Write a Proposal

Gather your team, review the proposal format, and assign responsibilities.

Gather your data and statistics first. Contact your institutional research team; use Census data; review city and county websites for local community data.

Use the format requred by the RFP, note the details of the submission requirements (font size, margins, spacing, page limits, deadline).

Use the words they do. Particularly with Federal program grants, there are specific programs they will fund, and they tell you what you have to do.

Follow the submission requirements to the letter, i.e. deadline (posting or arrival?), number of copies, electronic submission requirements. Federal Agencies will reject your proposal, without even reading it, if you exceed the page limits, or do not follow the submission requirements.

Make the proposal easy to read and understandable. Don't make it hard for th ereader! Use charts, tables, bullet points to break up the narrative and clearly illustrate your points.

Federal agency discretionary (competitive) grans usualy assign points to each section and grants are often awarded solely on the number of ponts yo achieve, as judged by the (often volunteer) readers. Pay attention to the points awarded for  each section and format your narrative to reflect the importance of each section.

4 Factors of a Successful Proposal