Nonprofits rely on grant writing for their funding, and in order to secure that funding, they have someone write for them. If you’re doing grant writing for a nonprofit, there are a going to be several things to know before getting started. Whether you’re a first-time writer or a seasoned grant writing professional, these three questions can help get your writing started and keep it on track so your nonprofit can secure the funding it needs.
1. What Makes Your Nonprofit Stand Out?
Multiple organizations respond to RFPs, and it helps to know that every non-profit is going to have a mission statement that includes things like helping people and communities. If you have multiple organizations writing for the same funding, you should ask yourself how you can make your organization stand out from the crowd. Re-writing or paraphrasing your mission statement might not help, but if you can provide illustrative examples of a mission statement in action, that will help catch a reader’s attention.
2. To Whom is This Being Written?
One of the keys to grant writing is knowing your audience. Carefully reading through the RFP can help give you clues as to the type of audience that will read your proposal, but beyond that, it helps to do some thorough research on the organization that sent out the RFP in the first place. The organization will probably have certain expectations when it comes to proposals, and knowing what those are can help an application stand out. Additionally, the organization might publish a list of previous grant winners, so you may be able to see what kind of work has secured the grant in the past, meaning you can tailor your message to be more particular to your audience.
3. Why This Grant?
The obvious answer is that your non-profit needs funding, but the more compelling question you should ask puts more emphasis on the word “this.” The proposal you are writing is going for a particular grant at a particular time, and if you can express why your non-profit should get that particular grant funding, then you’ll be setting yourself up for success. Alternatively, if you don’t know why you’re writing for that grant or you’re just taking a shotgun approach and applying for everything, then you might have a bit more of an uphill battle when it comes to getting funding.
Learn More About Grant Writing
Grant writing can be a daunting task for non-profits, but here at Mainstream Nonprofit Solutions, we don’t think it has to be. If you want to learn more about our grant writing services or to get consultation on your nonprofit’s grant writing, feel free to contact us. We’ll help your nonprofit get the funding it needs to continue making an impact.