The document provides guidance on developing strong workplans for grant applications. It emphasizes that workplans should include clear objectives, activities, timelines, and evaluation methods. Tips are provided such as breaking large goals into smaller chunks and using a calendar to plan deliverables and deadlines. Common feedback from grant reviewers includes requests for more detailed workplans, evaluation throughout the project rather than just at the end, and ensuring attention to spelling, grammar and consistency. Developing a thorough yet concise workplan is important for managing the project and demonstrating its impact to funders.

1. ARTREACH GRANT WRITING WORKSHOP
WORKPLANS WITH FONNA

2. WORKPLANS ARE OFTEN
ONE OF THE MOST
DIFFICULT SECTIONS AND
VARY THE MOST FROM
FUNDER TO FUNDER

3. “Plan your work &
work your plan”
- Napoleon Hill

5. Raise your hand if you work for an organization
and they have a vision statement.

6. Keep your hand raised if you can remember the
vision statement word for word.

7. Why is it important to know your vision?

8. Connection
Direction
Planning
Teamwork
Collaboration
Purpose
Evaluation
Productivity
Flow
If you are not connected
to a vision, why are you
doing the work?
What impact do you
intend on making?
What’s the point?

9. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOALS,
OBJECTIVES, AND ACTIVITIES
TENDS TO BE CONFUSING
HERE’S A USEFUL MNEMONIC TO
REMEMBER…

10. VISION
GOALS
OBJECTIVES
ACTIVITIES

11. GOALS
Larger umbrella statements about the
change you want your project to make
that are usually difficult to measure.

12. OBJECTIVES
The more specific products, end results,
or impacts of your project on your
participants or your community -- they
are easier to measure than your goals.

13. STRONG OBJECTIVES
✓ Broaden participant exposure to
arts from Somalia and around
the world.
✓ Provide opportunities for skills
development in photography.
✓ Build the capacity of staff to work
with youth with disabilities.
✓ Increase visibility of musicians
from the Lawrence Heights
community in Toronto’s music
landscape.
✕ Eliminate world hunger in
Canada.
✕ Inspire participants by providing
knowledge about access to
opportunities for skill
development for youth and
young people through paper-
based information
WEAK OBJECTIVES

15. Your project might feel like climbing a mountain.
It might be overwhelming, but take it in strides.
Your workplan is your guide.
Remember?
“Plan your work, work your plan”
Chunking:
Taking big goals/checkpoints/milestones
in your project and breaking them down
into smaller bite-sized pieces

16. Get your first job
1. Gain practical experience,
transferrable skills, and networks
by volunteering or interning in
your field of preference
2. Research job openings in field of
preference
3. Customize resume to reflect your
experience and the job
requirements
4. Submit resume and cover letter
to company
5. Complete interview process
6. Accept job offer from
organization
1. Determine workshop theme, date, & time
2. Search for facilitators and finalize speaker(s)
3. Get speaker’s invoice, headshot, and bio
4. Book venue and pay for deposit
5. Develop promotional material
6. Set up registration method (ie. eventbrite)
7. Share and distribute promo material
8. Finalize speaker’s notes & AV equipment
9. Book caterer, photographer/videographer,
volunteers, interpreters, child care, etc.
10. Buy necessary supplies and equipment
11. Print documents and prep venue
12. Workshop execution
13. Complete evaluations
14. Share thank you note
15. Share photos/videos on social media
16. Collect data for grant report
Complete your first
workshop session

17. Major chunks or objectives
we recommend you to add to
your project workplan
● Orientation Session
● Planning Complete
● Deposit Cheque
● Marketing/Promotions
● Workshops/Field
Trips/Events
● Interim Report & Budget
Update with ArtReach team
● Final Exhibition/Showcase
● Evaluation

18. Dates
When can you officially start your project?

19. Dates
One-phase projects must be completed
and reported on within __________
from the time the funds are distributed.

20. Dates
There is no minimum length
for a project to receive support,
yet at least __ months is advised to ensure there is
enough time for planning, outreach and project wrap-up.

21. Dates
Tip #1:
use a calendar and post-it notes to plan your
deliverables and major deadlines
Tip #2:
never do this alone, work with your team or ask for help

22. Risk Management
● Reputation
● Political instability
● Collaborations & competitors
● Scalability & expanding
● Vendors/contractors
● (In)Availability of resources
● Technology
○ (obsolete, glitches, functionality, etc.)
● Licenses, permits, legal concerns,
confidentiality, intellectual property, patents
● Hardware/capital items (property loss)
● Loss of external funding/grants
● Bodily injury of you or staff
● Performance failure
● Company culture
● Language barriers
● Weather
● Haters

23. EVALUATION & DOCUMENTATION
Your evaluation methods should answer these questions:
● What information are you trying to collect?
● How will you know that your project is going well?
● How will participants give you feedback?
● How will you know what worked and what didn’t work?
● What’s the overall impact of your project?
Types of evaluation tools:
● Evaluation forms
● Conversations
● Anonymous surveys
● Social media quotes
● Website analytics, etc…

24. Feedback from
reviewing 50+
ArtReach applications
Paragraphs in the application
form are too long
(5% of 54 applications)
1. “Your background story has A
LOT of text. Attempt to break it
up using paragraphs, be open to
shortening your story, or use
bullet points rather than
paragraphs.”
2. “Your application has a lot of text.
In the future if there is a way to
make your workplan overview in
bullet points, it would help break
up the text”
3. “So many words”

25. Feedback from
reviewing 50+
ArtReach applications
What is your outreach strategy?
(7% of 54 applications)
1. “The outreach strategy seems
okay, but it doesn’t open it up to
new people (outside of the old
participants’ networks – it feels
kinda like a clique)”
2. “Depending mostly on social
media [for your outreach] is
usually a weak strategy. I would
recommend upping the flyer
game and going into the
neighbourhood in order to find
the youth.”
3. “Outreach shouldn’t only be
based off of online promotion, but
since there are only a few spaces
to fill its not that bad”
4. “Only online outreach platform
was listed.”

