Knowing your project and your funder is half the battle—the other half is actually writing the proposal.

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If you are a first time grant applicant, you might be daunted. Don't be! This is an opportunity for you to learn more about your project. Articulating your goals and why you want to achieve them is edifying. Even if you aren't selected, the process will be worthwhile.

 

Just as each grant proposal's angle will be different in content depending on the funding organization’s mission and goals, each physical submission will be different in format depending on the grantor’s application requirements. In any event, always remember to follow directions and to be transparent about what you want to do.

 

The directions that the organization provides are not suggestions. They may have specific requirements regarding the length of the proposal, document formats, and other details. Many organizations will not consider proposals that do not comply with these guidelines, so be sure to read the call very carefully.

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Although every grant is unique, there are a few basic elements that most proposals will have in common. Keep in mind, these may appear differently, in a different order, and call for different types of responses based on your funder.

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1. Narrative 

• What is your project?

  • Don't bury the lead! Grant reviewers have a lot of reading to do, but most of them care about funding good projects. Make yours immediately clear to them. It's why we're all here.

  • Choose a title that will help reviewers visualize your project.

  • Remember that your project serves to solve a problem. What is it? 

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• Why this project?​​​​

  • You're passionate about your project. Now's your opportunity to spread it. Show funders that by choosing you, they are making a difference.

  • What are the outputs of your project vs. the outcomes?​

  • Who is going to benefit? Be specific.

• Who are you?​

  • Not only should you have a clear sense of why you want to accomplish your project, you should be able to explain why it's the obvious next step for your career.

  • What are your values? If you can concisely articulate them, you can influence readers to see your project through the lens of why you think it's important.

  • What relevant or unique experience, accomplishments, or capabilities do you bring to this opportunity? What makes you the right person for the job?

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Remember, this is not only a chance for you to secure funding for your project, but also an opportunity for an organization to fund a project that will support its mission and accomplish its goals! Use this section to tell that story.

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Having trouble getting started? Try freewriting about your project to take some of the pressure off. Just remember to go back and edit later!

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2. Work plan

• What are your project’s goals and how will you accomplish them?

• Depending on the scope of your project, you might want to include: who is managing the project, what their qualifications are, and what their functions will be. This might be a team of supervisors, or it might solely be you!

• For each goal of your project, in order of priority:

  1. What are the steps that need to be completed?

  2. Who is responsible for completing them?

  3. What methods will they use?

  4. What resources do they need?

  5. What is the timeline for completion?

  6. What is the expected outcome?

• How will you evaluate the success of your project?

  1. What data, sources, methods, or analytics can be used to appraise your contributions to the grantor’s mission.

  2. If applicable, provide a detailed sustainability plan that describes how the project will operate after the funding period ends.

• Include letters of commitment and support.

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3. Budget

Here's a great resource for how to develop your budget.

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• Choose the right format.

  • Does the funder require a specific template for your budget? Excel?

  • Does the funder only want budgetary information pertaining to the grant you’re applying for?

  • Do they want you to include the budget for your entire project, of which their grant funds may only cover a portion? If so, show them what they are funding.

• If applicable and requested, include both expenses and revenue.

  • Some funders may be encouraged to know you have additionally secured or are seeking other sources of revenue.

• Tell a story.

  • Even without having to consult your budget narrative, your budget should describe each expense item in such a way to provide a picture of your project, its constituent elements, and their corresponding costs. Your funder should be able to look at your budget and get an idea of what you are trying to do, even without reading your proposal. This will ensure that your budget narrative will be a helpful supplement that expounds on the same story.

• Check your math!

  • Maybe it goes without saying, but make sure that your numbers are realistic estimates (if applicable, use quotes from your vendors), and that they add up correctly. Excel will do the math for you, but your funder’s application forms won’t. For added insurance, get a trusted proofreader to check your numbers for you.

• Be realistic and transparent about your request.

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You will most likely be putting the proposal together as you research your funder and you develop a vision for your project. This will be a dynamic process, and will require lots of editing and continued research, even as you are constructing the proposal.

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Review

 

 

Once you have a draft of your proposal, it would be helpful to find both people who are familiar with your project, and people who are not, to read through your proposal. This can help you determine if you’ve used language that is too niche or full of jargon, while also giving you insight as to whether you’ve presented your project in a clear way. Ask them to read the call first, to be sure that you appropriately responded to the funder’s requests. 

 

Return to your annotated call and be sure that you’ve responded to every question and included all of the information the funder asked for.

 

Make sure that your proposal reflects the organization funding this grant. (You can even ask the people who read through your proposal if they can identify the mission and values of the funding organization from your proposal.)

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Resources

 

 

If you'd like to cross reference other grant-writing guides to help you, here are a few resources to include in your preliminary grant-writing research: 

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We know that staring at a blank document is daunting—here's a downloadable document with this guide's primary guiding questions to get you started. 

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