Grant Proposal Writing

You intend to draft a grant proposal, right? It’s thrilling! This indicates that you have an important study to conduct, a specific non-profit organization to establish, or a resource that will be beneficial to the community you are passionate about creating.

You see how something may be enhanced or advanced, and you’re prepared to request financing or other forms of assistance to make this vision a reality. As you plan to make these aspirations transform into reality, include a qualitative grant proposal.

You believe you are the finest candidate to accomplish a particular objective because you have an excellent concept. Now all you have to do is persuade and convince people to share your enthusiasm for this concept.

A grant is anything that a financing organization (sometimes referred to as grantmakers or grantors) gives to another institution or individual without expecting to be reimbursed.

Also, check out How to Get Grants for Small Businesses in Nigeria.

The grant application process can be very competitive. For each grant opportunity, foundations and some other grantors receive hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of bids from various applicants.

So, it is up to you to tender a grant proposal that genuinely impresses the reviewers and stands out.

In this article, we will go over the fundamentals of what a grant proposal is, and needs, aits s well as hints and techniques to make it stand out and tools you can use to improve your grant writing abilities. 

What is a Grant Proposal?

A grant proposal is a request for financial assistance that describes a project and offers a strategic plan for how the project will fulfill a recognized need. The majority of the time, a grant proposal is a textual document, but occasionally, circumstances harbor the opportunity to apply to a video or another form of alternative media. 

As you organize and write your grant application, consider the following questions:

Who Are Your Target Consumers?

Consider the staff members of the organization providing the funding who will read this submission. What are the agency’s objectives and mission? What do its values entail? How does what you wish to do fit in with the mission of this organization?

How well-versed in your interests are these readers? Use the responses to these questions to guide how you convey your strategy, choose vocabulary, give background information, and frame your objectives.

You should consider the type of material that these readers will find most persuasive when you are contemplating your audience. Are they numbers? If so, be careful to provide and justify your data.

Is it references? Recommendations from other partners in the project? Earlier instances? Consider carefully how your argument is put together regarding your readers.

What is the Particular Expectation for this Grant?

Pay close attention to all the requirements that the grantor has for you. Your proposal must precisely meet these specifications. Ignore any advice you might get, including from this website, if it doesn’t line up with your situation’s expectations.

Analyze representative samples of winning bids in your industry or winning proposals for the award you’re seeking for.

How Do You Prove Your Competence?

Make sure you come across as competent, capable, and forward-thinking. Your plan’s completeness, the deliberate approach in which you communicate its significance and worth, and your familiarity with prior research will all help you establish your credibility.

Mention any prior successes that show your aptitude for success and your dedication to this endeavor. Describe any collaborations you have had with like-minded groups and people.

Also, check out What A Research Problem Is.

How Effectively Can You Present Your Proposal?

Make sure your structure makes sense. Your proposal should be broken up into logical sections with distinct headings. Exactly adhere to the header and content specifications provided in the awarding agency’s request for proposals.

Grant applications are concise and to the point. You shouldn’t use deep literary allusions or flowery metaphors to embellish your writing here. You should use clear, succinct wording.

Adapt your ideas and words to what your readers already know and are accustomed to. It shouldn’t be difficult for your readers to comprehend what you are saying. See this section of our writer’s manual for details on producing concise sentences. 

Constituents/Sections of a Standard Grant Proposal

Communication is a skill that should be mastered in the course of conjuring a grant proposal. Your project’s core areas of interest should be communicated in your grant proposal in a clear, thorough, concise, and compelling manner.

Don’t be scared or hesitant to use your creative writing talents and inject some emotion with the numbers and statistics to make the proposal more enticing. Your proposal tells the story of your organization and the significance of your project.

Listed below are the components that every grant proposal should contain. They include:

An Outline

An outline is the summary of your grant proposal and it should give a broad overview of the full document. Each section of the longer proposal, including the mission, needs statement, project plan, budget, and evaluation, should be simply summarized.

This should take a minimum of two paragraphs or about half of a page on your document page.

Goal/Mission

This part serves as your organization’s introduction. Your institute’s whole mission statement should be written down, along with a quick overview of its background and significant turning points in its timeline.

If you have a wide range of expertise, you should concentrate on the information that best demonstrates how your company can manage the project for which you are submitting the grant. 

This should not occupy more than one paragraph.

Your Qualities

This is the section where you mention your accomplishments and the reasons why you are a viable contender for funding. Things like significant press coverage and accomplished similar initiatives you have overseen should be included.

Concentrate more on your areas of strength that are suitable for the project for which you’re writing the grant proposal.

This should not be more than 1 paragraph.

Needs Statement

Your needs statement should include a list of the facts(data) you have gathered, either qualitatively or quantitatively, that demonstrate the need for and is particular to your program.

This should occupy about 3 paragraphs.

Project Plan

The centerpiece of your proposal should be the project plan. Here, you should describe your technique, the recommended dosage for the program, and the main personnel involved in its administration. 

Highlight any important partners who are involved and how you intend to work with outside stakeholders. This is the main part of your “pitch” to the grantor about why they should fund your project.

It should occupy a maximum of 6 paragraphs.

Evaluation Plan

Often overlooked, it is one of the sections by which your proposal will be judged. Evaluation should be built into your program operations and timeline and should reflect how you will measure the goals, objectives, and outcomes from the previous section.

Evaluation plans should detail things like relationships with external auditors, how you will use measurement tools, and how you plan to improve your program based on the data that you gather.  

It should be one paragraph long.

Budget

People who are new to grant writing frequently find the budget section scary, but once you get to know how it all works, you’ll see that it naturally flows from your project plan. Each section of your project plan should match a specific amount in your project budget.

The length of your budget section varies depending on the type and size of your project.

Vision

The outcome of your project’s successful influence on the target area is described in this section. What is your vision of your project’s ultimate goal in terms of what it will achieve?

It should be a maximum of 2 paragraphs.

Final Notes on Grant Proposal Writing

Starting up a project is one of the biggest pangs an average human faces in their lifetime. One of the obvious reasons for that is the lack of capital. Grants have, more often than not, proven to be a solution to this problem.

However, getting a grant from a grantmaker is one small step that needs to be taken. As simple as it is, some guidelines must be adhered to be a beneficiary. 

Before you go, check out How to Write a Resignation Letter.