How to write a grant proposal - The best 8 tips


Before you start writing your grant proposal, you need to thoroughly prepare. You need to define your funding goals and project, estimate of your project cost, develop a comprehensive timeline of your project, and explore and source prospective grants.

Once you have all these things ready to go, it is time to write your grant proposal. The writing process of your grant proposal consists of the following steps:

1. Proposal summary

Your proposal summary should be two or three paragraphs that summarise the key points of the project. It should be detailed and specific. It is best to write this section last.

2. Introduction of your organisation

The introduction should include a list and biography of all key staff, your organisations successes and why your organisation should be selected for funding. Other must-haves are letters of recommendation, letters of support from community-based groups and feedback from the public.

3. Problem statement

Your problem statement becomes the purpose of the grant proposal. You use it to explain who will benefit from funding and how the solution to the problem will be implemented. This may take extensive research as to how and why the solution will succeed.

4. Project objectives

This section is essential to provide information on the desired outcomes and how the project success will be measured.  

5. Project design

This is where you demonstrate to the funding body that you possess the skills needed for project success. Also include what additional transport, facilities and support services are required by the project. Evidenced project management skills will build the funding body’s confidence in your abilities to deliver on the project.

6. Project evaluation

This section needs to cover your project evaluation and process evaluation, including the timeframe required for evaluation as well as who will do the evaluation. Ensure to add the cost of the evaluation phase of the project.

7. Future funding

If there are funding requirements that will go beyond the project or the ongoing maintenance, operational support or there are projected ongoing costs, this is the section of your grant proposal it goes. You will also need to factor in all financial factors including inflation, ongoing training, specialist skills, and potential future growth.

8. Project budget

You will need to provide full justification for how much money is required to deliver the desired project results. Ensure to include all expenses and that your budget is clear and accurate. The project budget section will be the meat of your grant proposal. An inaccurate budget can lose you a grant as it can be seen as profiteering or miss-management. This can adversely impact your standing with the funding body.

Do not fall into the trap of underquoting in the hopes of “hooking” in the funding body and then asking for additional funding at a later stage. This can be a dangerous game to play as funding may not come. You could also negatively affect your group or organisation’s brand, your community standing or your industry reputation.

Help is always available. A professional grant writer can help you to create a grant winning proposal. Red Tape Busters has a team of highly skilled grant writers waiting to help you navigate the grant process. With grant writer Sydney, grant writer Brisbane, grant writer Melbourne or grant writers anywhere across Australia, Red Tape Busters are here to help. 

Popular posts from this blog

Tender Writing – The Top Three Qualities of an Effective Tender Writer

Tender writing can be a very challenging process but the effective tender writer will have a personality, a skill set and an approach that sets them apart from the run of the mill tender writer. I believe the really important qualities that a tender writer needs to possess are an ability to stay calm under pressure; an ability to org anise other people within the organisation and to organize resources, information and supporting documents or material and an ability to develop the strategy and approach that pitches the organisation in the right light to win the attention of those assessing the tender response. I will now discuss these qualities in further detail. Calm Under Pressure Tender writing can be a very pressurized situation. There are deadlines to meet. Responses need to be submitted by a specified time, in a specified format and in a specified way. Sometimes tenders need to be hand delivered, sometimes they need to be electronically submitted via a specified web porta
Read more

Avoid Tender Rejection With This Expert Advice

Image
The experienced tender writer finds it hard enough to get their tender considered after applying and following the guidelines, ensuring that the lodgement time is met and that they have crafted a decent tender response. Tender writing requires some skill to prepare a great application yet a lot of writers ensure their tender response is rejected at the first review by making some simple errors. Here are some of the pitfalls you need to avoid to ensure your application is not rejected without first being serious considered. Remember the assessment panel on first review of all the responses will be seeking to reject as many as possible initially to get down to a manageable number and to make the task easier. Following are the mistakes that will almost certainly see your response put into the NO pile. Failure to answer every question or tick every box on the application form This might seem just plain ridiculous. How can anyone fail to fill out the application form completely? W
Read more

Grant Writing – What are the determining factors in applying for a grant?

Image
There are many factors which determine if you should be applying for a grant and if your grant writer should spend time on crafting a great submission. Grant writing is far more than filling out an application and explaining why you need that funding. The outstanding grant writer will adopt a very strategic and thorough approach and will not just apply for everything on a whim. Following is a list of issues to consider when applying for grants. Organisational Eligibility All grants have eligibility criteria relating to the type of organisation Grants might be restricted to a business, an incorporated non profit, an organisation with DGR/PBI status for example. So before applying the grant writer will ensure that the organisation as an entity is eligible to apply for this grant.   Location Restrictions Grants at times can be only available to organisations within a set geographic location or a project being delivered within a specific geographic loc
Read more