As one of my responsibilities as the National Family Preservation Network (NFPN) executive director, I spent a large portion of the month of June writing an application for a federal Responsible Fatherhood grant. I was in good company, as many colleagues in other organizations were also applying for marriage/fatherhood funding. On the other side of the table, some of our colleagues in the public sector were issuing Requests for Proposals and will be selecting providers to deliver contracted services to children and families.

We probably all wonder at times if it’s worthwhile to invest so much time and energy into developing proposals that may or may not be funded. Let me share some thoughts on why the process itself is important:

• Developing a grant proposal requires developing a clear plan of what you’re going to do. Grant writing instills the necessary discipline to plan something from start to finish. Many of us preparing a grant application this past month lived the plan by day and dreamt about it at night, an indicator that a lot of good planning was underway.
• Valuable partnerships are formed through developing proposals. All but the largest organizations usually need to join forces with others to achieve a grant’s goals. Funders also demand collaboration. NFPN formed a working relationship with four other organizations in applying for the federal grant. Even if the grant is not funded, we are already working together and will continue to do so.
• A solid proposal can be used as the basis for other funding proposals. I am using selected pieces of the fatherhood proposal to apply for funding from a foundation. Applying to other funders also promotes further refinement of the plan.
• Grant applications “test the waters” for what funders are interested in—NFPN has used its own funds for some proposals that funders have turned down. Meanwhile, we have put more time and effort into the type of proposals that funders have expressed interest in or are currently funding.
• Grant proposals open the door to additional funding. NFPN has agreed to provide products and services to another organization applying for a federal grant. This past week, NFPN received a large order for fatherhood materials from an organization that received grant funds to purchase them.

Over the next few months, a great deal of money will become available from public and private sources to fund services for children and families. We can improve services for families by working together in creative ways whenever possible. For more information on NFPN’s products and services, please visit www.nfpn.org. If we may collaborate with you in any way, please e-mail me, Priscilla Martens, at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or phone 888-498-9047.