Preparing Effective Grant Proposals For Foundations And Corporations

Preparing Effective Grant Proposals For Foundations And Corporations By: Berwyn J. Kemp

Many large organizations prepare custom proposals for each program or project they market to foundations and corporations. While this is great if you have the time and staff to do this, but if your organization is small or mid-sized this can be very time consuming and draining.

If your organization smaller it's far better to create one good standard development proposal for your capital, program, and operating needs. Then target each one with a carefully prepared cover letter to each specific grantor you're applying to. And, even if your organization is large most of you still spend far too much time on proposal preparation and this would be a good idea for you too.

Even in those cases where a custom proposal is needed, as with government grant solicitation, where each proposals has to be targeted to each grantor. You'll still find that much of what you've already prepared for foundation and corporation proposals can be incorporated into such custom proposals making them easier to prepare.

In addition, in preparing and submitting proposals for foundations and corporations keep in mind the fact that the easiest kinds of grants to get are those for capital and program or project needs. And the hardest kinds of grants to get are for operating needs, so focus your efforts on securing funds for your capital and program needs primarily from these kinds of grantors, and use private donations to secure most of your operating needs, if applicable. Here are some steps you can take to help you prepare effective foundation and corporation proposals:

1. Get and use a good grant proposal outline, while proposal outlines are fairly basic, and its success depends on how well your proposal is prepared, here is one that I prefer:

* The Problem Statement * History Of Your Organization * Successes Of Your Organization * Ongoing Projects And Programs * Past Supporters Of Your Organization * The People Of Your Organization * Your Fundraising Objectives * The Critical Role You Play * A Line Item Budget * Appendices

In using this, or any, proposal outline remember that you can change any of these section headings to some other applicable description, to add more of an element excitement and drama to your proposal.

2. Prepare a file folder for each section of your proposal outline, then gather all the data and other information you need for each section and put it in it's respective folder. Having this data and information on file and keeping it updated will help make preparing future grant proposals a snap.

3. Draft a brief narrative summary for each section of your proposal in about 250 to 300 words. And be sure to give extra attention to the budget section of your proposal because it's the first thing grantors study, and it get studied longer than any other section of your proposal.

4. Expand upon your narrative summaries, using the data and information you've gathered and stored in your various folders to prepare the first draft of your grant proposal. Also, while other people can help you gather data and write certain sections of your proposal, the final proposal should be, of course, written by one person so that it's prepared in one prose style only.

5. Prepare your finished proposal by editing and rewriting any sections or parts of your proposal that you're not satisfied with and polish it. As you do this keep in mind that grantors prefer brevity, so if at all possible keep your proposals to between 8 to 12 pages. Because anything much longer than that very seldom gets read, and if grantors want more information they can always request that specific information.

Good development proposals do make a difference, without which your grant solicitation efforts will yield you a lot less grant dollars that you could have had. As many thousands of dollars in grant funds slip right past your fingers. Yet, with some very careful research, planning, and preparation you can prepare effective development proposals for foundations and corporations. That will get funded much more often giving your nonprofit organization more revenue to do the good work you do.

About the Author:

Berwyn J. Kemp is a fundraising consultant who helps nonprofit organizations obtain funding. For full details on his funding products, or to read more of his re-printable articles you can visit: berwynkemp55.tripod.com