OT: Would love insights into grant writing for dd who needs one for an internship

[Gwen in VA]

Dd is a freshman with an amazing potential internship for the summer -- working in an art conservation lab in Amsterdam. Obviously, given the dollar/Euro ratio and the cost of living in AMsterdam this will be very expensive.

Her college offers very generous grants for foreign summer internships. One of her professors has agreed to help proof her grant proposal, but she is clueless as to how to begin. My question is --

How does one write a 500 word grant proposal? She will obviously include a description of the work she will do. Should she also include her background? Her future plans? How this work fits into the world of art conservation at large?

Any thoughts would be appreciated. This is WAY outside my area of expertise!

(As a homeschool mom, do I have an area of expertise? Or am I more of a general contractor?)

[Beth in OH]

I have written some arts grants, so I have a little experience. The answers to your questions lie within the grant description. Generally, grants have a very specific purpose, e.g. "To provide foreign study opportunities to ______college students who are pursuing art conservation." The purpose is like a thesis--it frames what you will provide as support. In my example, the application should demonstrate the foreign study opportunity, document student status, and major in art conservation. If some of these items are established elsewhere in the application, I would use the 500 words essay to elaborate on how the particular opportunity furthers the purpose of the grant.

Your dd should begin by getting a copy of the specific available grants, and work within that framework. If her school basically treats the grant as open ended in purpose (more like a scholarship, really), I would focus on the opportunity and her qualifications for it.

Hope this helps,
Beth

[Gwen in VA]

Thanks -- that actually does help a bit. Can you tell that I have never ever written a grant proposal? (or even looked at one?)