Advice

20 Steps for Grant Proposal Writing

By Deborah S. Koch

March 4, 2015

Read the request for proposals and any other grant maker materials thoroughly.
As you read the written materials, make a list of the grant maker’s buzzwords and make sure they are always in front of you as you write.
Be sure that you understand and can articulate the grant maker’s point of view.
Determine what the grant maker wants the first point of contact to be: a phone call, an online intake form, a letter of inquiry, or a full proposal. (Full proposals follow steps 5-20.)
Make a list of all documents and attachments that are required to be submitted as part of the proposal packet.
If available, examine the review criteria, and if a point system is used, make note of the points allotted for each criterion.
If there is a page limit, map out your proposal to determine how many pages or portions of pages to assign to each section. If a point system is used in the grant maker’s review process, be mindful that each section length should correspond to each review criterion’s point value. The higher the point value, the longer that section should be.
Consider what information is best presented in chart form. For example, objectives, activities, and outcomes are frequently presented in a chart so that the reader can see how each relates to the other. Charts also can be valuable space savers.
If your project requires partners and involves outside people or organizations, engage these outsiders in the process immediately. Call a partnership meeting as soon as possible; determine who will do what project activity; and get letters of support moving.
If you’ll be using an outside evaluator, contact that person as soon as possible, especially because that person may be willing to write the evaluation section of your proposal.
Following the grant maker’s instructions and answering all of its specific questions, write your proposal narrative.
Develop a visual representation of your timeline.
Develop a budget and budget narrative, also known as a budget justification.
Make sure that anything that is in the proposal narrative is reflected in the budget and that anything in the budget in reflected in the proposal narrative.
Fill in whatever forms the grant maker requests.
If they are permitted, prepare attachments.
If requested, write a proposal abstract/executive summary.
If allowed for, write a cover letter.
Double-check your list of required documents and attachments to make sure you have everything.
Have at least one other person review and edit your proposal, and make sure that everything that should be in it is there.

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Read the request for proposals and any other grant maker materials thoroughly.
As you read the written materials, make a list of the grant maker’s buzzwords and make sure they are always in front of you as you write.
Be sure that you understand and can articulate the grant maker’s point of view.
Determine what the grant maker wants the first point of contact to be: a phone call, an online intake form, a letter of inquiry, or a full proposal. (Full proposals follow steps 5-20.)
Make a list of all documents and attachments that are required to be submitted as part of the proposal packet.
If available, examine the review criteria, and if a point system is used, make note of the points allotted for each criterion.
If there is a page limit, map out your proposal to determine how many pages or portions of pages to assign to each section. If a point system is used in the grant maker’s review process, be mindful that each section length should correspond to each review criterion’s point value. The higher the point value, the longer that section should be.
Consider what information is best presented in chart form. For example, objectives, activities, and outcomes are frequently presented in a chart so that the reader can see how each relates to the other. Charts also can be valuable space savers.
If your project requires partners and involves outside people or organizations, engage these outsiders in the process immediately. Call a partnership meeting as soon as possible; determine who will do what project activity; and get letters of support moving.
If you’ll be using an outside evaluator, contact that person as soon as possible, especially because that person may be willing to write the evaluation section of your proposal.
Following the grant maker’s instructions and answering all of its specific questions, write your proposal narrative.
Develop a visual representation of your timeline.
Develop a budget and budget narrative, also known as a budget justification.
Make sure that anything that is in the proposal narrative is reflected in the budget and that anything in the budget in reflected in the proposal narrative.
Fill in whatever forms the grant maker requests.
If they are permitted, prepare attachments.
If requested, write a proposal abstract/executive summary.
If allowed for, write a cover letter.
Double-check your list of required documents and attachments to make sure you have everything.
Have at least one other person review and edit your proposal, and make sure that everything that should be in it is there.

Adapted from How to Say It: Grantwriting, by Deborah S. Koch, 2009, The Penguin Group. Reprinted with permission. Available from www.us.penguingroup.com and other online booksellers.

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