Grant Proposal Template

How to eSign a document: how to write winning grants and project proposal pdf

so you think you're interested in writing a grant they can be challenging the first time but each time you go through the process not only will it get easier but you will dramatically improve the quality of your grant applications a Grimm isn't a war that is given to an organization in the form of goods services or cash usually when people are seeking grants they're trying to obtain financial support to implement their services within the community you can receive a grant by writing a proposal the proposal may be an application form similar to filling out a job application that includes an essay or you may be asked to write out your needs in the form of a narrative most often the format for submitting a grant will include needs statement organizational history program summary mission goals and objectives strategies or activities a budget and a budget narrative each one of these will be explained in greater detail shortly when a granting agency notifies the public that grant funds are available for a particular project they release what is called an RFP request for proposals also known as RFA requests for applications so if your project is a match for RFP you probably want to write a proposal to that grid source to try and obtain that grant the common term for this process is called current writing when you look at the bigger picture great writing can seem overwhelming especially if you are a beginner however the process is much easier to handle when you look at each component in the grant writing process as separate pieces of a larger puzzle so let's look at the five primary individual pieces which will be discussed in greater detail later writing tip create a grant writing town and divide the proposal into sections then take the proposal and follow these steps first find the grant announcement or you research an organization and find that you may be a candidate for a grant award next you request an RFP or RFA this may be as easy as clicking on a link on a website that directs you to the formal RFP from the RFP you can find out exactly what the grant agency is looking for in a potential awardee if the RFP looks like a perfect match for your project you respond to the RFP by either filling out their application or answering the questions in the format they provide to you it is very important to follow their directions precisely or all of your hard work might end up in the trash without a review after you respond to the RFP you simply wait until they review your grant application if there is a contract person listed in the RFP you may want to call them to check on the status of your application it never hurts to have a good contact person sounds fairly simple right it can be dependent on the type of grant you are applying for but for the most part it can be technical and intense finally you see the news of whether you were awarded the funding or not let's start with the request for proposals that's a really great idea no we should look into buying and grant so that we can implement our program but how do we do that I don't even know the first place to start I'm sorry but I overheard your conversation about grants I'm the development director here and I've been writing grants for longer than I care to mention this is - Mitra one of my grant writers in order to find a grant announcement or RFP you can look online at the library or in various publications for example you can use your computer to go online and visit websites of major corporations grants are generally located within a community giving community support or community programs lake these type of grants tend to be less intensive and not financially restrictive as government grants what do you mean by less intensive government grants typically are more intensive because they require more reports but don't be intimidated the financial and technical support is often far greater than most corporations force attachments addendums appendices excetera corporate grants generally do not require as much documentation wow that sounds like a lot but aside aside a grant proposal that looks pretty intimidating go online and look up corporations in your city find their community support or contacts link and find out what types of programs they support you're just reporting the facts as you find them and explaining your idea in detail you'd be surprised how many pages you could use to explain an idea that you are passionate about if someone told you to write an idea and explain every detail you could easily use several pages just on your narrative alone and remember government grants typically come from taxpayer dollars so accountability is important explaining every detail is important the grant process can be as simple as filling out a one to two-page application or narrative that includes your budget breakdown the proposal narrative is the explanation of your idea riots meet it how it works and who will benefit from it some items in a budget include administrative fees equipment contractual agreements most grant RFPs are now online besides corporate grants research foundations as well as local state and federal grant opportunities requirements may differ from company to company but generally speaking corporate grants are less complicated and have less red tape and barriers to go through than government grants however corporate grants generally will not provide the full financial support for program implementation like a government grant may you may have to obtain multiple grants to keep a program going whereas a government grant is likely to fund a great portion of your program if not all of it okay so first we see what companies are funding the type of programs we want to do and then you can contact them and request an application exactly if you search online most applications can simply be downloaded but if they don't have an online application you have to be sure to get the company name address phone number and the name of the contact person that is provided you can also look for grants through publications or library databases the most important thing is to see if they give grant rewards to the type of program for which you need funds that is a good point your needs should match with the funding interest of the company if they don't then you shouldn't waste your time pursuing your funding just get the name address phone number contact person and find out if they find your type of grant request that's very important but what about searching databases and libraries there are some grant databases online you can subscribe to and in a lot of cities there are libraries with grant databases for you to search here in st. Louis you can go to the main public library and search through the grants state of in the database you can type certain keywords for example if your proposal is for a youth program in the st. Louis area targeting at-risk youth you can type in your keywords in every