All of my clients have great ideas.  It’s true, if they didn’t  they wouldn’t be a client of mine.  There are only so many hours in the day, so I’m picky.  The other thing I love about my clients is their eagerness to learn.  If a winning grant application was totally based on concept, there would be a lot more ideas funded.  My clients understand all of the factors which come into play.  Concept and quality of grant application are certainly huge parts of it. If you don’t have these, you have nothing.  Hopefully you have a grant writer who will be honest about that.  However, I can’t stress enough the need to cultivate a relationship with the grantors.  Many times grant seekers will turn in an application without ever speaking to an individual at that particular foundation/agency.  There will be more on this to come, but suffice to say at this point, grants are very competitive.  If you are hiring a grant writer, make sure she understands it is expected that she “cultivate” a relationship.  All it takes is a couple of phone calls with questions.  It give you a chance to do your “30-second” elevator speech.  It may well be the one little difference which makes your grant application stand out from the other 500 which will surely be coming in.