The Grant Seeker's Handbook: A Guide to Finding Funds
Chapter 5

SOME IDEAS ABOUT THE RESEARCH YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO DO IF YOU WANT TO GO AFTER THEIR BUCKS WITH ANY HOPE OF SUCCESS

Different factors are likely to play a part in a grantmaker’s funding decision. However, while a proposal may not stand alone in determining whether you secure funds, it is an essential part of the process of reaching out for funds from an organized, institutional grantmaker such as a foundation or unit of government. In other words, funding sources will assess the quality of written proposals as part of the process of determining who gets funds in a highly competitive environment.

The form a proposal takes will vary markedly depending on the type of funder approached, the complexity of the proposed program, or the nature of the request. This can lead to major differences, varying from a one-page letter proposal sent to a small, unstaffed foundation to an application form of seemingly interminable length dispatched to a government funding source.

This is why it makes no sense to suggest a model proposal that you can use to pattern your own proposals; it is just not this simple. You aren’t going to get away with trying to mimic what someone else has done, no matter how appealing that may seem. Most funders want something more than a rote exercise by you. You owe it to yourself or your organization to present a vital proposal based on the planning that went into its development—nothing less. (If you insist on seeing a variety of proposals as developed by others, look at the end of Appendix A for a list of resources.)

While the form and length of the proposal will vary depending on circumstances, the planning for any proposal should always be comprehensive. In other words, the planning for what ends up being a one-page letter proposal is every bit as important as that for a 100-page application package.

Another way of making this point is to suggest that creating something as uncomplicated as a one-page letter proposal can be exasperating and complicated if you haven’t gone through the appropriate program planning. Boiling something down to its barest essentials is difficult if you haven’t thought it through from the most comprehensive perspective.

Other than making certain that you develop a proposal consistent with what a funder wants, the single most important aspect of creating one relates to the planning that goes into it.

Unfortunately, conventional wisdom often suggests that proposal writing is a lonely, singular pursuit to be undertaken only by a “technician” known as a “grant writer,” “proposal writer” or “development specialist.” While it is true that proposals are best written by one person, hopefully a reasonably good writer, rather than by committee, the “planning that goes into it” should embody the best aspects of democracy, calling for input by anyone significantly involved in attempting to carry out the program you wish to have funded. This could include not only staff, but board members and clients as well.

Much is made of the business of writing proposals for funding. Grantseekers in particular, as well as many consultants who attempt to make a living writing proposals, often ascribe some kind of mystique to the process. The process of writing proposals to seek funding does not have to be—and should not be—seen as mysterious. Since a grant proposal is the written version of the planning process for your program or organization, common sense dictates that it be created with common sense. You are simply transposing your program planning into a written document describing the program, and hopefully presenting a cogent argument or case for funding it.

Here, in simplified form, are the essential ingredients in making such a case. Think of these items as the basic concepts around which you will perform your program and organizational planning. Any proposal you develop should derive from your understanding of and ability to discuss the following:

1. Organizational capability, or the characteristics of your organization that demonstrate it is a credible one. This might include information on how and why your organization got started, its mission and goals, a description of the organization’s most significant accomplishments, evidence of community-wide support, and documentation of the ability to use money wisely and legally. (These are only some of the examples you might consider.)
   
   
2. Awareness of problems your proposed program will solve or needs it will meet. Note that these are not your organization’s problems or needs, but the problems or needs of the clients you serve, the participants you involve, the community you seek to assist. In effect, they are the reasons your organization exists. You must be able to document these problems or needs; that is, provide evidence that they exist. (Most funders are not impressed if you itemize a host of your own agency’s problems or needs. Evidence of a needy organization could actually impede getting a funder’s money.)
   
   
3. Willingness to understand the intended results or objectives that your proposed program will bring about. Remember, there is a difference between the intended results and the program itself. Also, funders will be more impressed if you are able to present the intended results in specific, quantifiable terms. (This allows a potential funder to view your grant needs in a context of impact, so that some sense of cost effectiveness can be formulated.)
   
   
4. Ability to develop a sensible program plan to bring about those intended results, wherein you are aware of the orderly sequence of activities, tasks, events and staffing needed to accomplish them. You should demonstrate that you have developed a rationale for the particular program approach selected. (The best rationale is the belief, based on your organizational program planning, that the proposed program will bring about the intended results.)
   
   
5. Willingness to evaluate your efforts, both in terms of the program you intend to carry out —that is, to monitor it as you mount it — and the results you intend to attain. The latter is more difficult, because it relates to impact as a result of the program and is best done after program implementation. (You will need to use common sense in planning the evaluation of your efforts, since there are not many tried and true evaluation methods. Funders are eager to have you share information both with them and with other agencies to whom it will make a difference as you use their money to run your programs.)
   
   
6. Appreciation of the need to consider other necessary and/or future funding sources. This is one of the best ways to show a prospective funding source how serious you are about the proposed program. In other words, you’re looking at all possible funders because your organization wants to maximize its possibilities for success, and your program is so important that nothing less than this kind of care in research is warranted. (This is one of the critical challenges facing any grantseeking organization, since there are virtually no guarantees of long-term support from most institutional funding sources.)
   
   
7. A reasonable budget, by which you cost out your program plans or translate your proposed programs into dollars and cents. Generally, you will itemize costs for personnel and related non-personnel support, including facilities and equipment.
   

Think of these seven items as the major concepts the staff and board of any nonprofit organization must understand in administering the organization and its programs. Such understanding comes from a willingness to gather together and plan for an organization’s existence and movement. Such understanding and planning will support the development of effective proposals for funding.

See Appendix A for more information about the dos and don’ts of proposal writing.