Kennedy F.
Changing the World Through Words
When I began my undergraduate learning journey as an English major, I knew that I loved writing and wanted to make a difference in the world. I never could have guessed that a grant writing class would change the way I viewed the power of words in our society. In this course, we were challenged to pick a project, whether that was writing a grant to ask for money for for an organization to fulfill a need, writing a personal statement for graduate or law school applications, or writing a business proposal to outline an idea. As I chose to write a business proposal to outline a growing idea, I grew as a writer and an individual in this course through learning new communication, analysis, and presentation skills.
What I Learned
Growth as a writer looks like many different things. In this course, I grew in several specific ways. As I embarked on the journey of writing a full length business proposal, I was challenged to effectively communicate the current situation surounding my business proposal and express a solution in a descriptive, desireable, and relevant way. I learned that the way in which I wrote my words on the page would determine whether or not a potential investor or business partner would want to support or engage with my idea. While this prospect intimidated me at first, I began to grow more comfortable explaining my business idea in a way that was understandable by my audience: young entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, app developers, and potential business partners.
Writing for Genres
Before this course, I had grown used to capturing my audience with descriptive words, catchy phrases, and colorful slogans. My current professional career as a content writer pushes me to organize information in a way that is concise and attractive. However, I discovered that the writing genre requires an entirely different form of writing. When I began writing my proposal, I discovered that I had to describe information in a detailed way, which is a form of writing that I am not used to. Professional writing (like grants and proposals) and content writing (like marketing content) differ drastically in the conventions that they utilize to convey their respective information. In this course, I learned how to analyze RFPs (request for proposals), write memos, project proposals, and full grant proposals.
Thinking Objectively
Grant writing challenged me to think objectively about the business idea that I proposed. I improved my business idea by learning how to both give a summary of the idea and explain the details of how it would function. I created a one-sentence summary of our business idea:
In the interest of advancing the mission of young founders with entrepreneurial startups in Fargo, ND, Kennedy Fields and Brianna Sutherland propose a project plan to address the issue of building community, gathering support for an idea, and finding a mentor to support young entrepreneurs through the business process (Puzzle Mentoring App Proposal, 3).
Through writing this summary, I myself gained a better idea of how I wanted to write my business proposal and explain more details throughout the proposal, which included the budget. The budget included a rationale on how the money would be used. Creating a budget took the concept from an idea to a realistic proposal.
A Fulfilling Course Journey
I developed a greater sense of project fulfillment and professionalism throughout the course. By creating an idea, researching the details, explaining the business idea in a detailed, objective form, and presenting the business idea in a 15-minute presentation at the end of the course, I grew in my ability to take an idea from a seed to a realistic project proposal. I learned many valuable writing and interpersonal skills through communicating with my classmates about my proposal and giving them feedback on theirs. Throughout this course, I feel that I have mastered the discourse and generic conventions of the genre of grant and proposal writing.