Funders will put the budget and budget justification sections of your proposal under a magnifying glass. So you’ve got to get them right. When you understand the Funder's concerns and the questions they’ll pose, you’re in a much stronger position to nail it. Here’s a list of questions funders are sure to ask.
The budget narrative, also called a budget justification, is a powerful tool for ensuring that reviewers of your proposal understand the financial side of the program. Presenting the numbers alone, without explanation, is risky. What’s clear to you may be fuzzy to a reader who hasn’t been involved in planning the program. When preparing a budget narrative, take a detailed approach that scrupulously avoids assumptions.
Using established project management strategies can streamline your process
Many nonprofits are born from the grave concern of someone who’s experienced a tragedy, suffered from a problem, or witnessed others’ suffering first-hand. These nonprofits radiate an intensity of purpose that inspires others to action and captures the interest of grantmakers who want to partner with authentic organizations working deeply within their communities.
There’s much more to winning grant awards than writing! To win, it’s imperative to approach the right funder with a solid program plan that’s capable of producing meaningful results. But the quality of the writing does matter.
Accurately identifying the problem or need your organization wants to tackle is the single most important factor in developing a powerful grant proposal.
Is your organization’s grants specialist constantly frazzled, working nights and weekends and juggling a schedule bulging with proposal deadlines, program development meetings, and report due dates? Do other staff members tip-toe around the specialist’s desk, forgiving occasional expletives, ignoring the candy wrappers and dirty coffee cups, and excusing missed calls and meetings. If so, that’s a big red flag.
A successful grant proposal sorts the details and moving parts of a complex plan into a precise description of how things will work. It’s somewhat like writing a brief explanation of how a Rube Goldberg machine works! Each piece of the plan must be distinctly articulated and the connections between pieces must be clear.
Grants are social investments that are intended to produce positive change. Defining intended change is easier for some types of programs than others. If you’re working to improve the health of diabetics, the proposed outcome may be a specific degree of decrease in blood sugar levels of participants. But grantseekers often get confused when developing outcomes for programs that are intended to stop something from happening in the first place.
The field of grant development is dynamic. The basic elements of a strong proposal don’t change, but the environment in which funding decisions are made is in constant flux. The trends below remain current. Although not new, they point towards grantseeking realities we’ll be contending with over the coming year.
