The art and craft of writing successful proposals

1. The Art and Craft of Writing
Successful Proposals
Dr. Amjad Idries

2. What we’ll be discussing
• Writing your idea down
• Content
• Budget

3. A grant proposal is a selling document written
to:
• Influence decision-makers
• Convince them to commit dollars in support of a specific activity
• A winning proposal addresses an important question with an
innovative idea, well expressed, with a clear indication of
methods for pursuing the idea, evaluating the findings, and
making them known to all who need to know

4. • Research skills
• Sales capabilities
• Written and oral communication skills
• Ingenuity and flexibility
• Administrative capabilities (from leadership to accounting)
• Human relations skills
• Persistence, dedication, patience, and the capacity for hard work
• Political acumen
• Integrity
Successful Writers

5.  Start with a good idea!
 Poor ideas will not be successful regardless of how well
they are “packaged”
 Good ideas are often not approved because they are not
packaged well
 For every good idea that is funded, there are others that
aren’t – not packaged well
 Then improve the packaging!

6. •You have to play by the Rules
• Get the (most recent) guidelines
• Read the guidelines
• Follow the guidelines
Writing a Grant Proposal is like Playing a
Game

7. Things You Must Do
Understand criteria used to evaluate proposals
 Templates normally contains the criteria that will be used
by reviewers to evaluate your proposal
 Understand these criteria BEFORE you begin preparing
your proposal
 Provides a greater understanding as to where to put the
greatest efforts during proposal preparation

8. Things You Must Do
Understand criteria used to evaluate proposals
 Typically review criteria include:
 Scientific merit
 Relevance to program priorities
 Qualifications of project personnel
 Planning and administration of project

9. Things You Must Do
Write the proposal logically and clearly
 Most important section of the entire proposal is the
activity summary or abstract
 Summary captures the essence of your proposal – must be
clear, concise, well articulated and logical
 Typically the only section that every reviewer reads

10. Things You Must Do
Write the proposal logically and clearly
 Organize proposal according to outline in the plan.
 Following the prescribed format makes reviewers happy
and more generous.
 Making reviewers work hard hurts you.

11. Things You Must Do
Write the proposal logically and clearly
 Background establishes the need for the activity (activity is
important and interesting)
 The need can be readily identified with the priorities of
the program ….. make sure you say it in the proposal!

12. Things You Must Do
Write the proposal logically and clearly
 Overarching goal
 Specific aims or objectives
 Methodologies with associated timelines
 Expected outcomes and impacts

13. Things You Must Do
Write the proposal logically and clearly
 Reviewers must be convinced that:
 Goals reflect major priorities of the program
 If objectives are accomplished, you will attain goals
 If methodology is followed, objectives will be attained
 Expected results are directly related to overall goals and
priorities of the program

14. Things You Must Do
Write the proposal logically and clearly
 Reviewers must be convinced that:
 Goals reflect major priorities of the program
 If objectives are accomplished, you will attain goals
 If methodology is followed, objectives will be attained
 Expected results are directly related to overall goals and
priorities of the program

15. Things You Must Do
Prepare budget with a strong justification
 Use timeline to compute amount of time personnel will
spend carrying out each portion of the project
 Unreasonable budgets hurt proposals
 Keep budgets within guidelines - they are judged on the
degree of reasonableness

16. Obtain critical input from the team
 One who has significant expertise in the topic area
 Another who has only passing familiarity (or less) with the
subject matter
 A third who is an excellent writer
Things You Must Do

17. Most Common Criticisms
 Poorly written
 Not well justified
 Lacks convincing preliminary data
 Poor logical frame
 Poorly designed objectives

18. Create or use a unified template

19. • Disturb/Irritate
• Spelling errors
• Overusing technical terms
• Using acronyms
• Confuse
• Writing overly complex sentences
• Failing to attend to paragraph coherence issues
• Using passive voice
• Including non-parallel lists
• Diminish Credibility
• Failing to address criteria
• Abstract, problem statement, budget disconnect
• Failing to address assessment and administration
• Including extraneous information
Writing Issues

20. Writing the Proposal
• Follow the guidelines exactly
• Guidelines can usually be found on the web, or from the funder. Use them to
craft your outline and refer to key words from the guidelines in your narrative.
• Walk the fine line between being compelling and overselling
• Avoid jargon
• Remember—generalists and not experts may be reading your proposal. Explain
jargon and acronyms.
• Do not insert extraneous verbiage
• Don’t be wordy! Remember the reviewers!!!

