( extracted from chapter 7 )
What I want you, the reader, to dig into here is anything but a mechanical rendering of grant proposal development terminology. I am offering up a set of principal concepts that I hope will inspire your creative thinking to influence the communication about and planning of your funding proposals – along with an appreciation for the implications of your findings on your very own organization.
There was a time when I used the term "power points" to describe the elements of the dignified craft of building funding proposals. It should be apparent why this is no longer so, given the pervasive imprint of the place that Gates built. No matter. The words "vigor and rigor" reflect another of my freely shared beliefs: that you will differentiate your command of this work by a combining passion for your intended efforts (vigor) with the clarity of the plan presenting such proposed efforts (rigor).
No amount of disconnected, distracted discussion can substitute for the ability to evoke the strength and courage of one’s convictions when given the opportunity to present a funding proposal face-to-face. This is what the concept of vigor embodies. I have seen this when a training program participant, who had worked with a team to pull together a written proposal, got frustrated when listening to a mock review of the document, and interceded with some passionate corrective oratory. Leaving aside the reality that her passion was prompted by the apparent inability of the written proposal to make a positive impact on its readers, we all commented on how her voice had outstripped the written word. I saw the fervor when we program officers were able to embellish the written summaries given our foundation board with our advocacy for the organizations whose proposals we had shepherded into quarterly board meetings to determine winners and losers. I experienced it when two community board members interacted with me, while staff members remained in the background, during a site visit to an organization whose proposal I was handling as a program officer.
From your perspective as a grant seeker, let me affirm that these examples are included to convey that you work to push through the (sometimes electronic) barriers and seek your own opportunities to cultivate a relationship with a grant maker's seemingly ever-busy representative. Push for the site visit or, if that can't happen, ask for time at the grant maker's digs. Think of such a scenario as an occasional blessing, along with the occasion to deliver your brand of fervor about your organization’s work. If getting together is not possible, this should not be because you didn’t try to make it happen...
on to the last extract from the book...> > > | 
