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Best Grant Practices

Best Practices

Grant writing is about more than just writing a straightforward funding application. It’s also about building relationships, advocacy, and long-term relationships with the grant provider through your words. Grant writing is a nuanced skill that requires attention to detail, strategic thinking, and a commitment to presenting your project in the best possible light. Grant writing is about great storytelling that demonstrates need and impact. Building a grant writing skill set is something that takes intentionality.  

The OGAC has provided a few tips to making grant writing proposals seem a little more manageable.

They are as follows:

First & foremost, read the Notice of Funding Announcement (NOFA)/Request for Proposals (RFP)/ Guidelines Three Times!!!

  1. To understand the general instructions;
  2. To focus on the technical formatting requirements; and
  3. To note the narrative content requirements.

Make sure you understand how the funder defines its terms in order to adequately meet them. Sometimes there is a difference between a funders definition of terms and the applying organizations definition of terms.

Give yourself adequate time. Grant proposals are complex. There are often multiple documents to read, guidelines to understand, and the proposal to write. Give yourself the time to do all of these tasks without feeling overwhelmed. Normal writing time for a federal grant is 40-100 hours and research can add another 20-40 hours, so give yourself ample time. As a general rule, it is worth setting up your own deadline to complete a draft proposal a week in advance of the actual deadline. This allows you to review and consider your submission before you are up against a timeline.

If provided, use the funder’s templates. These templates can help guide your submission focus, stay on topic, and better adhere to word counts. Always remember to write in chronological order (the same order as the funder asks for the information in its guidelines).

Boilerplate Sections. It’s good practice to have some standard proposal sections ready as part of your boilerplate. These sections would only change a little and would be good to go. Such sections include but are not limited to: organizational history, mission, vision, capabilities, and competencies.

Use a storytelling approach (with supporting statistics). Make your proposal so compelling that the reader can’t put down your application until they make a positive funding decision. Research shows that using word groups of (3) are effective in getting a reader to remember your point. (Ex:  engage, excite, and educate; cultivate, connect, and create; red, white, and blue)

Take advantage of online dictionaries and thesauruses to expand your command of new words and capture the grant decision maker’s attention. Use power packed, descriptive words and write in short, hard-hitting sentences. Long-winded sentences almost always lose the reader.

1st Person Writing vs. 3rd Person Writing. 1st person writing uses pronouns like I, our, and my. 3rd person writing allows you to write as if you are on the outside of an organization and grant application with a third-party perspective. 3rd person writing is more formal and straight forward. Incorporate a case study/success story of a real client your organization has served, showing a real need of a real person. Of course, change the name or other identifying elements for confidentiality reasons.

Needs Statement. The needs statement is the foundation of your grant proposal, illustrating the problem your project aims to address. Many grant writers make the mistake of presenting a weak or unclear needs statement. To enhance this section, use data and evidence to support your claims, emphasizing the urgency and magnitude of the issue.

Research. Cite research that proves best practices for your proposed solutions and incorporate their expert language. When you find best practices of previously implemented programs similar to yours, look for the evaluation results. As the writer, know what works and what doesn’t work beforehand.

Always provide clear outcomes. Prospective funders want to know what you hope to achieve with the funding they might provide. Make certain you are clearly outlining what your intended outcomes are for the funds you are requesting. Tracking your objectives, recording performance measurements, and eventually reporting on said results/data are critical features of a solid proposal. Always remember objectives must be SMART (Specific-Measurable-Attainable-Realistic-Timebound).

Collaboration and Community Support. Grantors are often interested in projects that foster collaboration and community engagement. Clearly outline how your project will involve and benefit the community, showcasing letters of support or collaboration agreements with relevant organizations. This enhances the perceived sustainability and impact of your initiative.

Sustainability Plans. Grantors want to know that their investment will have a lasting impact. Clearly outline how you will ensure your proposed program/project’s continued effectiveness beyond the grant period. This demonstrates foresight and commitment, increasing your proposal’s appeal.

Align your budget and your narrative. You need to ensure that your budgeted activities align with the story you tell in your narrative. Be specific with your funding requests both in how you frame your ask and the presented budget plan for funding those actions. Avoid the following: excessive budget items/costs, padded budgets, and miscalculations. Always double check the work!

