Tips for Grantwriting

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Are You Ready to Write a Grant Proposal?

Phase I

Does your organization have the following in place, and can you answer the related questions?

___ Board of directors, task force, steering committee or other committed group.

Do your board members understand the role and responsibilities of a nonprofit board?

 

___ Vision statement.

Who else in your community shares this vision? Do you have a plan for collaborating with those individuals or groups?

 

___ Mission statement.

Does anybody else in your community have a similar mission? How are you different? Will your organization serve a unique need?

 

___ Community support.

If you don't have significant support in your community, how do you plan to build it? Do you have a track record of donations of time, goods, services and money from your community?

If you can answer "yes" to all items in Phase I, you're probably ready to research funders in preparation for writing proposals.

Phase II

Does your organization have the following in place?

___ An active, involved board of directors that

1. meet regularly,

2. understand the vision, mission and goals of the organization, and

3. know their responsibilities as a board.

 

___ Incorporation and 501(c)(3) tax status, or a fiscal agent if you are in the process of obtaining your charitable tax status.

 

___ A plan with goals, objectives and a timeline.

 

___ A budget approved by the board.

 

___ A system for keeping track of services you provide, volunteer hours, donations and other relevant statistics.

 

___ A financial management system.

 

___ Written personnel policies if you have staff.

 

___ A plan (in progress) for continuing to increase community donations of time, money, goods and services.

If you can answer "yes" to all items in Phase II, you're probably ready to write grant proposals.

Phase III

Does your organization have the following?

 

 

___ Regularly scheduled (at least annual) board planning sessions that revisit your organization's vision, mission and goals.

 

___ A history of meeting your planned goals and objectives.

 

___ A board recruitment plan that maintains a pool of appropriate candidates for board nomination.

 

___ Orientation for new board members.

 

___ Ongoing training for all board members.

 

___ An annual budget approved by the board.

 

___ An annual audit.

 

___ A track record of attracting growing community support.

If you can answer "yes" to all items in Phase III, you're well positioned for success in attracting continuing grant funding.

Remember that foundation grants contribute only a small portion of the income of nonprofit organizations. It is essential that your organization create a resource development strategy that includes diverse sources of funding and other contributions of time, goods and services available in your community.

More Tips for Grant Proposal Writing:

Be Clear About Your Organization

• What does your organization do?
• Does your organization have the capacity to follow through and achieve results from the project?

Be Clear about what you want to do

• What makes your idea a good idea?
• Can you articulate the idea concisely in oral and written formats?
• Brainstorm with other people. Do they understand your idea? If they don't, revise...

Know Your Potential Funder

• IS there a funder interested in your project? Have you researched potential funders to find a "fit" between your goals and theirs?
• Call your selected funder and speak to the appropriate program officer. In a few sentences, describe your idea and determine if their is sufficient interest to submit a formal letter of inquiry.
• Submit a letter of inquiry. Request an application or proposal guidelines and study them until you know them.
• If you receive a favorable response from your letter, submit a formal proposal according to the potential funder's guidelines.

 

Do your homework. The most important aspect of grantseeking is thorough development and planning before you write a proposal. Be clear about the project, your organizational capacity to deliver, appropriate funders. Proper planning will greatly improve your probability of success.

 

 

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