PRDV009: Writing Grant Proposals

First, you need to identify the principal investigator (PI) for your grant project or the person who will administer the project and serve as the main contact for the funding agency. The PI is usually the same person who will serve as the project director, project manager, or grant manager.

Your abstract is a summary of your project and describes the content of your proposal. Abstracts can be as short as three sentences or as long as two pages, depending on the specifications listed in the RFP. However, most abstracts are two- to three-paragraphs and up to one page in length. Grant funding agencies often display the abstracts for each grant recipient on their website when they announce the winners of a grant round.

The abstract should clearly and briefly describe the needs your project will address (your problem statement), the project objectives, the procedures and methods you will accomplish to meet your goals, a description of the evaluation design, and how much the project will cost. Many grant writers compose the abstract last to ensure it includes everything they want to present.

Remember that your abstract may be the only part of your proposal a grantor reads, so be sure to make a good impression. The abstract should fit within the grant proposal's specified space or word count so the grantor does not cut your narrative off arbitrarily. It should be free of typos and clearly communicate that your project is necessary, well thought-out, and ready to fund.

In this section of your grant proposal, you should present additional context about your organization and demonstrate how you share the same mission, goals, and service area as the grant-funding agency. Your goal is to foster credibility and respect and show that you understand the community or population where your project will operate. Your organization has the know-how and experience to help the project succeed. For example, if you are writing a grant for a college, this section should include:

• the organizational or institutional mission of the college;
• service area information, such as the population and whether it is rural, urban, or serves multiple counties;
• the student population's demographics include the average age, race, and gender; and
• an overview of core organization programs or goals and the project for which you request funds.

Your need statement is critical to your proposal and should answer three questions.

1. Why is the project needed?
2. What problem or challenge will your project attempt to solve?
3. How does your project relate to the mission of your organization?

In this section, you should be data-driven and provide as much relevant evidence as possible to support your claims. Demonstrate your knowledge of the problem by citing appropriate literature and related research. State whether the problem you are trying to solve extends beyond the needs of your local, regional, or national area. You should incorporate two types of evidence to support your project:

• Quantitative Data: Include numerical data and statistics that support your claims, and always cite your sources to build credibility with the funding agency. For example, if you are applying for a grant to serve the educational needs of your community, you might include the fact that 47 percent of the adults in your college's service area lack a high school diploma or GED. Cite where you found that information.
• Qualitative Data: You might incorporate a short anecdotal story demonstrating your project's need. Make your case personal with quotes from people who express a need for your project or those who have benefited from similar projects. Qualitative data makes it harder to generalize or provide the same big-picture perspective as quantitative data. However, qualitative data offers personal stories that can help your case.

The needs you list become the objectives of your project, and the case you make is the foundation of your entire proposal.

Before writing this section, you should understand the difference between goals and objectives.

Goals reflect the overarching mission the project aims to accomplish. They are conceptual and abstract and provide a view of the project's end result. An example of a goal might be to improve outcomes for students enrolled in developmental education classes.

Objectives are tangible, concrete, specific, realistic, measurable, achievable, and have a time dimension. An example of an objective might be "By Spring 2006, the percentage of students who complete Math 101 with a grade of C or higher will increase from 42 percent to 48 percent."

How you develop and communicate your project's goals and objectives depends on the funder's requirements. These guidelines can help you keep this section simple.

• List only one or two goals per project.
• List three to five objectives per goal. Remember that your project must be realistic. If your project is overly ambitious, the funder will be concerned that you cannot meet your goals and will probably not support your project.
• Keep your evaluation section in mind when you write your objectives.
• Use action verbs when you write goals and objectives. For example, some good descriptive verbs include provide, increase, change, determine, plan, coordinate, promote, decrease, and enable.

This section, also called project methods, project design, or strategies, should:

1. Describe the methods you will use to meet your project's objectives;
2. Detail when you will perform these methods; and
3. Identify who will administer them.

Begin writing your plan or description of activities by listing your objectives. Then, explain the specific activities that will occur. Many grant writers intermingle the three sections as part of their implementation plan, but you can also list them separately depending on what is requested in the RFP. Here is a list of things to include:

• Explain how you will implement and complete the activities.
• Detail staff responsibilities.
• Outline the timeframe when activities will occur.
• Describe the management plan. How will you supervise the project within your organization's existing structure?

Many RFPs ask you to provide a resume for key project personnel. The funding agency wants to ensure the individuals charged with carrying out your project's activities are qualified to deliver on your promises. The bios and resumes should follow the same format and not exceed one page unless the RFP specifies otherwise. Your job is to make it easy for grant reviewers to find what they need to know since they will compare your grant proposal with the others they receive."