Proofreading & Review

  1. Always use Spellcheck and/or Grammarly.
  2. Make sure your word counts, characters with spaces, or characters without spaces are within predetermined requirements.
  3. If you can, hire a proofreader or editor to read your writing and clean it up.
  4. Ask a trustworthy and capable co-worker or friend. Get a 2nd or 3rd set of eyes to read the guidelines and your proposal before submission.

FOIA Tip. Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), you can write to government funding agencies and request copies of funded grant applications and use these documents as examples/guidelines of how to write an award-winning grant application.

Commonly Missed Best Practices

As the grant writer, you need to navigate the grant writing maze successfully. The more important the proposal, the more likely something will go wrong. Murphy’s law always seems in full force during the proposal process. By following best practices and avoiding common mistakes, you can significantly enhance your chances of securing funding for your initiatives.

Below is a list of common mistakes during the proposal process and how to avoid them.

Lack of Research. One of the most prevalent mistakes in grant writing is applicants failing to thoroughly investigate potential funding sources, resulting in proposals that are misaligned with the grantor’s priorities. To avoid this, dedicate time to understand the mission, goals, and criteria of the funding organization and tailor your proposal to demonstrate a clear alignment between your project and the grantor’s objectives.

Ignoring Grant Guidelines. Grant guidelines serve as a roadmap for successful proposal submission. Deviating from the guidelines can lead to automatic disqualification. Create a checklist to ensure that every requirement is met, demonstrating your commitment to following instructions.

Failing to Confirm Eligibility and Due Dates. If an opportunity looks like a perfect fit, there is a tendency to miss some of the finer details contained in an announcement like eligibility requirements and due dates. To avoid missing critical details, summarize key deadlines and requirements as you review the funding opportunity announcement.

Copying the NOFA/RFA’s Announcement’s Language. You don’t want to copy the funder’s phrases exactly and come across as uncreative, lazy, or worse plagiaristic. It is appropriate to “mirror” the language of the RFA and incorporate keywords.

Recycling Language. Don’t paste boilerplate text verbatim into a proposal application without first making sure it is current and relevant. If you use the same language over and over again your proposals will come across as stale and outdated to the program officers. To avoid this, review your boilerplate text on a regular basis and update it as needed. It is important to tailor each proposal to the funding opportunity in question.

RFP Application Checklist. Not all grant applications have the same requirements for their grant applications, but most Grantmakers give you guidelines or an application checklist to follow. Missing information and/or attachments from this checklist would be considered a fatal flaw and you will be denied funding consideration.

Not Consistently Saving the Proposal Drafts. Proposal draft version control is essential or you can lose track of which draft is most current. To help keep things straight, store the proposal drafts in a central place and label each draft consistently so the version is clear. When you are ready to save a draft, consider adding the date in the file name to help you to identify the most recent version if several copies of the proposal were saved throughout the day.

Please see the following example: 

  • Fiscal Year – Name of the Grant – Item – DRAFT – Date or
  • FY24 NJ Nonprofit Security Grant Narrative DRAFT 052224

Forgetting to Remove Track Changes. Make a habit to make sure you have removed all track changes and comments from the final draft. To avoid the markup problem, in your final review of the proposal, check “show all” under track changes to confirm that all comments and markups have been accepted or deleted.

Formatting as the Last Step. Don’t leave formatting, according to application guidance, till the end of the proposal process. You may discover that you are over the page limit and need to seriously edit your proposal. To avoid a nasty surprise, format the document with the correct margins, font, and spacing required.

Procrastination, Rushed Submissions, and Submitting the proposal on the actual due date. Time/Project management is key in grant writing. Don’t procrastinate! Create a realistic timeline for the entire grant writing process, including research, drafting, revisions, and submission. Allocate ample time for careful review and editing. Don’t submit the proposal ON the due date. If something goes wrong and you lose your Internet connection or a document did not upload properly, you do not have any margin to fix the problem. To give yourself room for last-minute issues, plan on submitting the proposal at least two days before the deadline if submitting electronically and three days or more if submitting a hard copy. Please see OGAC’s recommended timeline.

Assuming the proposal has been successfully received. Double-check with the funder that the proposal has actually been received. If it was an electronic submission, they often provide you with a detailed hard copy of your application and a confirmation email. Save these documents. Unless you have written confirmation that your package has been received by the intended recipient, follow up with the person by email or phone to make sure she has your proposal in her possession