Examples of Actual Grant Proposals for Non-profit Organizations and Researchers
Writing a successful grant proposal can be the key to securing much-needed funding for your nonprofit, research project, or initiative. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you craft an effective proposal.
Understanding the Basics
Research by Instrumentl reveals that only about 43% to 46% of grant proposals are successful. This highlights the importance of crafting a compelling proposal that aligns with a funder's priorities and demonstrates a clear, measurable impact.
The Four Pillars of Grant Writing
The five R's of grant writing — readiness, research, relationships, writing, and reporting — form the backbone of any successful proposal. Let's delve into each of these aspects.
Readiness
Ensure you are ready to undertake the project before you begin writing the proposal. Having a rough cost estimate upfront helps guide the rest of your proposal.
Research
Thoroughly research the funder's mission, priorities, and application guidelines. This will help you tailor your proposal to meet their specific needs.
Relationships
Collaborate with project leads, finance staff, and other key contributors for brainstorming sessions when developing the draft section. Building strong relationships can lead to valuable insights and a more robust proposal.
Writing
Write clearly and concisely, avoiding jargon and vague statements. Use visually engaging images and data-visualization tools such as graphs, timelines, tables, and icons to support points and engage readers.
Reporting
Detail the budget in a spreadsheet and connect it to a customizable table in the grant proposal platform. This will make it easier for funders to understand your project's financial requirements.
Crafting Your Proposal
For Nonprofits
Successful grant proposals for nonprofits often include a compelling cover letter, well-structured executive summary, clearly stated project goals, a detailed project plan, emphasis on outcomes and value, incorporating feedback from past initiatives, storytelling, and the use of tools like logic models or theories of change.
For Research Grants
For research grants, especially in fields like medicine or oncology, effective proposals center on addressing a genuinely important unmet need, setting clear, realistic, and well-defined goals, presenting novel, discernible, and meaningful impact, aligning closely with the funder's specific requirements and priorities, and providing a justified, realistic budget.
The Proposal Structure
The proposal typically takes 5 to 15 pages, depending on the funder's guidelines and the kind of idea you're pitching. It usually includes a title, personalized cover letter, executive summary, need statement, SMART objectives, strategic approach, monitoring and evaluation plan, detailed budget with justification, and a sustainability plan.
Streamlining the Process
Sign up for a grant proposal platform account or request a demo to take your grant writing to the next level. These platforms offer grant proposal templates, AI-assisted writing, collaboration features, and data visualization tools.
Tips for a Winning Proposal
- Combine storytelling with data in the grant proposal to make it stronger.
- If writing isn't your strength, use the AI writer in the grant proposal platform to help frame ideas, summarize long texts, or help refine copy.
- Important supporting documents to help funders understand your project include Letters of Inquiry (LOI) and Cover Letters, and Proposal Budgets.
- The budget should match the narrative in the grant proposal. If it doesn't, funders will struggle to follow the logic and may doubt the planning.
- You can use the same proposal for multiple grants, but it should be tailored to each funder's priorities and requirements.
Best Practices
- Avoid unsupported claims and use the online whiteboard in the grant proposal platform for team collaboration during brainstorming sessions.
- Not considering eligibility rules can result in a proposal that doesn't meet the guidelines, which can lead to rejection.
- Ask questions before and after application, if allowed, to reveal insights, clarify details not in the guidelines, or get feedback on the proposal.
- Sharing a live link of the grant proposal is a better option if there's no format restriction, as it allows for easy updates even after submission.
- Plan backwards from your deadline by breaking your grant writing process into micro-deadlines and scheduling deadlines for each step.
- Before submitting the grant proposal, have someone who is not involved in writing the grant review the proposal for clarity, flow, and any missing details.
After Submission
- Keep the relationship alive with the grant officer after submitting the proposal, if you win the grant, share progress updates. If you don't, politely ask for feedback.
- Begin the draft of the grant proposal by creating a simple outline based on the funder's required sections.
- Track analytics to see who viewed the grant proposal, when they viewed it, and how long they spent on each section.
- To create a strong winning proposal, understand the problem the grant funder wants to solve and position your proposal as the stronger, more relevant solution.
- Use visuals to show the impact of your work, rather than just telling it.
In summary, effective grant proposals successfully secure funding by combining strategic alignment with funder priorities, clarity in objectives, detailed planning, measurable impacts, realistic goals, and compelling storytelling. Real-world examples demonstrate success through clear missions and targeted initiatives backed by strong grant writing and management.
In crafting an effective grant proposal for a health-and-wellness nonprofit, it's crucial to include visually engaging visual content, such as graphs or icons, to support points and engage readers. Additionally, for a research grant in the field of science, like health or fitness-and-exercise, providing data-visualization tools can help present novel, discernible, and meaningful impact to funders.
