This detailed, comprehensive book, which was prepared by The Taft Group for the American Library Association, profiles over a thousand private and corporate foundations and direct corporate givers receptive to library grant proposals. If you are going to write a library grant, this book will provide you with great grant writing gems of wisdom. Seek out successful grant writers. Grant writing is very competitive, because so many worthy causes need funding, and funds are frequently hard to find. Although there are professional grants writers, many grant writers are simply people with good causes and ideas that need funding.
Most grant writers are willing to share just about everything they know about grants.
Reading other grants, particularly ones that have been submitted to a grantor that you think might fund your project, is very valuable. Karen Kovach and Scottia Evans use their own success at writing grants to help anyone in our district write better school-related grants. I attribute much of the success I've had writing grants to the knowledge I gained from their tutelage. One of the most important things you must remember when writing any grant is to cover every detail, and make sure all information is correct. It sounds redundant, but it is true that correct spelling, good grammar, accurate information, neatness, style, and following the grant instructions to the letter, will take you one giant leap closer to getting your grant.