Best Practices & Results

Anatomy of a Successful Proposal
by Laurie Searle and Naja Williamson
laurie@gafcp.org
naja@gafcp.org

Remember the days when a 40-page report would earn you an "A+" in school? Your strategy back then might have been "bigger is better." Try using that same strategy today when submitting grants for your nonprofit, and your efforts may earn you an "F" for frustration on the part of the reviewers.

"Proposals in the 40-page range are frowned upon," said Maria Balais of ING Foundation's Community Relations Department.

If you really want to impress the review team, Balais offers this advice:

• Don't include PowerPoint presentations, slick brochures, CDs, videos, or other nonessentials. Reviewers process so many grants, they don't have room to store those items.
  
  
• Unless the foundation specifically has other requirements, keep your proposals down to four-to-five pages, with 1.5 inch margins, and fonts no smaller than 12 points. In those four-to-five pages, the most important questions you should answer are:
  • Who we are
  • Who we serve
  • What's our "ask" (how do we intend to use the money)

Just because your grant is brief doesn't mean you don't have to do your homework. Jane Hardesty from the Harland Charitable Foundation says it's important to research the funder's "area of interest" to make sure there's a good match.

The Harland Charitable Foundation, for example, gives consideration to grant proposals that fall within the following classifications: children and youth, community services, cultural, education, health services and religions. Further research shows that they mostly reward grants in the $10,000 to $20,000 range to organizations located in metro Atlanta, primarily Fulton and DeKalb counties.

After you've done your homework and submitted your grant, the funder may ask for a site visit in order to see the operations of the applicant organization first-hand.

Lisa Cremin from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund has attended many site visits and has these tips to share.

• Focus your meeting around what the funder is interested in-not on what you want the funder to know.
• Have your best people there. For example, if you're asking for debt reduction, it makes sense to have someone from your board or senior staff with the finance background on your organization.
• If you really want to impress the funder, ask one of your volunteers to attend. Nothing adds creditability like someone with the passion to volunteer for your organization.
• Pull together a one-page executive summary with lots of bullet points. The funders will appreciate this refresher, as they may have recently looked at dozens of grant request.

Balais, Hardesty, and Cremin recently shared these tips and advice for writing successful grants during the free Brown Bag Lunch: Anatomy of a Successful Proposal, offered by the Foundation Center in Atlanta.

Before you begin the process:

• Know yourself. Develop a perfect elevator speech that tells about your purpose (mission and long-term goals), passion (testimonials), and services.
• Know the funder. Research the organization. Know its interest areas and what they mean.
• Call the funder to see if there is a good, long-term fit with the funder's mission and goals.
• Build relationships with funders.
• Listen to your funders. Talk about what is important to them; not what you want them to hear.
• Ask about the review process.
• Be prepared for site visits, if requested by the funder.
• Share your successes with the funder. You represent their investment portfolio and can make them look good.

Writing the grant proposal:

• Keep it simple and short.
• Be clear and concise.
• Develop the "Ask" to the fullest. Be clear on costs (how much money you require), the process (how you will use it), and outcomes (what you expect).
• Follow guidelines. Do not bend the rules or guidelines.
• Meet deadlines.
• Hire a good writer to write your proposal.
• Be sure organization leaders review the proposal for accuracy and completeness.
• Understand balance sheets and financial audits.

For more information on the grant writing, fund development and fund strategies, visit the Atlanta Foundation Center's Web page at http://fdncenter.org/atlanta.

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