ND&CO and You: Going for the Green!

Clients and coworkers praise Nicole as "an engineer who can write," saying that she applies "both sides of her brain" to explain the most technical engineering concepts in clear, easily understandable ways--be it using words, graphics, or a combination--resulting in a 30% success rate on State, Federal and Private (foundation, corporate, venture funding, etc.) proposals she has managed and written.

Nicole can give as much or as little help as you need:  She can proactively make contact with groups with funding, manage the entire process of creating a response, or just author sections you find particularly difficult. Generally, the proposal project starts after the RFP is issued with reviewing the RFP and putting together the Matrix. The Matrix is a living document that helps with scheduling deadlines for the proposal process, assigning writing tasks to the different authors, and estimating how the response will be scored. Often, there is a kick-off meeting to introduce Nicole to all of the authors and for Nicole to present on the process and the Matrix. Then, Nicole authors her assigned sections, ensures the other authors adhere to their deadlines, compiles the proposal and edits it to give it "one voice," and delivers it to your group (we recommend taking a few days to review the document, using the scoring estimated in the Matrix) to get signatures and submit.

In an ideal world, we would contract with you before the RFP is issued to become familiar with the project and your group and start working on background and supporting documents (resumes/bios, narratives, company history, project Gantt charts and other diagrams, etc). Then, we would schedule a meeting between the contract manager and your group to make sure the project you want funded is not discluded or is even specifically included in the RFP, leveraging both of our contacts to reach the appropriate decision makers. Then, we would pick up as described above after the RFP is issued.

Grant Writing and Management

» Manage the project of creating a proposal:

- Determine schedule for the project team to follow and check in regularly to keep team on schedule or adjust schedule as necessary

- Develop a scoring matrix based on the RFP to evaluate the proposal internally prior to submission, helping the team create the strongest proposal possible

- Collect questions and post them to contracting agency as described in the RFP

- Create a checklist for the entire response and each author

» Author narratives, create graphics and manage documentation

» Act as a liaison to corporate or university communications department or other proposal development unit

 

Technical Writing

» Write articles, case studies, project narratives, presentations, white sheets, business documentation and other copy for websites, newsletters, grants for various levels of technical knowledge according to client’s corporate brand standards

» Edit and revise copy written by multiple authors into one cohesive document

 

Consulting

» Perform residential, commercial and industrial energy audits and other analyses aimed at greening operations and improving energy efficiency

- Recommend solutions to conserve energy

- Determine financial implications of recommended measures

» Calculate carbon footprint by site or complete product cycle