Writing a Grant Proposal

1
Writing a Grant Proposal

• Prepared by
• Milton Zlotnick
• SCORE
• Chapter 476
• Staten Island, New York
• Source S C O R E , Knoxville, TN

2
Before Developing a Grant Proposal, Do Your
Homework.

• Determine what organizations might provide
  your organization with funding. Also, look for
  funding sources that have an interest in your
  organization and its mission.
• You have a better chance of getting a grant from
  a local organization than a national one or one
  in another part of the country.
• Understanding the goals of the grant program. If
  possible, visit the funding organization and
  discuss the program. In many instances, the
  funding organization will ask you to follow a
  specific proposal format in applying for a grant.

3
Rules to Follow in Preparing your Proposal

• Organize your presentation so that it is clear
  and easy to understand.
• Be concise and to the point. Avoid broad
  generalizations.
• Be specific. State exactly how much you want, and
  why.
• Keep use of professional jargon, buzzwords, and
  acronyms to a minimum.
• Dont assume that the reader knows about your
  organization. Explain everything. Give examples.
• Be impassioned, reasonable, and creative.
• Show the reviewers what return will result from
  the funding they provide.

4
The Form of Your Proposal

• If the funding organization has provided a
  Request for Proposal (RFP), read it carefully and
  organize your proposal according to its
  guidelines.
•  If the funding organization has not provided
  guidelines for your proposal (or if they have,
  but theyre not specific), make sure to include
  the following sections

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Proposal Summary (also called the Management or
Executive Summary)

• This is the most important section of your
  proposal, because the reviewer will use it to
  determine whether the rest of the proposal is
  worth reading. Though it comes first in your
  presentation, you should prepare it last, to
  ensure that all essential points are included.
  Limit the summary to two or three paragraphs. In
  those paragraphs, outline the purpose,
  background, amount requested, and time limits.
  Youll go into more detail about all of these
  later on in your application.
•  

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Description of Your Organization 

• The Mission Statement and goals of your
  organization, as outlined in your Strategic Plan.
• Brief biographies of the members of your Board of
  Directors and key staff members.
• How long has your organization been in existence?
  What has been its performance to date?
• Include success stories about individual clients
  or statistics on clients successfully served.
• List previous foundation or grant-supported
  programs.
• What other organizations are active in the same
  or similar activities? What are the cooperating
  organizations, if any?
• Does your nonprofit have its 503(c)(3)?

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Needs Assessment (or Problem Statement)

• How will the Grant money solve your needs?
• How serious is the need for this program? Show
  the connection between your organization and the
  problem being addressed.
• Establish the geographic area affected (e.g.
  Staten Island). Emphasize your organizations
  experience and knowledge of the problem. Provide
  data on prior successes.
• Is this a new activity? Has the field been
  researched to find similar programs?
• Is this request competing with other requests
  from the same organization? If so, what
  priorities would the organization establish among
  these requests?
• Why is this project more deserving of aid than
  others competing for funds in the same field?
• What immediate and long-range results are
  expected? Will these results help other
  organizations?

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Objectives

• List specific, reasonable, and achievable
  objectives that have measurable outcomes.
• Explain how these objectives satisfy the
  requirements of the grant.

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Methods or Design

• Its important to show what workers, materials
  and other resources will be used effectively to
  accomplish the objectives.
•  List the specific tasks that will be
  accomplished, by whom, and when.
• If there are other approaches you could use,
  explain why the one youve chosen is superior.
• Prove (perhaps by citing your performance on
  prior projects) that your organization is capable
  of accomplishing these tasks.
• Provide a timetable with dates when major
  milestones will be accomplished.
• How many staff are needed? Will additional staff
  be required? How will the staff be
  organized/supervised? What are the professional
  qualifications for doing the proposed work?

10
Budget

• How long will the program last?
• Is this a continuation of a program or project?
  How well has it succeeded? Is it a modification?
  If so, why was it modified?
• What is the current operating budget of the
  organization?
• What is the anticipated budget for this program?
  Give a complete breakdown, including Personnel
  costs (salaries, benefits, or contract amounts).
  Included expenses incurred to sustain volunteers
  (e.g., meals, travel, and training).
• All other expenses divided into fixed expenses
  (e.g., rent, property taxes) and expenses that
  vary according to usage (e.g., office supplies).
• What provisions have been made for independent
  audit of budget expenditures?

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Budget (Continued)

• Will the program continue beyond the funding
  period? If so, who will provide the funding? How
  firm a commitment for this future funding has
  been made? Will this ensure ongoing funding?
  (From the viewpoint of the funding organization,
  there is a big difference between one-time
  funding and continual funding.)
• Have requests for financial support of this
  program been submitted to other foundations,
  government agencies, or funding sources? Has the
  program secured funding commitments from any of
  these sources? If so, for how much and from
  which source(s)?
• Do you have requests for other programs pending
  before other funding organizations? How are they
  related to this proposal? What is the
  probability of obtaining this funding?
• Will your organization provide matching funds?
  (If you do, this gives the funding organization
  an indication of your commitment).