Your timeline should detail the objectives you wish to meet, each activity that will occur to achieve each objective or goal when each activity will occur, and the person or department responsible for performing the activity.

It is best to provide a visual timeline, such as a chart, to make it easy for grant reviewers to assess and understand what you plan to do quickly.

This chart offers an example of an implementation plan:

The budget describes your operation's financial plan. It should estimate the income and expenditures of each activity you expect to perform during the grant funding period. Many funders require a justification or explanation for each line item of your budget.

Your budget items must be reasonable and cost-effective. Be realistic since you do not want to cause financial headaches down the road by underestimating your total expenses. Some grant writers compose their budget before the proposal narrative since knowing your financial requirements can help you formulate your objectives.
Include a budget narrative or justification with your proposal; in the United States, most state or federal agencies require them. For example, your budget may list $405 for mileage expenses. Your justification could state that your project will require 1,000 miles of local travel for the project director, costing $0.405 per mile.

Many projects require you to present an evaluation plan for your program so the funding agency can determine whether your project was successful at the end of the funding cycle and whether you met the goals outlined.

Remember that funding agencies are accountable to their members: taxpayers if a government agency, shareholders if a corporation, and boards of directors of a nonprofit. These grant administrators need to demonstrate they made the right decision when they chose to fund your project instead of another project that would have supported a worthy cause. Project evaluation is a required element for many federal state grant programs in the United States. Remember to build the costs for your evaluation into your budget. These results could determine whether your project receives future funding.

Your evaluation section may include two types of project evaluations:

1. Formative evaluations are ongoing. These assessments begin during project development and continue throughout the project's life. They provide constant feedback so you and the grant funder can assess the quality and success of your project activities and determine whether you need to make changes during the course of the project. These evaluations should be quantifiable so you can provide comparative feedback and learn whether your changes were successful.
2. Summative evaluations assess how well a mature project has met its goals. They are sometimes called outcome evaluations. These reports usually examine progress on an annual basis. For example, for a three-year project, grantees must complete annual reports and a full summary at the end of the third year. Your evaluation methods can be quantitative – statistics that describe whether you have met your objectives – or qualitative, such as interviews, surveys, or focus groups.

Evaluations that combine both methods offer a more well-rounded picture of your program's impacts. In your grant proposal, your evaluation section describes how you plan to measure whether you have accomplished each objective of your project. Your evaluation narrative should answer the following questions:

• When will you conduct the evaluation?
• How will you conduct your evaluation?
• What data will be collected to measure whether you met each specific objective?
• What instruments and methods will you use?
• What will you do with the evaluation results?
• How much will your evaluation cost?"

Partnering or collaborating organizations can greatly add to your project and proposal. Your partners can contribute their ideas, personnel, in-kind contributions, and additional project funding. They can also enhance your proposal's credibility if they connect positively with the funding agency. Some grant-funding agencies require you to include partners to expand the reach of their contribution. Lining up additional partners shows you are organized and have external buy-in for your project.

For example, let's say you submit a grant proposal for a project that will teach students how to create alternative energy solutions. Embracing a company or organization that offers solar energy solutions or manufactures wind power turbines could enhance your proposal tremendously. Your partners could serve on your project advisory board, offer ideas on the skills they want their employees to have, or offer internships or apprenticeships to students who graduate from your program. These types of collaborations signal to funders that experts in the field trust your project ideas.

Funders want to see that partners are truly participating and not just lending their name because they are your friends or have similar interests.

If the RFP allows it, a letter of support from an outside organization can help your case and lend credibility to your effort. What people or organizations could support your appeal? For example, you could include a letter from a previous grant-funding agency that appreciated your hard work or your organization's success in administering a similar project. You might include a letter of support from a local politician who appreciates your work on behalf of the community.

Make sure these letters provide relevant details to enhance your argument that your organization will meet the needs of the funding agency. Explain whether your supporting organization will provide financial or in-kind support with specific examples. How can you help your supporters craft their support letter? Perhaps drafting a letter for them to sign would be more timely, appropriate, or effective.

Congratulations! You have received an award letter that states the funding agency has approved your application and will support or fund your project! Terrific!
Pay close attention to this letter. It not only includes basic information, such as the amount of money the funding agency will provide and the length of the funding period. It should also offer key details about expectations the funding agency has for you, such as your immediate next steps, upcoming deadline dates, and other obligations your organization now has as a grant recipient.

The RFP may have excluded this specific guidance, so pay attention to any additional responsibilities you and your organization may have.