How to write a successful grant Part two of two

By Teresa Benns
CENTER — Katrina Ruggles tallied up the grants she has written over her years at Center Schools and the results were amazing — since 2009, Ruggles has managed to generate nearly $5 million dollars in grants for the school including this school year’s $1.2 million.
A good portion of this year’s funds brought much-needed counseling assistance to the school.
Ruggles describes herself as a “self-taught” grant writer but the results speak for themselves. She explained that with each denial she received (a grand total of four) she would look at the reason for the denial and school herself on how to avoid making the same mistake again. The regimen she has followed since her learning curve is the key to success for those seeking to obtain grants.
“You have to clearly define your need and provide data to document that need,” Ruggles emphasized. “Each grant needs a purpose, and the money must meet the need. You have to be very particular about following all the criteria for the grant.”
Addressing grant prompts, writing “smart” goals, arriving at an action plan to meet those goals, all are essential to grant success. Researching best practices and demonstrating a research-based curriculum, also defining each line item in the budget and matching these with the action plan will lay out a clear picture of how grant money will be spent.
“You have to demonstrate something that meets the needs of the grant money, do what you say you are going to do with the money, then go above and beyond — stretch the necessary dollars — to fulfill all your grant goals.”
Grants are reviewed by an objective group of evaluators who use rubrics to rate the merit of the grant. Reviewers employ a point system to grade the grants and the highest points win. Ruggles said she is always careful to take feedback from reviewers to earn the highest points.
Why does she work so hard to win grants?
“I like seeing the needle move I guess,” she chuckled. “I really have seen it move here in the community.” Grant reviewers like data, she noted, and to be successful, grant writers must demonstrate those needs and their impact using data.
“That’s key to getting a grant,” Ruggles explained. “You must be very concise about it and demonstrate that connection between need and impact.”
With each grant, Ruggles says she reads through the specific proposal and then researches and gathers the data. She then writes the grant and begins to edit it and tailor it to fit the proposal and other guidelines. It helps that over the years she has assembled a database of information she can consult, which shortens up research time.
“There’s an art to it,” she observed. “You demonstrate doing something to impact that need or doing something truly creative. You get feedback from parents and students.”

More to grants than the award
But writing and receiving the grant award is only the first step. Then comes the actual grant implementation and that is a year-round process, she said. Monthly, mid-year and year-end reports are required to track the grants and must be delivered on time and impact analysis, also other reports must be made. Teachers may only work August through May, but grant writers are the exception to the rule.
“I have a deadline every week,” Ruggles noted. But she repeats over and over how important it is to her to be able to serve her students and the community and make it a better place for children and their parents to live. Ruggles’ primary focus is whole-person mental and physical health education — eating healthy, exercising, and working out life problems like depression, bullying, choices concerning drug and alcohol use and sexual experiences. Most of her grants have been geared to these goals.
But her work with career education is especially dear to her heart.
There she is dealing with creating a better future for students and their families and children and optimizing their chances to choose careers they love. The idea is to help show students they have good choices and can choose to better their lives, not choose to complicate them with bad choices.  
“I try to help them learn a really good work ethic — life can be so much more,” she said. “I help them look at their own ambitions, interests and talents and link those to their careers.”
Ruggles’ success is undoubtedly linked to her own ethics. The mother of six children, she is dedicated to doing her best not just for her own family but for her community as well.
“I have a passion for creating opportunities for youth and families,” she concluded. “I vowed never to do anything for others that was not good enough for my own kids.”