12
Evaluation Monitoring

• Establish how you will evaluate the project, and
  the basis for evaluation. Who will perform the
  evaluations?
• What special criteria will be used to measure the
  success or failure of this project?
• What type of progress reports are planned? How
  often will they be prepared? Who will get them?
  (Some funding organizations require progress
  reports, some dont. Submitting these reports,
  even if not required, can help to establish
  credibility for future funding requests).
• Has adequate provision been made for the
  preparation of a final report?

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Appendices

• Include information that can provide a better
  understanding of your project proposal and
  enhance your credibility. This information might
  include
•  Evidence of your successful management of other
  grants.
• Letters of support or endorsement from
  individuals or organizations. (Do not overdo. One
  or two significant letters are sufficient).

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Get an Independent Review  

• Once you have included these elements and
  answered these questions, you can be confident
  that youve prepared an application that gives
  its reviewers the information theyre looking
  for. After rereading the application yourself,
  give it to other managers to read before
  submitting it to the funding source. (SCORE
  counselors will be happy to review it for you.)
•  Finally, be prepared to rewrite. Keep at it
  until youre sure that what youve said just
  cant be said any more clearly or convincingly --
  your funding may depend on it!

15
If at First You Dont Succeed . . .

• If the funding organization denies your request,
  be sure to find out why. Knowing that will help
  you be successful when writing your next grant
  proposal.

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Fund Raising Guidance For Staten Island
Not-For-Profit Organizations

• Write to each of the following and/or other
  Foundations you may leam about and ask them to
  send you
• forms related to grants.
• The Independence Community Foundation
• Ms. Marilyn Gelber
• Executive Director
• 195 Montague Street
• Brooklyn, NY 11201
• 718-722-5938
• Fax [phone]

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Fund Raising Guidance For Staten Island
Not-For-Profit Organizations

• SISB Community Foundation
• Ms. Betsy Dubovsky
• Executive Director
• P.O. Box 41275
• Staten Island, NY 10304
• 718-556-1381
• Fax [phone]

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Fund Raising Guidance For Staten Island
Not-For-Profit Organizations

• Richmond County Savings Bank
• Mr. Cesar J. Claro
• Executive Director
• 900 South Avenue - Suite 17
• Staten Island, NY 10314
• 718-477-9763
• Fax [phone]

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Fund Raising Guidance For Staten Island
Not-For-Profit Organizations

• Staten Island Rotary
• Mr. John J. Amodio
• Chairman
• P.O. Box 140717
• Staten Island, NY 10314-0717
• 718.356-4800ext.453

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Grant Resources

• The Foundation Center
• 79 Fifth Avenue
• New York, NY 10003-3076
• 212-807-3626
• www.fdncenter.org

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Grant Resources

• Your local public library will have information
  about grants and foundations.
• While there, look at a book entitled "Free Money
  For Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs" by Laurie
  Blum, published by John Wiley
• Sons.

22
Will the government give me a grant to start a
business?

• Chances are you've seen classified ads in
  newspapers that claim you can get "Free
  Government Money for Your Business," or something
  similar. What you need to realize is that while
  there is grant money available from government
  and other sources, no one is going to give you a
  grant just because you want to start a business.
• In fact, rarely does anyone get a grant to start
  a new venture. Grant money that is available is
  generally awarded for the development of some
  service that benefits the public or is given to
  companies that have developed or have the
  facilities to develop product or service needed
  by the government.

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Where can I find out what government grants are
available?

• The Federal Register is one source of information
  about grants. Web at http//www.nara.gov/fedreg
• The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
  (CFDA). http//www.gsa.gov.regions/wk/wku
• Small Business Innovation Research Program
• In New York State The Assembly Speakers Office
  publishes a newsletter SBIR Pre Selection
  Announcement.

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Where can I find out what government grants are
available?

• http//www.grants.gov/
• Grants.gov allows organizations to electronically
  find and apply for competitive grant
  opportunities from all Federal grant-making
  agencies

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Find Foundation GrantsExample

• Go to - www.guidestar.org/search .
• Under "Nonprofit Type" I select "Private
  Non-operating Foundation"
• (ie, grant-giving foundations) and enter a local
  zipcode (48104).
•  
• GuideStar finds 46 foundations in that zipcode.
  I pick one (Burt Foundation)
• -- up comes its home page. In the left bar I
  click on "Form 990"
• up comes a page showing me their 990s on file
  (1996 thru 2003).
•  
• I click on "2003" up comes their 990 in pdf
  format. I look for
• the grants they made during that year -- 17
  organizations are listed
• with grants totaling 345K -- mainly for land
  preservation animal
• welfare.