Imagine my surprise on a recent Monday morning when I opened an eMail message (which had been sent to me on Saturday evening) asking for help with a federal grant application that was due later that same day! This reminds me of a little statue I have seen of a hair stylist that reads "I'm a beautician, not a magician" at the bottom. I felt like writing back to the sender with the response, "I'm a proposal writer, not a magician!"

I'm using this example to highlight the importance of preparing far enough in advance and leaving adequate time to put together a proposal. I know I've addressed this topic before, but it seems there are still folks out there who continually operate in the "last-minute" mode, trying their very best to put together a proposal as those last minutes are ticking away on the clock.

Obviously, your chances of winning a grant are much greater if you have adequate time to prepare. With that in mind, here are five strategies for managing the grant-seeking process in order to minimize your stress--and maximize your grant-earning potential.

1. Stay on top of the most recent grant listings.

To get advance notice of when U.S. Department of Education (ED) grants are expected to be announced, check ED's Grants Forecast web site (www.ed.gov/fund/grant/find/edlite-forecast.html). This site lists all of the expected discretionary grant programs (and their anticipated deadlines) for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. To learn about other grant opportunities soon after they're announced, consider subscribing to a service like eSchool News' Grants & Funding ALERT, which lists the latest in school technology grant opportunities. For $35 a year, this electronic newsletter is delivered to your eMail in-box every two weeks.

2. Create a system for quickly disseminating grant information to the appropriate people.

If you don't have a system in your district for disseminating information about grant opportunities to the appropriate staff members within a day of receiving this information, consider putting such a structure in place. For example, place one person (a district grant writer, if you have one) in charge of disseminating this information, and identify which staff members should get which types of information. Curriculum-related grant opportunities that involve the use of technology could be sent your curriculum supervisor and IT director, for instance. Or send grants that relate to math to your math department head, science-related grants to your science department head, reading-related grants to your reading specialists, and so on.

In many cases, your staff will need every second that is available to them to polish a project idea and construct a well-written proposal. You can assist in the process by disseminating information about grant opportunities as quickly as possible--and by supporting the decision that it is too late to apply for a grant if the deadline is, indeed, too soon.