School districts face numerous obstacles when writing grant applications. One may consider starting his own grant writing guide as a way to increase his chances of success with any funding agency. In this article, the author lists steps and provides sample writing tips on how to create a grant writing guide that will help an application stand out. The steps are: (1) Review the target foundation's Web site; (2) Create an objectives and plan-of-action section in the grant writing guide; and (3) Create a section where a draft text can be written. [For Part 2, see EJ791956.]