This post explores the common sections of a grant proposal, different types of grant proposals, how to write grant proposals and more.
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As a nonprofit organization, you are familiar with the role of grant funding in your operations. However, receiving grant funding can be a pretty tough task for even the veterans of the grant-writing industry. The best tactic for seeing award letters in your inbox is understanding what a grant proposal really is.
This article will give you a great start at understanding what a grant proposal is, it will cover the common sections of a proposal, and it will showcase a few samples to get your writing off on a solid path.
If you are ready to dig into proposal writing, keep reading!
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Before you start researching funding opportunities, you should know what a grant proposal is.
A grant proposal is a document outlining a project or program with the intent to justify your need for support and map out your plan of action against that need.
This article will make the case that you have a compelling need for funding and that you are uniquely positioned to utilize those requested funds to realize positive outcomes.
Grant writing is the lifeblood of many nonprofit organizations.
It's not just about securing funds; it's about building credibility, ensuring financial sustainability, expanding project reach, and strengthening donor and stakeholder relations.
A well-crafted grant proposal demonstrates a nonprofit’s professionalism and commitment to its cause.
When funders see that you've taken the time to articulate your project clearly, they gain confidence in your organization's ability to deliver results. It also shows that you’re willing to put in considerable effort to get your project funded.
Grants can provide a stable source of income for nonprofit, reducing the uncertainty they often face.
Winning grants allows you to plan for the future and execute long-term projects. In fact, grants contribute 32% of the total annual revenue generated by nonprofits.
With grant funding, nonprofits can amplify their impact. New initiatives can be launched, existing programs can be expanded, and underserved communities can be reached.
Successful grant applications can enhance your relationships with donors and stakeholders.
Grant proposals contain detailed information about your nonprofit’s mission, vision, operations, financials, and more. This provides transparency and accountability, which further fosters trust with your nonprofit’s supporters.
To understand grant proposals fully, it's essential to differentiate between a grant and a grant proposal.
Essentially, a grant is the financial support provided by a funder, while a grant proposal is the written request for that funding.
Grants are generally provided by a funding organization to support a nonprofit’s specific project or program. For example, Walmart provides local community grants that nonprofits can apply for throughout the year.
On the other hand, a grant proposal is a formal document that outlines the project or program for which you seek funding. It serves as a persuasive argument for why your organization deserves to win the grant funding.
While a grant is the tangible result of a successful proposal, the proposal itself is a persuasive narrative that convinces funders of your project or organization’s worthiness.
What Is the Role of the Grant Proposal?
Now that we've clarified what grant proposals are and how they work, let's explore their role in the nonprofit world.
A grant proposal makes a compelling case for financial support for your nonprofit.
Most grant funders receive applications from lots of different nonprofits who all want to win the grant, so your proposal is your chance to convince funders that your initiative is not only important but also most deserving of their resources.
A well-structured grant proposal also outlines the blueprint of your project or program for which the grant funding will be used.
Your proposal should provide a clear roadmap that funders can follow to understand your vision and the steps you are planning to take to achieve that vision.
Funders are not just looking to give away money; they want to make a meaningful impact and drive positive changes in society.
Grant proposals serve as a vehicle to showcase your nonprofit organization’s competence and capability to bring about that change. Your proposal should emphasize your team's expertise, your successful track record, and your ability to turn the funder’s investment into tangible, positive outcomes.
Additionally, grant proposals establish a framework for accountability. They define the metrics by which your project's success will be measured, ensuring transparency and results-oriented funding.
What Are the Most Common Sections of a Grant Proposal?
Writing a grant proposal may seem overwhelming or complicated. However, if you divide a grant proposal into its most common sections, it gives you the opportunity to write in shorter spurts.
Thinking of the proposal as a sum of its parts gives you smaller benchmarks to write toward. The following is a list of the most common sections of a grant proposal and things to keep in mind as you write.
The executive summary is the first section of your grant proposal, which is often written after writing everything else. Just as its title suggests, this is a summary of your proposal.
An executive summary is your first impression, a high-level overview of your project. Whether the funder finds your project in alignment with their mission and interesting may lie in only reading your executive summary.
Writing the remainder of your proposal first makes the most sense. You are more likely to accurately and succinctly summarize your proposal after you have already written the other sections.