granting agency inside of that database and wait it to your keywords will show up you can then look at each individual match and further narrow your search by checking the restrictions of each agency are there any factors that may cause you not to qualify for particular friends yes and you need to be aware of them for example some funding agencies have geographic restrictions let's say you work with kids in st. Louis but the granting agency you found only fun cities in California Nevada there can also be organizational restrictions if you have administrator for your church and you have your not-for-profit tax status the funding agency may not fund faith-based organizations also there may be target audience restrictions so you have this great youth program with a granting agency you're looking at only funds programs for senior citizens or maybe you need a grant for a music program and you're looking at a funding agency that only supports sports programs must be aware of which grants you qualify for and which you don't there are always a number of different restrictions that you can face but don't be discouraged for every organization that your proposal doesn't qualify there will usually be a grant for which you do qualify so once we found our matching RFPs that sound like a good fit what do we do it would be a good idea to take each one of the matching RFPs for the proposal and sort them according to the due date complexity and available resources I would think so right it wouldn't make sense to work hard on a proposal and then miss they will most likely have recurring annual monthly or quarterly due dates where you're able to apply for that same source of grant funds if you find an rfp from an agency foundation corporation that matches the fun you're seeking be sure to revisit that agency online or find some way to keep up with their grant announcements because if they fund your type of project is likely that they are interested in the type of work you do and may funding in the future but you must be aware of their due dates and requirements so let's review the prospect research process identify your prospects out of the hundreds or thousands of potential donors who on this list am I most eligible to receive grant funds from rate your prospects you're going to get several hits that are potential matches for your proposal who is most likely to give you an award do you have the available resources to effectively apply for the grant considering the given due date are there restrictions worth pursuing the grant is the amount of money they are giving for the grant worth of resources and time you will be spitty to get a grant from them all of these questions should be considered when rating your prospective chances if you came back a year later and ran the same search almost all of those same agencies will be supporting the same cause they did a year before it would be beneficial to you when you are doing your searches to profile every potential match so that you can learn their pattern of giving their due dates who they tend to give to why they give contact names and so forth managing your prospects will allow you to have enough time to handle more complex grant applications quote a potential donor and maximize every grant opportunity available to you though we've taken the time to sort out our RFPs and which ones we'll address first and so on I guess it's time to start writing now let's make a note you can have your program ideal with the mission goals objectives and activities already fleshed out on paper before you even start looking for RFPs that way you'll be able to more accurately match your proposal with the or a fees also when ready to fill out applications you'll simply be transferring information from one document to another it saves a lot of time so that you can pursue other RFPs look at it like filling out a bunch of job applications in one day every application looks different wouldn't it be a lot easier to fill out all of those applications if you already had your resume with you filling out RFPs is the same principle but you'll have a lot more information to transfer another reason to have your proposal ready before you start looking for money is because it helps you stick to your mission some people make the mistake of trying to go after every dollar while compromising their mission if your organization specializes in working with runaway youth then trying to go after funds to build affordable housing projects probably is not the best move for you and your organization you will not only be less likely to get the grant award because you will be going outside of your specialty and disregarding your mission but you'll look like a paper chaser funding agencies look at your organization capacity and experience and if it doesn't match what you are asking for then your proposal goes right in the trash anyway it's not only a waste of time and resources but it also pulls you away from RFPs that fit perfectly with your program finally it is important to note that you need to keep it simple be very concise make your point and move on be long-winded and using big words in a proposal doesn't help you at all however do use the terminology that they use in their RFP to communicate with the reader in your proposal yes and we are now ready to start writing the first item that most grant announcement asks for is the executive summary what is that it's a brief snapshot the entire proposal condensed into one page right it sounds like what you are saying is that we are trying to sell our idea and organization to address the problem and need yes this is definitely the sales piece of your proposal so you've got to capture the reader in this section or your proposal might end up in the trash again this is a snapshot of your entire proposal so capturing the right parts of each section is important what are those sections the problem or needs statement programs are put in place to address a problem or a need you must be able to spell your problem out in what is called a need statement you will need to accurately depict the problem using the most current statistics and trends government census data Health Department statistics courts various branches of federal and state governments local municipalities libraries and online databases are all good places to find stats regardless of where you find your data make sure that it is from a reliable source be sure to compare your stats to other places locally and nationally so that the reader can get a broad view of the problem and where it stands in relation to other cities once you've compiled your stats it is almost important to show how the needs are not adequately being addressed for example if you notice that the teenagers in your community are excessively delinquent during after-school hours and you theorize that the behavior is due to the lack of after-school activities and structure programs in the community you now have the framework needed to begin researching this problem and a possible