The Grant Seeker's Handbook: A Guide to Finding Funds
Appendix A

THE BASIC DOS AND DON’TS OF WRITING AN EFFECTIVE PROPOSAL

There is no magic in writing an effective proposal for funding, nor are there any guarantees in any single method. The process of funding may appear at times arbitrary, even capricious. In any event, it is indeed a human one. This suggests that there may be a number of aspects to grantmaking and grantseeking beyond submitting written proposals. As true as your experience may demonstrate this to be, a written proposal is usually essential, especially if you visualize it as a plan of action.

While some funding sources do reach out to get additional information from organizations seeking their money, you will never go wrong by putting your energy into presenting a solid, detailed case in your funding proposals. From a funder’s perspective, a complete, thoroughly developed proposal resulting in a minimum of questions is a joy to behold.

Acting on the suggestions that follow will not necessarily get you what you want, but it should help you avoid traps in which proposal writers may find themselves stuck. It seems often enough that the basis for funding refusals comes from factors that could and should have been seen in advance of the bad news.

Assume that the people who review your proposal are of good will and looking for quality in nonprofit organizations. If they are accessible, and you have reasonable questions about preparing your proposal, ask your questions. Remember that everybody is trying to get to accessible funders’ representatives, so use your time well and efficiently and make a good impression. (Access seems to be a function of whether a funder is staffed. Unstaffed foundations, for instance, tend to be difficult to contact in person.)

Many protocols exist within potential funding organizations when it comes to dealing with your proposal, once received. If you learn that a given protocol allows for a face-to-face meeting, for instance, take advantage of this. A site visit also offers the opportunity to show a prospective funder your clients or participants, board members, other volunteers, and facilities. Any meeting offers you the occasion to listen to what the representative of a funder has to say. Listen.

In the proposal itself, be thorough, reasonable and positive. Don’t be hesitant or quarrelsome. If you are unsuccessful, find out from the funder why you were turned down. You don’t have to enjoy turndowns, of which there are many more than funded proposals; you do have to learn from them.

When preparing a proposal, DO:

• Know your funding source. They all have biases: some favor research, others favor action; some support specific projects, others like general support grants. Almost all will have some kind of funding track record. Study it, and tailor your proposal accordingly if it makes sense. Look for written materials about potential funding sources.
  
  
• Know your turf. Find out who else in the community is concerned about and working on the problem you’re addressing, and find out what other approaches have been tried. Wherever feasible, form coalitions with other organizations. Treat the emphasis funders place on program coordination with the utmost seriousness.
  
  
• Follow the format. When an outline or format is suggested or required by a funder, use it, even if you think the one you like to use is better. Improving a funder’s format courts a charge of being unresponsive.
  
  
• Write clearly. Proposal reviewers usually have to read dozens, if not dozens and dozens, of proposals in a short period. They appreciate direct statements; they are exasperated by cleverness or needless repetition. If you take five pages to say what can be said adequately in one, reviewers will remember your proposal for something other than positive reasons.
  
  
• Be logical and balanced. The proposal should flow, and conclusions should be reached, not jumped at. The length of sections may well reflect your assessment of their importance.
  
  
• Be specific. Specify numbers, sequences and outcomes as appropriate. Include time/flow charts, allowing for start-up and phase-in of your project.
  
  
• Be thorough, especially in detailing program administration, supervision and monitoring. Funders like to know that their money is going to conscientious and capable agencies.
  
  
• Critique your own proposal before a funder does. Proposal writers, even those good at the business, have two common failings: they become enamored of their product without reference to outside counsel, and they “get too close to the trees to see the forest.” Your proposal should be intelligible to any reader, especially one not familiar with your field of interest. Test yours on co-workers or friends, set aside your ego, and heed their comments.
  
  
• Be positive. Predicting doom if your program isn’t funded, or pleading poverty, or heaping guilt on a prospective funder might work once, but will certainly be subject to the law of diminishing returns. How often can you go to the well with the old if-you-don’t-fund-us-we’re-going-to-go-belly-up routine? Funders like winners, and evidence of your organization’s grasp of a situation and how to deal with it — in effect, a positive attitude — is a winner’s strategy.
  

When preparing a proposal, DON’T:

• Argue with a funder’s assumptions. If the funds are coming through a Request For Proposals (RFP), the RFP will contain a definition of the problem as the funder sees it. Funding guidelines may also reveal perspectives through which a funder operates. Even if these presentations seem misinformed, don’t take issue with them. Your real knowledge will not impress the funder. If you cannot ethically agree with the funder’s assumptions, avoid going after its money. Save your reforms for other forums.
  
  
• Philosophize. A proposal for a nutrition program is no place for a speech on hunger in the Third World. (Avoid the implied charge that a funding refusal would mean the funder does not care about the problem.) Know the difference between a proposal for funding and a polemic.
  
  
• Confuse your organization’s needs with those of your clients. It is understood that you need funds to keep the doors open. It does not necessarily follow that this will solve your clients’ problems. Only their needs offer the rationale for continuing to meet organizational needs.
  
  
• Assume the reviewers know the problem or program. There are times when reviewers are recruited to read proposals; they may include academicians, technicians or just plain folks. Given this mix of possible readers, it makes sense to avoid unsupported assumptions, and to specify and document the existence of needs to be met and the capacity of your program to meet them. The best way to handle jargon and specialized acronyms, which arise among old hands familiar with various program details, is to eliminate them — at least in proposals.
  
  
• Include surprises. Examples are personnel who show up in an organizational chart or budget, but are not mentioned in the proposal narrative; or charges in a budget with no prior references as to purpose or necessity. A good proposal answers questions; it does not raise them.
  
  
• Promise more than you can deliver. The numbers game is tempting, especially in a competitive setting where you might seek to suggest delivering an unrealistic level of proposed objectives, or a program plan inconsistent with the amount you have budgeted. In both cases, you risk your credibility either through the analysis of an experienced reviewer or by falling short of your goals should you receive funds.
  

Remember, the effective proposal:

• Is in the hands of the right funding source, because your research was rigorous;
  
  
• Gives evidence of careful planning by your organization in its preparation;
  
  
• Conveys the importance of what you propose in a defined community setting, whether it be a low-income neighborhood or a school campus;
  
  
• Includes evidence of what you are doing to help yourselves, as well as what you are requesting.
  

Recommended Resources for Proposal Writing

Online

Foundation Center’s Proposal Writing Short Course
http://fdncenter.org/learn/shortcourse/prop1.html
Available free online, this tutorial will give you the basics of proposal writing and lead you to other resources to help you continue your study.

Books in the Nonprofit Resource Library

Call #: 770 CAR
Author: Carlson, Mim
Title: Winning Grants Step by Step: The Complete Workbook for Planning, Developing, Writing Successful Proposals
Publisher: San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, c2002.

Call #: 770 CLA
Author: Clarke, Cheryl
Title: Storytelling for Grantseekers: The Guide to Creative Nonprofit Fundraising
Publisher: San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, c2001.

Call #: 770 GEE
Author: Geever, Jane C.
Title: The Foundation Center’s Guide to Proposal Writing
Publisher: New York: Foundation Center, c2001.

Call #: 770 ROB
Author: Robinson, Andy.
Title: Grassroots Grants: An Activist’s Guide to Proposal Writing
Publisher: San Francisco : Jossey-Bass, 2002, c1996.

Classes on Proposal Writing

The Center for Nonprofit Management teaches seminars in proposal writing and seminars in fundraising strategies on a regular basis. 

Continue to Appendix B