The needs statement articulates the problem or needs your project addresses. It's the foundation of your grant proposal, showcasing the urgency and significance of your work.
Your needs statement should outline the fundamental problem or gap that exists that you are uniquely qualified to solve with the requested support.
A needs statement is a statement, so think in terms of writing a few sentences, not multiple paragraphs. Finally, your needs statement should align with the goal or intent of the funding opportunity as presented by the grantmaker.
Goals and objectives define what you aim to achieve with the grant funding. They create a roadmap for your project, helping funders understand its purpose and impact. This section is meant to clearly define your plan of action and outcomes.
One highly-regarded strategy for writing goals is to follow the SMART framework.
In this framework, goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. The University of California put out a paper detailing how to write SMART goals. You may want to check it out if this sounds unfamiliar to you.
After outlining your project goals, you will also be presenting your aligned objectives. Think of your objectives as your action steps for achieving your goals. The goals are the end outcomes and your objectives break down how you are going to get there.
Check out the Instrumentl Partner Webinar with Dr. Beverly Browning (Dr. Bev), author of Grant Writing for Dummies, to learn more about goals and objectives.
The method section is where you will really tell the reviewer how you intend to meet the stated need at the outset of your grant proposal. This is your plan of action. On the other hand, your strategies will tell how you will execute your methodology.
Some proposals use these two terms interchangeably or ask for one or the other. They both speak to how you intend to act on solving the problem you outlined in your need statement.
Grant reviewers want to know how you (and they) will know you have hit the goals of your proposed project.
The evaluation section details exactly how and when achievement will be measured. This grant evaluation plan should tie back to the stated project goals.
If you intend to utilize specific tools or rubrics to measure your project, call those out specifically and include them if the page count and appendices rules allow.
When you write a proposal, you need to describe who you are for your reviewers.
Don’t narrate your organization’s entire history and daily work efforts. Rather, briefly provide the most important details about your nonprofit that are connected to your current funding request.
Here are some details you may want to include in the information about your organization section:
It is expected that in a request for funding, you would want to include how you propose that funding will be spent. Your proposal should include a section dedicated to your project budget.
Often, your project budget section will have two parts.
Budget Spreadsheet- A budget template resembles a standard spreadsheet. Unless the application specifies exactly what they want to see in your budget, there are innumerable ways to craft your budget. Most commonly, budgets are built on categories of spending. Some of the most common categories are:
If you want to have a visual starting point to draft your own proposal budget, we wrote a blog that provides more insight on the proposal budget and budget templates as a starting point.
Budget Narrative- In a budget narrative, you will describe the elements of your project that the funds will support. This is not a time for descriptive or superfluous language. It is a place to articulate your budget items a bit more specifically than a line item or budget category allows. The budget narrative should directly correlate with the budget table you included.
One method for writing a budget narrative is to write in sections that align with each of your budget categories. Call out your categories and describe in more detail what each category will entail at the individual activity level. A budget narrative is an opportunity to have the typical budget spreadsheet expanded for more meaning and understanding of your project.
Common Types of Grant Proposals
A grant proposal is a relatively universal way to access support funding. The format is basically the same whether the proposal is solicited via an application process, a request for proposals, or as a communication tool between a single organization and a potential funder.
It is challenging to build capital expenditures into a nonprofit budget. Margins are tight and funds tend to be short in accomplishing all that you set out to do. The inability to set aside large amounts of money for capital projects means that nonprofits often rely on capital grants to fund capital projects.
Capital grants are a relatively common type of grant proposal due to the pressing need for capital funding options. Capital projects tend to have hefty price tags.
Coinciding with capital grant proposals, nonprofit organizations often engage in capital campaigns. These campaigns provide opportunities for stakeholders to contribute their support for these large-scale projects. Additionally, a capital campaign can help address any match that may be required by the grantmaker.
We will discuss matching grants in more detail in another section.
The most common grant proposal is one requesting support for a program or project.
In a program grant, the funds will be used for a specific purpose referenced in the grant proposal. These proposals typically articulate a funding need that is somewhat entirely encompassed by the grant funds requested.
Many program or project grant applications will ask that you speak to your ability to sustain the program beyond the term of the grant. So, although it is common to request funds for a project that otherwise couldn’t exist, keep in mind ways you might be able to sustain outcomes you realize during the funding period.