solution what is the problem in this case we'll say juvenile delinquency so research and statistics from the juvenile courts local police department and area schools will all help support your case you will also want to find out what all after-school activities are available for students not only in the schools but throughout the community remain optimistic be careful not to be condescending of other programs because funding agencies do not look well upon that plus they may already be funding those projects and your criticism may not be taken well there may be activities available for students but they may not be activities that students want to participate in there may not be any activities at all there may be enough after-school programs that many kids are participating in and after-school programming may not be the answer at any rate conducting preliminary research to find out if your proposed solution will help solve the problem is key because if your research does a support your solution you will need to come up with another solution another important point to note when you are making your needs statement give the reader hope that there is a feasible solution within the amount of money you are requesting give them hope so let's say your findings support your solution you can now assemble a program model that will in essence become your proposal the solution who what when where how and why this is where you describe your programs approach to addressing the issue and includes how the program would work to address the need or problem who your target population is what will take place who will benefit from the program how long will it last and what makes the program different from all the other programs your I do is your proposed solution and this is the heart of your grant application if you have your ideal and you know how your program will function you can use the same information to apply for any grant that you qualify for as you are describing your program you want the reader to be able to visualize the program working to do this you may want to describe the vision mission goals and day-to-day activities in this section to further illustrate how the program will function be sure to be concise and keep your responses within their requested limits when you grant RFPs will tell you how long they want each of your responses to be but if they don't make sure to keep it as short yet as clear and descriptive as possible this section is very important your vision mission goals objectives and activities work together like such picture a pyramid with your vision as the base then your mission your activities and your goals and objectives being the point using this format while operating your program will keep you focused on your mission so that you can accomplish your vision it is so easy to get all track in your day-to-day activities and this format can serve as your road map to keep your focused one way people lose focus is during the grant seeking process people often abandon their mission and lose sight of their vision by going after different funding sources outside of their specialty okay the vision vision the program vision is a short succinct and inspiring statement of what you intend the program to become the vision describes how you see the future with this program without specified the means that will be used to achieve those desired results and example of a vision statement would be to make home ownership a reality for every American this is a very broad statement and it doesn't specify the means that will be used to make homeownership a reality for every American it simply says we basically want everyone to be able to get a home if they would like but in the real world home ownership is not always so easy credit can be an issue finances employment and knowledge of how to maintain a home in addition to a variety of other variables it is not likely that one organization is able to effectively and thoroughly address each of the specialized factors that can keep us from the vision of every American owned in a home now take your vision and assuming other people and organizations have your same vision in mind put yourself in a pie chart everyone in this pie has the same vision they want home ownership to reality for all Americans however different organizations are set up to handle different functions some organizations may specialize in credit counseling some with home ownership education others may address the problem by finding the subsidies such as grants and low-interest homes so that first-time home buyers can move in with no money down the point is we all have the same vision the difference between what your organization does to get one step closer to the vision is what formulates your mission statement we go back to the pie and see that everyone has the same vision but now that we have our place in this chart we now know what our mission statement is it would probably be impossible for our organization to do everything in this file but together when we collaborate and utilize each other's resources since we are struggling to accomplish the same vision we strengthen our organization and make the vision a reality because we're doing what we do best our mission mission a mission statement is an organization's vision translated into more specific terms it identifies your nick in the vision it also makes concrete the leaders view of the direction and purpose of the organization for me corporate leaders it is a vital element in any attempt to motivate employees and to give them a sense of priorities the mission is the priority our vision statement is to make homeownership a reality for every American the mission more specifically identifies and prioritizes your solution that is it describes specifically what you do to whom you do it and what you're trying to achieve by doing it if our vision is to make home ownership a reality for every American our mission for this particular program may be to target young adults and first-time homebuyers to gain knowledge about home loan programs our niche and the pie graph is Rome education so our proposals are most likely going to be based around loan education programs for this particular program we're targeting young adults and first-time homebuyers after formulating your vision and your mission you will need to come up with your goals and objectives goals and objectives provide even more direction in your proposal so that the reader can see how you will achieve your mission and vision as you make your way to the point of the pyramid you will see that each level gets more specific and provides more direction to your plan remember your proposal is your plan to achieve your mission and vision it is your solution to the problem or need you have already formulated your needs a mission statement now it is time to describe in greater detail your plan by describing the goals and objectives goals describe the future expected outcomes of your plan they also provide direction for your