The Grants Experiment - Report #1
October 2024 - Report #1
From: (Pat Dobie)
Here at , we’re doing a one-year experiment with the hypothesis that we can create an income stream from grants. Not necessarily for the podcast as a whole (although those may arise!), but for us as individual creatives.
This experiment was born after I was lucky enough to sit in on a presentation from London Writers Salon, an amazing organization that has helped me do all kinds of writing since I joined earlier this year. LWS offers cowriting sessions four times a day in four time zones, plus expert interviews and other events, a podcast, editorial and mentoring services, all kinds of free resources on their website, and the gift of a worldwide creative community.
In the LWS presentation, Danielle Desir Corbett, author of a monthly Substack newsletter called Grants for Creators (as well as author, podcaster, and podcast marketing coach), told us about grants—where to look for them, how to view them, and how to increase your chances of winning them.
Around the same time, I read an essay by Henrik Karlsson (linked below) in his Substack newsletter Escaping Flatland.
The idea was born!
I started this one-year experiment on August 17, and here’s the first update.
Experimental Framework
I’m using the framework described in
’s essay on unfolding. Here’s a link to the Gifted Underachievers podcast episode where I try to explain this framework to my cohost James Buchanan.
Baseline
0 grants received ever
1 creative residency (in 2016—the amazing Mineral School Arts Residency in Mineral, WA)
Here’s a screenshot of my Slideroom grant page, showing every grant application I’ve started since 2015. Not much action!
The Experimental Tools and Data
1. Docs that might be useful
Here’s a screenshot of the hodgepodge of files that I’ve dragged into a folder called “Grants for Pat.” They include CVs going back to 2013, failed applications (I’m looking at you, Hedgebrook), samples of my writing, and other bits and pieces of my writing life that might come in handy for this experiment.
2. My beloved spreadsheet
Experiments need to be documented and tracked, right! And I love spreadsheets—I use them for book maps (a developmental editing tool) and critical paths and all kinds of stuff.
So far, my grant spreadsheet has six tabs, which might be overkill:
Possibles by month (potential grants sorted by the month they’re due)
Research sources (see below)
PD attributes (I might qualify for a grant by way of my ethnicity, age, gender, alumni groups, etc.)
Records needed (things like my bio, social URLs, business number)
Budget (some grants and most residencies involve an application fee, which I’m tracking here along with any other money I spend on this project, like subscriptions to research sources)
Log (below—a glance at this will show you that MISTAKES HAVE BEEN MADE!)
3. Research Sources
Part of the unfolding process as described in Henrik Karlsson’s essay includes frequently and deliberately updating your knowledge of the context, which in this experiment includes not only researching organizational priorities, mission statements, and past winners of the grants I’m applying for, but also adding new sources for grant opportunities as they surface in my research. Here’s what I’ve been using so far:
Grant opportunities highlighted in Danielle Desir Corbett’s Substack newsletter .
This list of grant databases by Erika Dreifus, who writes the Substack,
Private companies with organized giving programs (have found nothing in this category yet)
Local creative grants and residencies sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts, the BC Arts Council, the BC Alliance for Arts & Culture, and
Local small business grants identified by WeBC, an organization supporting women entrepreneurs in BC.
The Takeaways - 2 months in
Grant applications are kicking my ass because they require a particular type of writing, sometimes about projects that are barely conceived. I’m learning how to reflect the organization’s priorities in my project descriptions, which means really thinking about whether the organization and my project are a good fit. Danielle Desir Corbett called this “the billboard test.”
The applications are also heartening, as my updated CV reveals just how much I’ve been doing in my field of writing over the past 20 years.
As a history buff and a sometime writer of historical fiction, I’m not surprised that the research into past winners is my favorite part of the process. I would have previously thought this a waste of precious time, but in this experimental framework, gathering context is a crucial part of the process. Yay!!!
In examining my previous spotty history of grant applications over the past ten years, I’m struck by how many I abandoned. Discomfort with the process made me a quitter. Now that I know there’s another 10 months of this process ahead of me, I’m not a quitter, I’m a shrugger, a gleaner of mistakes, and a learn-by-doinger. That’s pronounced ‘doing-er.’
Which means, this project is exactly the challenge I need to get over myself.
If you’ve gotten this far in my update, I salute you!
What do you think? Any words of wisdom? Would you like to join this experiment? Please do! Just leave a comment or send me an email to giftedunderachievers@substack.com
Until soon!
Your Gifted Underachiever,
Pat (aka Dobes)
p.s.
For a more detailed description of my experimental framework, have a listen to this 26-minute episode of Gifted Underachievers.
How to Get Grants: An Experiment
Pat has designed a one-year experiment to see if she can create an income stream from grants, and James decides to join in. In this segment, we lay bare the factors involved and the approaches we’re going to take. Join us to find out how you can do the same.
And for a few more details on the individual grant apps, here’s a link to my 15-minute update from mid-September.
The Grant Experiment: Pat’s Update
In this first month of the Grant Experiment, Pat has created a massive spreadsheet (8 tabs!), subscribed to the Grants for Creators newsletter, retrieved grant information from a few other sources, and sent in one grant application. Applying the “unfolding” experimental framework had a huge impact on her approach to evaluating opportunities and writing …
Finally, here’s a link to my podcast cohost James Buchanan’s 14-minute update—different approaches, same goal.
The Grant Experiment: James’ Update
In this first month of the Grant Experiment, James has discovered a number of interesting grant opportunities in the attic, begun research, created a spreadsheet and done a very important task relating to both the grant experiment and his side project of raising his profile as a ghostwriter. To find out what that task is, have a listen.