26. Feedback from
reviewing 50+
ArtReach applications
Show your previous work,
especially for Phase 2 projects
(7% of 54 applications)
1. “If the project has been funded before
why weren’t supplementary material
(pictures, videos, testimonials)
included?”
2. “If this is an extension of a previous
project, the supplementary material
should include images, videos, and
other material from the previous phase
so that the granting jury can see what
you did (w/o having to go out of our way
to search online)”
3. “If this project has additional experience,
why was only one visual/media-related
example placed in the supplementary
material folder? Next time, share with us
things that youth previously created.”
4. “If this is a phase 2 project, give me
examples of stuff from phase 1
(pictures, videos, etc.)”

27. Feedback from
reviewing 50+
ArtReach applications
Evaluation, the more the merrier
(9% of 54 applications)
1. “Having 1 qualitative questionnaire
at the end of the project is not
enough feedback for evaluation
purposes. I would recommend
including more qualitative feedback
throughout the program”
2. “Having evaluation in 2 points of the
project may be too few”
3. “There should be more evaluation
points throughout the project”
4. “Evaluation seems weak “

28. Feedback from
reviewing 50+
ArtReach applications
Watch your spelling, grammar,
acronyms, and sentence
structures
(11% of 54 applications)
1. “Have someone else review application
for spelling, grammar, and consistency
before submitting”
2. “Double check spelling/grammar and
have multiple people thoroughly review
the application before submitting”
3. “When I catch spelling/grammar
mistakes, it disrupts the flow of the
application and I have to stop and re-
read/re-understand the sentences”
4. “Please have another person, who is
detail-oriented, check your application”
5. “Some folks might misunderstand
acronyms that aren’t spelled out (ie. a
friend of mine misunderstood BIPOC as
Bisexual people of colour instead of
Black, Indigenous, and People of
Colour)”
6. “Spelling and grammar”

29. Feedback from
reviewing 50+
ArtReach applications
Attention to detail is more than
just a qualification for a job
(12% of 54 applications)
1. “In the youtube video, the title has “OAC”, at
least make an effort to make another unlisted
video that doesn't have another granting
body’s name in the title”
2. “One of the support letters had “arts reach”, at
least edit the title of the file”
3. “Copying and pasting the same answer for a
different question show’s you didn’t make an
effort”
4. “When you say “research shows that...” you
should cite 1 or 2 sources or else what you are
saying is just an opinion not research”
5. “You mentioned that there will be weekend
workshops. The work plan doesn’t outline this
aspect at all. “
6. “The application says “The initial training and
project orientation sessions will consist of
general mural history, graffiti art, and
public/environment art”, why was this not
included in the work plan document?”
7. “Response to two questions were pretty much
the same. Attn. to detail”

30. Feedback from
reviewing 50+
ArtReach applications
The jury members will scrutinize
your budget
(20% of 54 applications)
1. “Despite the fact that ArtReach cannot fund
prizes, a budget line for prizes was still
included in your budget”
2. “The junior program coordinator should at
least get paid minimum wage for their work if it
is hourly or just list it as an honorarium rather
than an hourly rate”
3. “Can you justify the purchases of backpacks,
clothing, movie tickets, and gift cards? Will
these simply be given to participants?”
4. “Just wondering what the $500 misc is?”
5. “Pens do not cost $40”
6. “Printed shirts for what? The final event/talent
show?”
7. “Laptop for who? If you buy one laptop, how
are you going to share it amongst all the youth
that are participating? Also, if there’s already a
computer lab in the space, why is this capital
cost required?”
8. “This budget needs more of a breakdown,
everything is too vague...Would like to see the
costs broken down into individual lines”
9. “Administration line should be under the
administration expenses”

31. Feedback from
reviewing 50+
ArtReach applications
Workplan and timelines aren’t
detailed enough
(25% of 54 applications)
1. “Is the showcase public or private? If it is public,
what is the promotional and outreach strategy
behind the showcase? Are you charging tickets at
the showcase? Do you need a venue?”
2. “I wish the workplan was more detailed, outlining
what the programming would look like over the 40
weeks.
3. There are so many goals but the objectives and
weekly plans aren’t laid out well to demonstrate
the attainment of the goals”
4. “I would like to see more of a detailed outline for
the weekly workshops (or at least specific topics
are determined in advance)”
5. “What about the lead-up to the final performance?
The schedule doesn’t outline estimate date for
venue confirmation, date when flyer/graphic
design is complete, dates/techniques for sharing
promotions about final performance, etc.”
6. “Any milestones? Ie. date for venue confirmation?
Promotions for final performance? Will it be
homework for the participants to build the set and
acquire props or will that be a separate
workshop?”
7. “What about outreach to acquire the participants?
That time is not allotted in your workplan”

32. A GOOD WORKPLAN
WILL BE A USEFUL TOOL
FOR YOU IN MANAGING
YOUR PROJECT!