program and they focus on the ends rather than the means objectives explain your goals and measurable details while the strategies or activities describe the means in which you achieve your outcomes remember that your goals are tied directly to the mission of your program your goal should work to accomplish the mission if you create a goal that does not work to meet your mission then you most likely will need to re-evaluate your goal and determine whether it should be part of your proposal some proposals plans need only one goal to accomplish the mission one objective to meet the goal and just one strategy or activity to meet an objective other more complex proposals may need multiple goals to meet a mission multiple objectives to accomplish a goal and multiple activities or strategies per objective but you will only have one mission how your proposal will look is completely unique to how your program will operate a goal cannot stand alone merely saying that you will increase productivity is not Sophie to complete your plan the reader will want to know how you will increase your productivity therefore goals should be attainable through a series of objectives and strategies or activities in this organizational mission statement XYZ Inc is dedicated to improving the quality of life for young men in the st. Louis metro area it states the desired outcome improved quality of life for young men in the st. Louis metro area however it does not specify the means this statement simply establishes the framework for your objectives and activities when developing programs you can also create programmatic goals that align with your mission remember you have one mission but you can have different programs that satisfy different organizational goals or there may be one program with several goals that work to satisfy your mission and this programmatic goal statement it says that the goal is to increase the number of males attending their health clinic again it is a broad statement that states the desired outcome without saying how they will increase numbers at the clinic when creating your goal statement be sure that it has the following characteristics one describes the future expected outcome two provides direction to the program three focus on the ends not the means for directly tied to the mission five obtained through objectives and strategies after you have created your mission and your goals it will be time to begin to tell the reader how you will accomplish your goals you can do this by creating objectives objectives provide a measurable framework with indicators to let you know if you are on the right track to meet your goals in order to make objectives effective they must be smart smart is an acronym for specific measurable achievable realistic and have a time element your objectives must support your goal statement our goal is to increase the number of males attending our health clinic our objective is to increase the number of male clients at our reproductive health clinic by at least 20 percent before December 15th the objective meets the smart guidelines because it is specific measurable achievable realistic and has a time element it is specific because we are specifying what we would like to achieve in this example we would like to increase the number of male clients at our reproductive health clinic it is measurable because it provides indicators of whether we are meeting our objectives or not in this example we would like to increase the number of male clients at the clinic by 20% if we do not reach at least to 20% increase in male clients we will know that we have not achieved our goal is your goal achievable and attainable your organization leaders will need to draw on their experiences to know if this objective is achievable if the objective is not achievable it may be an objective that you will want to reconsider if this objective is achievable the question must be asked can our organization realistically achieve the objectives with the resources we have you will not want to set objectives that are outside the range of your resources do not confuse this with your organizational capacity there may be an objective that your organization alone cannot achieve however when you collaborate with other organizations you can make a seemingly unrealistic objective attainable and realistic your objective should also have a time element when exactly do you expect to accomplish your objective the time component gives you a date to evaluate the rate of success of program in this example our time element is December 15th if we increase the number of mail clients at our reproductive health clinic by at least 20% before December 15th we will have met our objective if all of your objectives meet all of the smart components then you will need to explain in detail how you plan to meet your objectives this narrative is called the strategy or the activity the activity explains the day-to-day details related to its corresponding objective using our current example this might entail explaining a male friendly campaign to promote the clinic to young men another activity may be to provide community education sessions that emphasize the importance of men using male reproductive health services your activities must be explained in detail remember to be clear concise and descriptive as possible please be sure to keep your response within the rfp's limit regardless of how detailed your program is if the RFP only gives you two pages to explain your narrative you will need to keep your response within two pages following directions is part of submitting a good proposal Wow I really have a much better understanding of how to approach to grant writing process don't forget you also have to create a reasonable budget to document how you use the funding that you're awarded standard items in the budget include personal cost travel equipment supplies consultant costs and other costs such as postage printing and telephone usage oh yeah oftentimes you will be asked to include job descriptions for key staff is there anything else that we need to consider when applying for program funding all funding sources like to know that their money is being used efficiently and the world of philanthropy collaboration is one of the best ways for funding sources to get the most out of their investment it's also a great way in widen the web of services that you can offer to clients by working together with other agencies that provide complementary services and have similar visions so when funders are looking at my grandad location exactly what are they looking for foundations and corporations generally use a standard set of criteria to score grant applications these includes competence feasibility importance of venture originality right fit leverage and pattern making effects need for support some budget persistence dedication and commitment and a strong evaluation if you address each of these areas you will have your program up and running in no time but remember keep it simple