For any community organization or project, grants can be a valuable source of funding. Yet, writing a grant proposal can be a challenging process that raises many questions. It is important to note that grants are generally available for discrete periods of time, and you cannot rely on a grant to fund your project or program forever. While grants are available from a wide range of organizations, such as governments, corporations, and international organizations, it is important to evaluate how closely your project aligns with the goals of the funding organization before responding to a grant solicitation. Read on for tips about writing a grant proposal, and check out the Grant Proposal Planning Template [PDF 1 MB] for questions to get you thinking as you start writing a proposal.
Find grants to apply for. Perhaps the most daunting part of writing a grant proposal is finding a grant to apply for in the first place. It is worth keeping a running list of grants that might be applicable to your work. Be sure to look into local funders as well as national or international opportunities. For each grant opportunity, think critically about whether you should apply for it. Evaluate how closely your work aligns with the grant requirements; the amount of money you would receive from the grant; and your likelihood of winning it. Then compare that to the amount of time and other resources it would take you to write the proposal, to decide whether applying for the grant justifies the amount of time required to do so.
Complete a Requirements Matrix. Once you decide to respond to a grant solicitation, put together a table that lists every requirement identified in the request for proposal (RFP). Include everything from required content sections to formatting specifications. Use this as a checklist after you’ve written the proposal to ensure that you have accounted for every requirement. For an example, see the Grant Requirements Matrix Template in the Grant Proposal Planning Toolkit on page 5..
Write a one-page overview. For each grant for which you apply, put together a one-page overview of your program/project and how it aligns with the funding agency/grant in question. Being able to clearly and concisely describe not only your own work but also why the funding agency should be interested in funding it, will be immensely beneficial to justifying your request.