A Guide to Grant Writing: The Needs Assessment
Have you witnessed a problem in your community, such as underage alcohol consumption, and want to change it but are not sure where to begin? The first step is to develop a needs assessment that clearly portrays the problem. This needs assessment may also be used in a grant application that will allow you to obtain the funds needed to address your observed need. These presented methods are intended to assist organizations in the incorporation of data into the grant proposal in order to develop a stronger, more competitive submission. The foundation of a successful grant proposal is a strong needs assessment that successfully compiles, analyzes, and presents information in order to convey the necessity and rationale for your proposed program plan. There are many good online sources of technical assistance for grant writing.
Below are some guidelines for writing a broad community-based project needs assessment are summarized.
THE DATA
The needs assessment should clearly and concisely demonstrate that a relevant problem or need exists. The first step of this process is to include relevant supporting data. Such data may pertain to demographics, economic health, education, crime and safety, environment, youth development, and health. When selecting data, it is important that the data is beneficial and not detrimental to your needs assessment.
In general, the data should clearly describe your target population and the need that is being addressed. Using the example of underage alcohol consumption, some supporting data might be: the age distribution of your community, % of population in high school, % of children that consume alcohol, the number of under age drinking citations the police department issued in the past year, the frequency children consume alcohol, the volume of alcohol consumed and the location of liquor stores.
Careful consideration must be taken when determining what data to include in the needs assessment. In general, only use data that is relevant and specific to your proposal. Most likely this will require you to come up with specific data. Regardless of the indicators and variables used, they should adhere to five guidelines:
- State the need using hard data, not assumptions or undocumented assertions.
- Only use statistics that are clear and supporting of your argument
- Use comparative statistics and research when possible.
- Make sure all data collection is well documented.
- Don't overuse statistics.