Grant Proposals: More than the Money

This is a guest post from Barbara Floersch, Executive Director of The Grantsmanship Center.

A grant proposal invites a funder to join your organization as a partner in positive change. The best proposals lay out cogent, powerful arguments convincing the funder that what your organization is concerned about is of great mutual interest and that together, you’ll be able to accomplish important things. Both your organization and the funding organization have missions that drive your work. When those missions align and your proposal promises good progress in the right direction, you’re in the sweet spot.

Viewing a grant as an investment in change requires that you move beyond the “asking for money” mentality and into the “seeking partnership” approach. With this altered frame of mind, the purpose of the proposal is not to convince the funder to provide money. Instead, it is to ensure that the funder understands the importance of the situation your organization is addressing and how your work aligns with the funder’s interests. The purpose of the grant proposal is to make the argument––to present the case for partnership.

No matter how greatly application guidelines and terminology vary from funder to funder, there are always three primary questions: (1) What issue is compelling your organization to submit the grant proposal? (2) What will your organization do to address that issue? (3) How do you expect the situation to improve because of your organization’s work? These three questions are the heart of your argument for support. Sure, funders will want other information including details about the budget and the amount of money you’re requesting. But until the funder understands the significance of the situation and what your organization plans to do about it, the other details don’t matter much.

So the very first step is to hammer out your argument by answering those three questions. Because once you’ve done that, the other pieces will begin to move into place. As you work, be sure to avoid assumptions. Support your case with both hard data (data you can tally and count) and soft data (perspectives of those affected by the situation and by experts).

(1) What situation is compelling your organization to submit the grant request?

• Who or what is affected? How are they affected?
• Why does the situation matter? What’s the magnitude or significance?
• What’s causing the situation? Why is it happening?

(2) What activities will your organization complete to address the situation? Why have you chosen this particular approach? What evidence do you have that the approach will be effective? How do these proposed activities relate to the causes of the situation about which you are concerned?

(3) How do you expect the situation your organization is concerned about to change for the better because of the activities you complete? What specific, positive results do you expect your work to produce?

Once funders understand the situation you’re concerned about and why it matters, they can assess how your work fits into their portfolio of projects. Being specific about the positive results you intend to achieve is critical because it gives funders a clear understanding of what their investment is expected to produce.

The activities your organization will complete are only important because they are the tool for achieving positive change. Your organization’s approach to addressing the problem must be well-considered, well-justified and capable of doing the job. When asking funders to partner with your organization, however, the activities you plan to complete are much less important than the positive changes you expect those activities to produce.

Once you’ve articulated a strong, logical argument for partnership, share it with your organization’s board and staff members so they’ll be well prepared to advocate for support. Use the argument as the basis for articles and blogs, and for presentations to community groups and colleague organizations. There are many ways you can use your logical argument to generate support. Asking funders to become partners in your organization’s work is only one of them.

Barbara Floersch is Executive Director of The Grantsmanship Center in Los Angeles, CA. The Center is a social enterprise that builds the capacity of private and public nonprofit organizations through training, publications, speaking, and consulting. With over 130,000 alumni, the Center sets the training standard for the field, and its book Grantsmanship: Program Planning & Proposal Writing has received rave reviews from both funders and grantseekers alike.

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