Grant Proposal Writing:
Getting Started
by Sue Chehrenegar

Suppose your organization or business wants some money, and you and your associates have decided to seek grant money. Then suppose that you have been assigned the actual grant proposal writing. How should you proceed?

The grant writer must use eye-catching and convincing phrases, while at the same time presenting knowledge of a perfusion of information. The grant writer must present evidence that the requested money will be used by those with detailed knowledge of their particular field. Details, however, should be at a bare minimum, and the grant proposal writing must convey assurances to the funding agency that the requested money will be used wisely.

The central role of the grant proposal writer is that of “gleaner.” The writer must glean as much information as possible from the network of individuals making the grant proposal. The writer must use creativity, thoroughness and organization to mold that information into a winning grant proposal. Certain actions should take place even before the grant proposal writing has begun.

The writing of the grant proposal should not begin until the writer has laid some groundwork. Someone whose livelihood demands good grant proposal writing has said, “The odds of being awarded a grant are highest when the grant seeker first reviews the proposal in detail with the funder.” In other words, the grant writer must discuss with the funding agency the goals, objectives and activities of the program that is in need of funding.

The writer needs to ascertain how closely the proposed program mirrors the aspirations of the intended funder. The writer must weed out from the proposal any ideas that seem anathema to the goals that the funder hopes to achieve. If the writer succeeds at molding the ideas of the fund seekers to the aspirations of the fund donor, then the grant proposal writing becomes simply an amplification of the grant seeker’s plans.

One word of warning: not all gleaning is beneficial. When the writer talks separately to the organization’s program director and financial director, then the information that the writer has gleaned from such meetings may be incomplete or contradictory. It is better for the writer to arrange a meeting at which all those with input for the grant proposal writing can consult together. Each could furnish details about what their department wanted include in the grant proposal.

The grant proposal writer might want to initiate the interactions at such a meeting by asking for a response to three questions:

1) What programs or activities does your organization want to start?

2) What existing programs or activities would you hope to discontinue?

3) What programs of activities do you expect to remain within the existing services of your organization?

Answers to these questions will prepare the writer for the task ahead –the grant proposal writing, when the writer puts on paper the verbal expressions of a specific aim.