Contents
What Is Grant Writing?
How to Research Grants
How to Prepare a Grant Proposal
Grant Terminology
How to Write a Letter of Inquiry
How to Write a Letter of Intent
Typical Grant Proposal Components
How to Write the Cover Letter
How to Write the Executive Summary
How to Write the Organization Overview
How to Write the Needs Analysis
How to Write the Program Overview
How to Write the Personnel Overview
How to Write the Budget
Grant Proposal Submission Tips
Next Steps
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How to Prepare a Grant Proposal
Once you’ve determined your needs and identified potential funders, the real work begins: putting together a compelling appeal for funding. Fortunately, grantmakers typically provide detailed submission guidelines and application kits to direct your efforts. Funders’ websites, marketing materials, and press releases also can provide helpful tidbits. Beyond those sources, you’ll need to conduct research of your own to boost the likelihood of getting your grant funded.
How to Review Grant Submission Guidelines and Requests for Proposals
Grant submission guidelines and requests for proposals (RFP) offer an enormous amount of information for individuals and organizations seeking funding. More than anything else you’ll read while investigating a grant, submission guidelines give a straightforward account of what the grantmaker expects from applicants. Guidelines typically state:
- What you need to include in your submission
- Where, how, and when you should deliver it
- How long it will take for your proposal to receive a response
The first thing to look for once you’ve received grant submission guidelines is the due date. This information will help you organize your efforts. You’ll want to finish applications in the order that they’re due.
Also note whether any of the funders from whom you’re applying for grants share an application. For example, the member institutions of the National Network of Grantmakers all accept the Common Grant Application to reduce the time that organizations must spend customizing their proposals to meet the particular criteria of individual funders. Again, www.foundationcenter.org can help you identify common applications in your region.
Things to Look for in Submission Guidelines and RFPs
- Contact information
- Deadlines
- Forms
- Review criteria
- Grantee qualifications
- Program goals and purpose
- Order of contents (often a checklist)
- Maximum number of pages
- Paper size
- Paper composition (e.g., the Environmental Protection Agency requires the use of recycled paper)
- Spacing (e.g., double- or single-spaced)
- Minimum font size
Resources to Use During Research
The following resources will come in handy during your proposal research process:
- Search engines: Enter the funder’s name into web search engines to find additional information. Google, Yahoo, and Ask.com all allow you to search news headlines specifically, which boosts your likelihood of finding current and relevant information.
- Libraries: Public or university libraries may also be able to offer assistance and direct you to databases and books that can help in your research. If you live near or are visiting Atlanta, Cleveland, New York, San Francisco, or Washington, D.C., make a point of visiting one of the Foundation Center libraries.
- People: Don’t be shy about asking friends, family, and acquaintances who are well-connected in the nonprofit world for tips on submitting a grant application. Though some may hesitate to reveal a lot of information if you’re a potential competitor for grant funds, others will be more than happy to share tips or proofread your proposal.
How to Organize Your Research
By the middle of the research process, you’re in the midst of a whirlwind of information: impending deadlines, announcements, annual reports, newsletters, and guidelines from funders, as well as your organization’s own marketing materials, budgets, program outlines, and more. To stay sane, it helps to maintain a filing cabinet to keep everything straight.
- Make one hanging folder for each funder: Put the folders in chronological order by application deadline. Individual folders within each funder’s file might hold submission guidelines, funder background materials such as annual reports and newsletters, copies of correspondence with the donor, and other key documents.
- Devote one hanging folder to your own organization: You can set up a similar system for organizing the information that will form the core of all your applications. An organization overview folder could hold your mission statement and marketing materials, while the needs analysis folder could contain surveys, studies, and other research defining the problem that your organization seeks to address, and so on.
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