A knowledgeable, creative grant writer is an asset to your non-profit organization. Indeed, a grant writer shapes the information you provide into a compelling narrative about the value of the project to be funded, the ability of your organization to address the project, the impact of the project on the community for which it is designed, and the measures of success you will use to determine immediate and long-term impact. The grant writer makes a story out of the material you provide. What does a writer need from you to create a strong grant proposal? Information! You should have ready for your writer context for the proposal, background information on your organization, and clearly stated objectives. Thus, you need to achieve your goal with a clear outline of what success looks like and a statement about why success matters.
Framing the Project
Your writer will be better able to provide context for the proposal with information about the needs-assessment or analyses. Firstly, what need does this project or initiative address? How do you know this need exists? How does this particular project address the need or interest? Lastly, with which community or communities are you working?
Providing Background Information
Your grant writer can substantiate the proposal by briefly describing instances in which your organization has successfully completed similar projects. Indeed, accomplish this by outlining the qualifications of your key personnel and community partners. How is your organization prepared to achieve this?
Outlining the Ultimate Goal, the Objectives and the Actions You Will Take
What do you mean to accomplish? A clear statement of the goal is critical to a successful proposal. You will have secondary objectives, of course, but your writer will need to know the goal that organizes and connects the secondary objectives. What exactly do you propose to do? In fact, specific actions, a projected timeline, and benchmarks along the way are all valuable elements of a project plan.
Highlighting What Success Looks Like
Firstly, how will you know you’ve succeeded? Share your vision of the end result of the project with your writer. What will indicate success, short-term and long-term? What will the community impact be? Lastly, what are your measures of assessment?
In these difficult times, you can find many useful resources about current best practices. For instance, Savannah News offers excellent advice about fund-raising in a time of crisis (April 15, 2020). Nonprofit Quarterly carefully and informatively outlines the ways in which funders and non-profit organizations are envisioning responsive support for non-profit initiatives during the global health crisis (March 20, 2020).
Conclusion
For more information about the many administrative services we provide for your non-profit organization, please visit our website.