Establish Your Objectives

Successful grantseekers realize that having a clear vision of measurable objectives is essential to achieving conceptual goals. It is important to know how your objectives and goals fit in with the philosophy and mission of your particular agency.

Establish tangible, concrete objectives before starting any grant application process. Make sure your objectives are realistic and can be achieved within a specified timeframe. Identify as many details as you can about your overall goals. Prepare a five-year plan to document your strategy for reaching those goals. This will help you articulate your specific needs. Grantseekers commonly make the mistake of planning for only the immediate future (or not planning at all).

Research Potential Funders

Use a foundation directory to start researching potential funders. These directories may be found at most public libraries or obtained from organizations such as the Foundation Center. Carefully evaluate listings to find potential funders whose grantmaking guidelines match your needs. Consider each funder's geographic location, typical grant size, and grant type. Submitting an inappropriate or irrelevant application is a waste time for both you and the funder.

Verify Available Funding

To ensure that your application will not be pointlessly submitted, verify that funding is still available. Ensure that the funding disbursement schedule and the application deadline match your project's time constraints.

Review Successful Applications

Only review successful applications from other grantseekers whose projects are similar to yours. Examining other applications will generate ideas for your submissions and provide an understanding of the competition. Visit the library to study books that list examples or visit a nearby foundation and ask for help.

Consider Cooperation

Many funders support applications that involve more than one organization. If you submit a cooperative proposal, ensure that there is both a formal and informal relationship between the respective grantseekers. The formal relationship should be appropriately documented.

Know the Funder

Contact the funder before and during the proposal-writing process to find out about general trends or new areas of interest. This early communication with the funder may dramatically increase your chances of success. A simple query letter will initiate a positive response from an interested funder.

Schedule Your Submissions

Many foundations only fund grants at certain times of the calendar or fiscal year. Become familiar with the funding schedules for the foundations in which you are interested, and coordinate your submissions with their timetables. Make sure you complete your application in time to meet the funder's deadlines. Nothing is worse than preparing a submission and missing the deadline by a week. Unless you have time to properly prepare, do not compete for the grant at all.

Read the Instructions

When dealing with any funder, remember to read the instructions carefully before applying. Simple as it may sound, this advice is very important. Because grantmakers receive so many applications, they are often quick to discard those that do not comply with the instructions. Although the remaining applications may not be the best of those submitted, they have made it over that all-important first hurdle. Follow instructions!

Organize Your Own Records

Maintain a file with standard information like your organization's staff resumes and community statistical data. Keep this information current and complete so that, when the time to apply arrives, you can concentrate on the specific grant information needed. It is common for a funder to call and request information; this information should be readily available and current.

Write the Proposal

Before composing an entire proposal, try to get your potential funder to review a 3- to 5-page summary to make sure you are on the right track. Check to see if the funder has a preferred format, style, or length for submissions. Time spent researching out these details is time well spent.

When writing a proposal, be honest and ask only for what you need. Clearly identify your objectives and state your specific needs. Describe how the grantmaker might help you solve your problems. Be direct and succinct, but remain persuasive.

Practice professional writing skills: begin each section with a strong, clear sentence and support the introductory sentence with well-organized, interesting information. Avoid using jargon that relates to your project, and never use the same application twice. Poor grammar and punctuation immediately give a bad impression. Be very careful when using form letters; make sure you address the correct foundation throughout.

Document Your Case

When discussing the problem you intend to solve, go beyond merely describing its existence. Prove it exists with statistics, case studies, testimony, and other measurable data. Use good judgment about the information you present, and give the reader hope so that the proposal does not sound like a lost cause. Remember your objectives.

Define Expected Results

The key to a strong proposal is proving the likelihood that it will achieve its goals. Result areas should always be clearly identified and measurement indicators should be outlined. It may not be easy to do, but the value of having clear performance standards cannot be underestimated. If there are potential problems, it is better to address them up front. Be honest and you will be respected.

Present Your Budget

Your budget may be the first thing in your proposal that a funder will review. It must be realistic and lend credibility to your entire proposal. Present the budget separately from the rest of the application. Use tables to convey the information concisely, yet completely. A short narrative may be helpful to explain unusual line items in the budget. Make sure the figures are correct and the budget accurately reflects your needs.

Keep a record of how you arrived at your costs. Continue to maintain these records as you develop your proposal; they can provide useful information in your negotiations with the funder. The records are also a valuable tool for monitoring the project once it is underway and for reporting on the project after the grant is complete.

Introduce Your Staff

Along with your proposal, include a brief (two pages or less) resume for your organization. This information should be presented at the end of your document. Tell the reader how your organization was founded, state its mission, and describe its structure. Discuss the roles and credibility of important volunteers, employees, or board members. State why your staff is qualified to accomplish the mission and spend the funder's money responsibly. If appropriate, a full list of board members may be appended to your application. Summarize your organization's expertise, and emphasize how it pertains to your proposal.

Maintain a Simple Approach

Remember that often the key to a strong proposal is simplicity. Do not waste words. Funders are looking for a proposal that will succeed, so keep things clear, factual, supportable, and professional. Be succinct. Volumes of documentation are imposing, not impressive.

Include a Cover Letter

Grantseekers often underestimate the importance of the original contact letter. In many cases, this letter may be your first and only chance to make a good impression. Reevaluate your logo and letterhead. Most funders prefer organizations that appear professional, not cute. Limit the length of your cover letter to one page. Make your presentation as strong as possible and keep it to the point. Check (and double-check) for typographical errors, and ensure that the name of the foundation and your contact are correctly spelled. Above all, submit a clear and readable letter.

More Help with Fundraising:

Non Profit Guide

Another helpful site is Non Profit Guides- Grant Writing Tools for Non Profit Organizations. Non-profit guides are free web-based grant-writing tools for non-profit organizations, charitable, educational, public organizations, and other community-minded groups. This site also highlights some great grantwriting guidelines and even has sample proposals for your review. It's easy to read and it's free. Definitely worth adding to your browser favorites.
http://www.npguides.org/

The Internet Non Profit Center

The Internet Non Profit Center hosts the invaluable Non Profit FAQs as a public service. This site contains scores of information and advice culled from articles published online, discussion boards, etc. Though it may seem a little overwhelming upon first glance, it's worth the time to browse through. The FAQs Guide illustrates simple ways to get started sorting through information. Some of the Must-Read sections include:

Foundations: Articles in this section give tips on finding and selecting foundations that may be interested in supporting your organizations mission. One article describes the characteristics of a good proposal.

Grants: This section is good for those new to grant writing as well as to veteran grant writers who are looking for a fresh view. Articles focus on foundation grants, federal grants and grant writing resources.

Donations: This section thoroughly covers many aspects of donations, from asking for monetary and in-kind gifts to finding the appropriate software to track the donations. Many articles focus on online fundraising. Other topics include charitable trusts, individual donors and raffles.

Direct mail: This is a great section for those with questions about direct mail strategies and general questions on bulk mail.

Fundraising: Obviously one of the longest sections, "Fundraising" covers some of the topics described above, as well as ethical issues, such as paying fundraisers a percentage of funds raised. Other articles cover telemarketing and online fundraising resources.

http://www.nonprofits.org/npofaq/

The Nonprofit Resource Center

For years the Nonprofit Resource Center has been the Internet's premier information source for nonprofit organizations. With the most comprehensive list of links to websites of interest to nonprofits, you can find virtually everything you need to know about how to form, manage and maintain your nonprofit organization. The Fundraising section is full of useful information about grant writing, consultants and other donor resources.
http://www.not-for-profit.org/

If you have tools or tips to contribute, email me directly at rhea@listenup.org