Tips for writing successful grants can be very important to you. Never doubt your chances of being a successful grant writer, even if you've never tried before. Follow these tips to win grant dollars to help buy the new instructional resources that you need.
Steps to developing a grant proposal
-
Identify a proposal development team.
-
Review the programs/literature in the field.
-
Formulate an initial draft of the proposal goal setting forth what you hope to accomplish at the end of the project.
(For example, the goal of a project might be to integrate a reading program that meets the needs of all students within the district as demonstrated by student achievement.) -
Outline the steps necessary to achieve your goals.
-
Write the steps in the form of objectives.
-
Identify the means that will be used in the problem resolution process: methods, strategies, materials, activities.
-
Set time lines for the above problem resolution process.
-
Draft ideas about how you will document what you did and the results of your project.
-
Analyze the Request for Proposals and determine the format the funding agent requires.
-
Assign writing assignments to people with time lines specified.
-
Edit the written components into one coherent proposal.
-
Review, refine and submit proposal.
The proposal writer's ten commandments
-
Thou shalt read and re-read the proposal guidelines.
-
Thou shalt be specific rather than philosophical.
-
Thou shalt be serious, but never dull.
-
Thou shalt be positive by emphasizing opportunity rather than need.
-
Thou shalt eliminate all jargon and avoid emotional appeal.
-
Thou shalt demonstrate confidence by saying "we will" not "we hope."
-
Thou shalt write in the third person.
-
Thou shalt visualize yourself as the funding source.
-
Thou shalt create a skimmable proposal by:
-
Using a table of contents, numbered pages and headings
-
Creating bulleted lists where appropriate
-
Bold facing or underlining key words
-
Thou shalt have others review the draft proposal and grade it according to the funding source guidelines.
-
- Be sure to check out the Grants page for even more helpful info.