While capital and project grants have tangible and exact intended uses of funds, there is often a need for less specific funding to support ongoing operations. This is what is called an operating grant.
In the past few years, grantmakers have expanded their funding scope to include more operating grant opportunities. These grants have historically been less represented as it is hard for a foundation to attach its mission to something as ambiguous as ongoing operation efforts for a nonprofit.
In order to stretch their resources, grantmakers will often offer matching or in-kind grant opportunities.
These grants require funding from the applicant. They will specify where these match funds can come from. This is an important detail to pay attention to, as some matching grants allow you to use other grant funds for your match while some require these to come from your general operating budget.
Each grant will specify the required match amount. As an example, if you were applying for a $100,000 grant that required a 20% match, you would be asked to contribute $20,000 to the project.
What Are the Steps to Writing a Grant Proposal?
Now that we've covered the components, let's explore the steps involved in writing a grant proposal:
Your journey to writing a grant proposal begins with research.
To start your search, you can check out Instrumentl’s database of grants which includes private, corporate, and government grants all in one place.
Beyond mission alignment, consider the funder's funding history, preferred project scale, and geographic focus. A targeted approach increases your likelihood of securing funding from a source genuinely interested in your nonprofit's mission and the positive impact it aims to achieve. Utilize resources like Instrumentl's funder profiles to pinpoint the ideal funder efficiently.
Each funder has specific guidelines for proposal submission. Familiarize yourself with these guidelines to ensure your grant proposal complies with their requirements.
Here’s how you can understand grant guidelines:
Grant proposal writing is a collaborative effort. Assemble a team with the necessary skills, including researchers, writers, and budget experts.
To bolster the strength of your grant proposal, you must gather several essential documents including:
Start writing your grant proposal, beginning with a rough draft. Revise and refine your proposal meticulously to ensure clarity and persuasiveness. Here’s how you can do it more efficiently:
Once your grant proposal is polished and ready, it's time to submit it. Here's a more comprehensive look at the submission process:
Tips for Writing Grant Proposals in Different Fields
As a nonprofit, you know that not all industries function exactly the same. Similarly, not all fields approach grant funds the same way. There are three main sources of grant funding:
You can utilize Instrumentl’s funder search capabilities to identify grants provided by each of these different funding sources.
Within each of those main funding sources, there are also different fields of focus. Different fields may have slightly different expectations for what should be included in a grant proposal. We have put together a list of some of the more common fields open for grant funding and specific tips on writing for each of them.
Most of our innovative and cutting-edge discoveries have been found under grant-funded programs. Research grants are quite common in the science, technology, and medical fields. At times, these grants are highly competitive and can result in large multi-year contracts.
So, how do you get awarded a research grant?
There are some key strategies for getting research funded. Here are our top five:
Another common grant field is in the community and youth program industry. There are many grants available for things like after-school programs and family support. Some things to think about as you consider applying for community grants:
Our final example of field-specific grants you might see is in the health sector. Health-related grants are common. You may have even seen references to health grants throughout your life as major medical crises transpire across the globe.
The real key to ascertaining funding for health-related research, projects, or programs is your ability to identify the need. Use data and statistics to back up your claim. An example of a health-related needs statement might be:
According to {National Center}, over 60% of Our County residents do not have access to a health care provider that practices within 60 miles of their residence. This lack of immediate access results in 40% less frequency of visits for preventative care than shown in similar counties.
We covered the importance of a needs statement earlier in this article. In this field of grants, it is essential to nail that section.
Your Grant Proposal Was Rejected. What Should You Do Next?
In the world of grant proposal writing, rejection is an inevitable part of the process. Let's explore how to respond to rejection and turn it into an opportunity for growth.
Upon receiving a rejection, it's essential to delve into the reasons behind it.
To do this, you may need to reach out to the funder to ask for feedback and clarification. Was the rejection due to a misalignment with the funder's priorities, or did it stem from a weakness in the proposal?
Seeking this feedback is a valuable step in improving your future proposals and increasing your chances of securing funding. It provides insights that can help you refine your approach and address any issues that led to the rejection.
Use the rejection of your current grant proposal as a constructive opportunity for growth. By addressing the specific shortcomings identified by the funder and taking their feedback to heart, you can significantly enhance and refine your future proposals.
