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| Write A Project Grant Proposal That Gets Results When you are trying to obtain project grant money, the most important element is the grant proposal. The saying “you only have one chance to make a good first impression” is particularly true when applying for any type of grant. Some organizations rely heavily on grant money, and you will be competing against people who write grant proposals for a living. Don't sabotage your efforts with a poorly written or incomplete grant proposal. Your proposal should begin with a synopsis of your proposed idea or project. It should be a brief summary of your plan, three paragraphs at most. Here you will concisely explain why your project should receive funding, and how it addresses the needs of the community. Confidently state the positive results you hope to achieve through the award of the grant money, both short and long term. The summary is often the only portion of a grant proposal that gets seen by the decision makers in an agency dispersing grant money. Here is where you have the opportunity make your application stand out from the others. This is no time to be wordy; you only have one page to address all the key points of your plan and sell the organization on the necessity of your project. You may have some good ideas for your summary before you begin writing your grant proposal, but you will write the most effective summary if you wait until you have compiled the rest of your proposal. By that time you will have a complete list of topics for your summary that accurately reflects the objectives of your proposal. The next portion of your grant application will introduce your organization and explain why you should be chosen to receive a grant. It should be two to three paragraphs that give a brief history of your organization, and a summary of its mission. Cite any relevant past achievements and awards, and describe any special skills or qualification of team members who will be involved with the project.Include information about the organizational structure of your group, and the size of its budget. If possible, introduce a few examples of other organizations in your part of the country that have similar objectives to yours. Demonstrate how your organization stands out among its peers. Be sure to give examples of projects in which your group has successfully cooperated with another group to bring about a worthwhile goal in the community. After introducing your organization, you should point out a specific problem, and explain your solution to it. You have a much better chance to be awarded a grant if you can demonstrate how your group has a workable plan that addresses an issue important to the local community. Your solution should match the problem, addressing each specific need point by point. Don't propose to tackle a problem of such grandiose proportions that you don't have the resources or ability to deal with it effectively. Don't assume that the people reading your grant proposal will be knowledgeable about the issue in question. Try to explain things in layman's terms, and make the issue and your objectives clear to the average reader. Try to present the problem you are addressing in human terms: what effect is the issue having on the lives of real people? How will your plan improve their situation. Now you have a skeleton of a grant proposal, and it's time to put some meat on the bones. In the previous step you introduced the problem and your proposed solution. Now is the time to disclose the specific steps you will be taking to implement your solution. Who is the target population, and how many people will be served? How will people be encouraged to participate in the project, and when will the events take place? Finally, how will you define the success of the project? Although the outcome of your efforts may be difficult to predict, you should still endeavor to do so. A grant proposal that paints a clear picture of its intended impact has a much better chance of being given further consideration. A foundation or government agency providing grant money will be concerned about the sustainability of your project. If the project is fairly long-term, the agency will want assurance that other sources of funding will eventually become available. Most grant funders want publicity from continually funding new and innovative projects, and don't want to fund even a successful project indefinitely. Finally, include a budget of the proposed project. Be as detailed as possible, listing all expenses and all sources of revenue you are anticipating. Your expenses may include personnel costs, including unemployment and workers' compensation, plus any benefit packages. They will also include direct project expenses, like travel costs and per-diem expenses for employees, office supplies, or just about any other legitimate business expense. Administrative expenses are also known as overhead, or indirect expenses. They include non-personnel related expenses that your group would incur anyway, with or without the grant. Different grant funders have different ways of compensating for administrative expenses, and some will not consider them at all. An outstanding grant proposal will not guarantee that you will receive any money, but it can swing the odds in your favor. You will likely be applying for at least several different grants, and with each proposal you write you will become more adept at it. You will also gain a better understanding of the capabilities of your organization, allowing you to focus your search for grant money on projects that most closely fit your business model. If you want to go it alone in your search for grant money, the information can be found on the internet and at the public library. However, to save a lot of time in finding and applying for grant money both public and private, there are third party grant assistance companies that offer software and access to databases of available grant programs searchable by keyword and type of grant. They also offer instructions on how to put together grant applications that maximize your chances of being awarded money. The better companies back their programs with a money-back guarantee, so there is no risk to you in trying their services. You could save countless hours of research, and find the work of applying for grant money much more enjoyable. |
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