The Tourism Grant Writing Ready course consists of three lessons, and should take you about an hour to complete. As with all of our Learning Lab courses, it is designed to be entertaining as well as informative. No drudgery to suffer through here, we promise. And because we’ve taken your busy schedule into account, you won’t have to complete this course all in one go. The Learning Lab will remember where you left off so that you can pick back up again whenever you are ready. Learn on your schedule, in your own time. There are also helpful “mile markers” to remind you of what unit you’re on and how long it will take to complete each one.
The three lessons in this course follow “Sam,” a fictional operator of a bike rental company which has been impacted by economic changes. Sam wants to apply for gap funding to help the business attract new customers, and in this interactive and engaging course, you’ll apply your new knowledge to help Sam go for that grant! The Tourism Grant Writing Ready course includes a handy workbook to help you navigate the information you receive, and apply it to your own business. But it’s more than just a tool to help you understand the grant writing process and refine your approach. Once you’ve completed it, this workbook will be a repository of personalized information that you can refer to time and again as you tackle real-world grant applications. It’s basically a shortcut to all of the future funding opportunities you want to go after.
Helpful hint: Before diving into our Tourism Grant Writing Ready course, we suggest that you consider completing CCT’s Social Media Marketing Program first. It’s full of useful tips on how to create compelling content… which, let’s be honest, is a major part of what grant writing is. Here is a helpful article we wrote on the Social Media Marketing Program for more information:
Get a Leg Up: Try CCT’s Social Media Marketing Program Today
Lesson One: Get Grant Writing Savvy
The first lesson in this course will help you deconstruct grants, RFPs and RFQs so that you’ll understand the differences between them. It will also introduce you to ways that you can position your business to align with the different things that the grantor might want to invest in. You’ll receive helpful tips about grant portals, what they are and what you’ll need to do to use one. And finally, you’ll be presented with a list of the common things you’ll see in grants, RFP or RFQ tenders, so that you’ll know what information you’re going to need repeatedly as you begin to apply for grant opportunities. The unit wraps up with a fun, short test of what you’ve learned as it applies to our bike rental operator, Sam.
Lesson Two: Get Grant Writing Ready
This section is about getting organized to apply for grants. It gives you a step-by-step process that you can replicate and follow in your own, real-life efforts. The tools and supplementary materials provided in this course are for your use as you go through the organization process so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel as you implement the steps in this section. Of note, these steps are practical, are broken into manageable chunks, and are as simple as one can get, which makes it an excellent exercise for even the most inexperienced grant writer.
Lesson Three: Start Grant Writing
This final section has you look at best practices for grant writing, and seeks to achieve two goals. The first is to determine if you should bother to apply for a grant in the first place, and second is how to position yourself as the ideal candidate. This section is useful because it asks you to reflect on questions that apply to your own unique business, giving you a head start on becoming familiar with a real-life grant application that you will apply for in the future. We’re no longer looking at Sam’s theoretical bike rental business, we’re looking at yours. When it comes to whether or not to apply for a grant, this section asks you to consider realistic questions like whether or not you have the time or energy to commit to applying, and whether you could be making money another way. Nothing can be more practical and real-life than this approach, in our humble opinion.
Apply your knowledge to your own business
As we mentioned, and as with all of our Learning Lab courses, the Tourism Grant Writing Ready course comes with helpful materials and workbooks that will help you navigate the process of preparing your business for real-world grant applications. However, we strongly recommend that you make the work for this course a project on its own. Don’t wait until you have a grant to apply for and rush through the steps. Use this course as a trial run to become familiar with the necessary tasks, and to get to know your own business as it might be seen by someone whom you hope will give you money.
We at Central Counties truly believe this is a useful activity, and like the course itself, you don’t need to do everything in one go. Spend time as you have it tackling one or two steps, and complete them to the best of your abilities. Remember, what you will end up with will be the foundation for all future grant applications, so take your time and work at the steps in bite-sized chunks for best results.
How this course can help with your CCT Partnership application
At this time, completion of the Tourism Grant Writing Ready course is not a requirement for our popular matching funds Partnership Program. That being said, we readily admit that we often receive applications for projects that might fit with the program’s objectives, but we have to turn them down because the application is not filled out properly or compellingly.
This is where our Tourism Grant Writing Ready course can help. Our Partnership Program is the perfect entrance point into the world of successful grant writing. It is the most direct path to honing your grant writing skills and knowledge since we at Central Counties both created the grant writing course, and run the Partnership Program. By going through the materials in this course and getting yourself ready for the grant writing process at a high level, you will make applying for our Partnership Program significantly less daunting and a whole lot smoother. Remember: We are no different than most of the other funding bodies out there offering money, and our application process is fairly similar. You’re going to have to do this work no matter where you apply for funds, so get ahead of the game and start early.
Ready… Set… Go for those grants!
Have we convinced you? Great! Get yourself grant writing ready today by logging into the CCT Learning Lab and creating an account, if you don’t already have one. The Learning Lab is a wonderful resource you can rely on for several different features of tourism success. In addition to our Tourism Ready Grant Writing course, you will find Tourism Now, the Tourism Ambassador Program, and Social Media Marketing. Also, stay tuned because we’re getting ready to launch our brand new Route Development Toolkit course, which is a hot trend in today’s local tourism landscape.
Are you new to working with Central Counties Tourism? We’re excited to get to know you! Your first step is to connect with us. Reach out to one of our Industry Relations Managers today (based on the region in which you’re located) to find out what CCT has to offer and how we can partner to make your business a success in tourism.
Amanda Borges
Industry Relations Manager – York Region
aborges@centralcounties.ca
(905) 940-9999 x 7
Lisa John-Mackenzie
Industry Relations Manager – Durham Region
ljohn-mackenzie@centralcounties.ca
(905) 940-9999 x 8
Rebecca Landman
Industry Relations Manager – Headwaters Region
rlandman@centralcounties.ca
(905) 940-9999 x 6
Written by:
Katherine Ryalen
