+ Grant Writing

+ Goal “The overriding principles of grantsmanship are the same – develop a top-flight program and use the proposal to convince the grant maker of your capacity to implement and sustain it,” write Ellen Karsh and Arlen Sue Fox in The Only Grant-Writing Book You’ll Ever Need (2003).

+ Approaching a proposal Some foundations and nearly all government grant makers will specify a template for the proposal. The first and most obvious thing to do is to read the advice offered by your funding agency. The most substantial part of any grant application is some form of "Case for Support". It is this case which will persuade, or fail to persuade, your funding body of the value of your proposal. Follow all instructions or risk disqualification from the start.

+ Components Executive Summary: Briefly summarizes what the nonprofit is seeking. This is not an outline of the proposal and does not require a summary of each section of the proposal. Keep it short – in few cases should it exceed a single page. Statement of Need: This is where the nonprofit identifies a problem and makes the case for why it is important. It explains how this is relevant to the funder's priorities and positions the nonprofit as the ideal partner to create a solution. Project Objectives: In this section, the nonprofit should state the project’s goals to address the need and put forth specific expected outcomes. Project Personnel: Grant makers want to know that the nonprofit will be utilizing competent individuals to perform the work of the projects.

+ Program Design: In this section, the nonprofit should outline its plan to meet the objectives. It might be helpful to organize this plan in several phases that correlate to different objectives. Project Evaluation: How will the nonprofit determine that objectives have been met? This evaluation will demonstrate the return on investment in the project or program for the funder. Organizational Information: In this section, give an overview of the organization and its work, even areas not included in the proposed project or program. This is an opportunity to demonstrate the strength of the organization, including its leadership and partners. Project Budget: Include a budget outlining estimated expenses. Also describe other funding sources for the project if the proposal is only seeking partial funding, and if the program will require less funding in the future.

+ Two vital facts: Ask people to help you improve your proposal. Give it to your colleagues, your friends, your spouse, your dog, and listen to what they say. If they misunderstand what you were trying to say, don't say "you misunderstood me"; instead rewrite it so it can't be misunderstood. If they don't immediately see the value of what you want to achieve, rewrite it until they do. And so on. This isn't a big demand to make on someone. Ask them to read your proposal for 10 minutes, and say what they think. Remember, most committee members will give it less time than that. Make sure that the first page acts as a stand-alone summary of the entire proposal. Assume (it's a safe assumption) that many readers will get no further than the first page. So don't fill it up with boilerplate about the technical background. Instead, present your whole case: what you want to do, why it's important, why you will succeed, how much it will cost, and so on.

+ Successful Proposal Here are the major criteria against which your proposal will be judged. Read through your case for support repeatedly, and ask whether the answers to the questions below are clear, even to a non-expert. Does the proposal address a well-formulated problem? Is it an important problem, whose solution will have useful effects? Do the proposers have a good idea on which to base their work? The proposal must explain the idea in sufficient detail to convince the reader that the idea has some substance, and should explain why there is reason to believe that it is indeed a good idea. It is absolutely not enough merely to identify a wish- list of desirable goals (a very common fault). Does the proposal explain clearly what work will be done? Does it explain what results are expected and how they will be evaluated? How would it be possible to judge whether the work was successful? Is there evidence that the proposers know about the work that others have done on the problem? This evidence may take the form of a short review as well as representative references.

+ Web Tools  GRANT WRITING TIPS: proposalhub.htm _grants Sample grant proposal: Great step by step outline review of each workshop