Compatibility

Writing a grant is like setting up two friends on a blind date. There can't be any obvious ways in which the project and the objectives of the granting agency or terms of the grant are incompatible, then the project is instantly discounted, thrown out. But let's say for argument sake my grant applications are not instantly thrown out (I called to ask if it would be OK if part of it was in English....). That is clearly not enough to get the grant. My project also has to beat out other projects. On what basis? Perhaps on the merits of the project, but I think honestly that most projects have merit from some perspective. 

What granting agencies really look for, as far as I understand it, is very good overlap between the project and the narrow, specific, and clearly articulated goals of the grant. Can there in fact be 100% compatibility between the two?

Surely any half way decent grant writer knows to play up those parts of the grant application which fit the stated objectives of the granting agency. But I think in some cases, there is real genuine overlap, that the granting agency and the project developers have the same attitude about what constitutes a good idea. 

I am more confident in this regard with the grant application I did earlier than the one I did more recently, but since the two are for the same project, it would be great if both were approved.  


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