Grant writing

In my previous life, I worked for a small museum where I was responsible for event planning, fundraising, and grant writing.  While there, I had some success writing grants.  I never kept track, but I did manage to bring in a fair amount of money for various programs through grants.

For the past two weeks, I've been working on a grant that will fund a project I'm working on.  Writing a grant for an institution you're working for is much different than writing a grant for yourself.  As a writing professor, I teach students not to use passive voice, to be direct in their language, and to be concise.  While drafting this grant, I've knowingly broken every single rule I beat into my students heads, and I don't like it.  I know that this is how grants are written--in addition to my own experience, I've looked at quite a few successful grants from various other faculty members.  So I'm modeling my language on the winning grants.  But really, I'm having a hard time not following the rules I instill in my students. . .