This iterative process of learning from rejection not only increases your chances of success but also demonstrates your commitment to continuous improvement, which can be a compelling factor for funders.
Don't hesitate to seek feedback from experienced grant writers or mentors.
Their insights can be invaluable in improving your proposal writing skills. You can engage and interact with other nonprofit professionals by attending nonprofit community meetings, conferences, meetups, awards, etc.
Sometimes, rejection can lead you to alternative funding sources that may be an even better fit for your project.
You can consider other fundraising strategies like corporate sponsorships, individual donations, or hosting fundraising events.
An open-minded approach to exploring alternatives can lead to innovative and fruitful partnerships that fuel your mission.
You've Secured a Grant. What's Next?
Congratulations on securing the grant! But the process doesn’t end here.
Let’s delve into the crucial steps and responsibilities that follow the successful acquisition of funding.
Expressing gratitude is the first step after securing a grant.
Take the time to acknowledge and thank the grantor for their invaluable support. This initial gesture sets a positive tone for your partnership and reinforces the grantor's confidence in your organization. Craft a heartfelt thank-you letter or a message that reflects your appreciation for their commitment to your cause.
To ensure transparency and compliance with the grant's terms, it's vital to establish robust reporting and accountability structures. This step involves:
Prudent financial management is critical. Carefully allocate and manage the grant funds according to the budget plan you presented in your proposal. Key considerations include:
Maintain open and ongoing communication with the grantor throughout the project's duration. Keep them informed about project progress, milestones achieved, and any challenges faced. Regular updates help build trust and transparency in your partnership.
Additionally, if any unforeseen issues arise that may affect the project's timeline or outcomes, it's essential to communicate these promptly to the grantor.
Once your project reaches its conclusion, it's time to evaluate its outcomes and impact. You should also share the results with the grantor to demonstrate the successful use of their funds.
This step serves multiple purposes:
Helpful Additional Resources for Preparing Grant Proposals
Preparing and writing grant proposals is a lengthy and time-consuming process. Spending time familiarizing yourself with as much of the grant cycle, proposal structure, and application process as possible will help you start with confidence.
There are many ways to increase your understanding of grant proposal writing. Here are some of our favorite resources for preparing grant proposals:
Sample Grant Proposals to Check Out
Now that you have a general idea of how to write a grant proposal, you can check out our previous blog for a complete list of successful grant proposals. Below are three examples of successful proposals and why we think they are worth reviewing:
Kurzweil Education Systems- This grant proposal example is one worth sharing repeatedly. It outlines a successful grant example while also explaining each section as you go. This example serves to both support your growing knowledge and understanding of proposal structure as well as give sample language for each section.
The Kurzweil document provides samples of more than just the proposal. You will also be able to read an example cover letter, cover page, and a sample letter format for foundation funding requests.
Boys and Girls Club of America- Youth and community-based grants are a very common request in the nonprofit sector. The Boys and Girls Club of America provided a great sample proposal resource to consider if you are looking for funding.
This particular resource can be used in two different ways. For those within the Boys and Girls Club nonprofit umbrella, this template serves as a document almost ready to submit for funding requests. For those outside the BGCA enterprise, you can read and glean key structure and content details from a successful proposal.
This sample proposal also points out another tip in proposal writing: You should utilize any templates or forms provided by the grantmaker or foundation.
While standardized documents are not always required when provided, using provided forms allows reviewers to more easily read your proposal. The familiar format means they can skip to making meaning of your request rather than figuring out where the pertinent information lives in an unfamiliar document.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease- This example includes multiple successful proposals in the same space. NIAD offers many examples of successful grant applications on its grant application landing page.
When organizations and agencies offer grant funding, they hope to find the most compelling and beneficial uses for those funds possible. To that end, it is in their best interest to share what those kinds of programs have looked like before.
For those looking to write grant proposals in the science and research sector, this resource is beneficial to read and explore similar successful project proposals.
Wrapping Things Up: What Is a Grant Proposal?
Grant proposals can feel daunting. After reading this article, you should be able to feel more confident that you know what a grant proposal is.
You should also be able to identify the most common sections of a grant proposal, find sample proposals, and have a few tips for writing across a variety of fields.
You should be set to start drafting your first grant proposal. If you would like more support across all aspects of your grant finding, writing, and tracking processes, visit Instrumentl and sign up for a 14-day free trial.
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