21. Components of a proposal
• Cover Page, Title Page and/or Abstract
• Section I: The Needs Statement
• Section II: Project Description
• Section III: Budget Request
• Letters of Support and Agreement/Commitment
• Appendix Materials
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22. Components of a typical proposal
Common Heading Answers the Question
Cover Sheet Who are we?
Abstract What’s the big picture?
Background What is the context?
Need Statement Why should we do this now? Or Rationale.
Goals/Aims What are we trying to accomplish?
Measurable Objectives What will be different?
Procedures/ tasks What exactly are we going to do and when?
Facilities Do we have the necessary tools/resources/capacity?
Personnel Who will do the work? Are they qualified?
Deliverables What will be accomplished and measured?
Budget How much will it cost?
References Whose work are you building on?
Appendices What else do the funders need to make a decision?

23. The Abstract should answer the basic questions:
• What: Topic of project, goals, objectives. What do you intend
to do?
• Why: Problem/Issue to be addressed. Why is the work
important?
• How: Methods, procedures. How are you going to do the work?

24. The Abstract should answer the basic questions:
• Who: Target population, group served or studied
• When: Project dates, duration
• So what: Significance, outcomes expected

25. Beginning the writing process
• A clear writing style greatly aids in getting your point across
• Unclear writing makes the reviewer have to work harder, and it
will usually cost you in the end
• Start with an outline, containing important points you want to
make for each section of the proposal
• Then, develop a single paragraph for each point you want to
make.

26. Background
• This part describes the background relevant to the activity at
hand.
• You also use this section to convince the reviewer that you are
aware of the important background literature for the subject
area.
• You usually want to discuss what benefits will be produced by
the proposed work.

27. Purpose of background statement
• The introduction is a credibility statement that establishes the
significance of your idea.
• Important to put the activity in context.
• Novice proposal writers focus on their own need for funds instead of
using the introductory section to link their project with the sponsor's
priorities.

28. Need Statement
• Your statement of the need represents the reason behind your proposal.
• Experienced grant seekers know it is the single most important part of the
proposal that influences funding success.
• The problem statement specifies the conditions you wish to change. It
should be supported by evidence drawn from your experience, from
statistics provided by authoritative sources, and from appropriate
literature reviews.
• Do not assume that everyone sees the problem as clearly as you do.
• Even if the problem is obvious, your reviewers want to know how clearly
you can state it.

29. How to Write an Effective
Needs Statement
• Use supportive evidence
• State the contributing factors
• Identify gaps
 Discuss “promising” programs or “best practices”
 Put a face to the problems or needs by using quotes and
anecdotes
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30. Key Questions to Answer. As you write your statement of problem or need,
answer these questions. Does your problem statement
1. Demonstrate a precise understanding of the problem or need that you are
attempting to solve?
2. Clearly convey the focus of your project early in the narrative?
3. Indicate the relationship of your project to a larger set of problems or issues
and justify why your particular focus has been chosen?
4. Establish the importance and significance of the problem?
5. Justify why your problem should be of special interest to the sponsor?
6. Demonstrate that your problem is feasible to solve?
7. Make the reviewer want to read further?
8. Indicate how the problem relates to your organizational goals?
9. State the problem and outputs in terms of human needs and societal
benefits?

31. Objectives
• S – Specific
• M – Measurable outcomes
• A – Achievable, attainable
• R – Realistic
• T – Time-bound, achievable
in a specified time period

32. What to Do if You Have Questions?
Contact the
Program Staff!!!