[CT]Components of a Grant Proposal
[IP]The grant proposal is your response to a request for proposals. The RFP contains your instructions and, most often, an outline of content. In this chapter, you’ll learn what the outline usually looks like and get some tips for "reading between the lines."
[H1]What to Expect
[NF]RFPs can range from a single sheet of guidelines to hundreds of pages of instructions and attachments. In nearly every case, the RFP requires a needs section, a project description (with goals and objectives), an evaluation section and a budget.
[H1]Read the Directions
[NF]The entire RFP package is instructional and you are expected to read every word in it. Accomplished grantwriters turn first to the outline to determine how much work will go into the proposal. Then they also start reading the remainder of the packet to ensure that they are not missing important information.
[SIDEBAR]
[E-ssential]
[SB] Experienced grantwriters turn to the instructions to identify the extent of the work required. Based on the outline, they can determine (a) whether they can schedule adequate time to work on the proposal and (b) the cost estimate for their services.
[ESB]
RFPs from the Federal Register are several pages in length. Each page contains up to four columns of very small type. It should take approximately one hour to review the contents, highlight those that are promising, and make notes on important information that will help guide your writing process. It’s also helpful if you use the directions as a framework for discussing the program with your clients and taking notes while they talk. The notes will help you write the narrative.
The outline for the proposal will be apparent, but additional directions may be scattered throughout the RFP. You’ll find other important and relevant information such as:
[BL]Paper size and composition (the Environmental Protection Agency, for instance, requires use of recycled paper.)
[BL]Spacing (if not specified as double spaced, single space your documents and double space between paragraphs or indent the beginning of each paragraph.)
[BL]Minimum size of type face
[BL]Deadline for submission (and whether by postmark or arrival date)
[BL]Maximum number of pages
[BL]Address and phone numbers for contact people and for submissions
[BL]Formats
[BL]Qualifications for grantees
[BL]Purpose and goals of the grant program. (These are critical as you want your program to further the goals of the grantor.)
[BL]Necessary forms and attachments
[BL]Instructions for completing forms.
[BL]Additional sections required (e.g., compliance statements, tables of contents, abstracts, etc.)
[BL]Instructions for the order in which you must compile the finished grant proposal packet (sometimes also provided as a checklist).
[SIDEBAR]
[E-Alert]
[SB]You may find instructions in the back of an RFP for submitting to the State Single Point of Contact, as well as to the granting agency. Make it a rule to check. There may be no other mention of the State Single Point of Contact anywhere else in the RFP.
[ESB]
[H1]Follow The Directions
[NF]There are three rules to grantwriting:
[NL]1. Follow the directions
[NL]2. Follow the directions
[NL]3. Follow the directions
Redundant? Yes! But even though it’s been stated several times throughout this book, it bears repeating. The simple truth is that if you forget or ignore directions, or miss something altogether when you’ve gone through the instructions, your proposal will not be reviewed. Then your work has no value whatsoever.
[H2]There’s No Review Criteria?
The directions may or may not include review criteria. In that case you can be assured that whatever the questions or headings they use in the outline are exactly what the granting agency wants prospective grantees to answer.
[SIDEBAR]
[E-Question]
[SB]What is the most important thing to remember about responding to RFPs?
[ESB]
[H2]When RFPs Have Review Criteria
Some RFPs replace an outline for your narrative with review criteria or a rubric. Read the questions or qualifications contained in the criteria carefully. Try to determine the gist of each question the grantors are posing. It will clue you in on how to respond. Then respond to each question as completely as you can.
[H2]Sample of Need Section Instructions
Following are instructions, in the form of review criteria, for the need section of an educational grant:
1. NEED (Ten points)
"The proposal provides a brief explanation of why the project is needed. It summarizes
the demographics of the district and the selected buildings that will be served by this funding; possible causes for an increase in the number of students requiring special education services or a decrease in state assessment reading scores; and the need for new resources and programs for students who are not achieving in reading or who are at risk of reading failure."
[H2]Include Relevant Data
In following the instructions, you will provide relevant data, first about the district and then by the building(s) in which you will implement the program. Relevant data would include the number of children and the percentage by building of children failing state assessment and other tests of reading. Other relevant data would point out possible causes for the need.
[SIDEBAR]
[E-Question]
[SB]To emphasize possible causes for need, ask yourself: Are the data worse in buildings where most of the children come from lower-income homes? Are they in buildings where student mobility is a factor in achievement. And don’t forget to cite the mobility rates.
[ESB]
[H2]Include Programs that Failed
In addressing the last part of the criteria, you’ll want to talk about what programs the buildings have tried in the past and why they haven’t worked or helped children achieve as much as the principals had hoped. When you complete this section, you’ll be set up to begin writing in the project description, addressing just why this project will succeed where others have failed (i.e., because it addresses previously unknown or emerging needs cited in the needs section.)
