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So you’ve just downloaded a grant proposal template or a grant proposal budget template in the hopes of securing funding for your next project. But how can you make sure that your proposal is successful?
To help you get started, here’s a quick look at what a grant proposal is, why a template can help you, and best practices for using your template to get your project funded.
Here’s a sample Grant Proposal template that can be easily customized and adapted to meet your requirements. It’s free to download and use.
What is a grant proposal?
A grant proposal is a document typically created by a non-profit organization to request funding from another organization in the form of a grant.
The funding requested could be to support a specific charitable project or service-line, or it could be a general funding request to support with overhead and ongoing costs.
The most common grant-making organizations are private charitable foundations or trusts, government entities, and for-profit companies. In many cases, proposals are sent in response to an open application process. However, unsolicited proposals are also common.
Why Do You Need a Grant Proposal Template?
Reason #1: They help you plan ahead.
The entire grant application experience can be a daunting and lengthy process. Grantmaking institutions typically have a lot of rules and requirements for their applicants, and it’s easy to get stuck in the middle of an application if you don’t have all the right information on hand.
However, with the help of a grant proposal template, you can make sure that all of your information is prepared and ready to go ahead of time.
Reason #2: They help you stay focused and on track.
It’s so easy to get caught up in writing about your charitable organization that you forget to provide the necessary information that grantmakers actually want from you.
A grant proposal template for non profit organizations can provide both a system and a structure for staying on track and organized. Even though it’s tempting to share page after page about your organization, a proposal template can help to keep your message refined.
Reason #3: You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Thousands of organizations worldwide submit grant proposals on a daily basis, and there is no need to ‘reinvent the wheel’ when creating your proposal. While there may be a need to tailor your grant proposal template to better fit your situation, there is still a basic format that you should stick to in order to increase your chances of success.
Writing Your Grant Proposal Template: 3 Best Practices
Gather all of the information you need ahead of time.
Before you can even begin to address how to write a grant proposal template, you should first make sure that you have all of the required information ahead of time. This will help the writing process go as smoothly and quickly as possible.
Read about the funders you are applying to beforehand.
Writing a grant proposal template is so much easier when you are familiar with the grantmaking body that you are applying to.
What are their goals? What types of projects do they like to fund? How do they measure success? Once you have an idea of who the organization is and what they are passionate about, you can adapt and tailor your proposal in a way that speaks directly to them.
Keep the focus of your proposal on the beneficiaries.
Grantmakers don’t necessarily want to fund you, they want to fund your beneficiaries. Throughout your proposal, always make sure to highlight the impact of your work, the people you help, and the positive change that you are making. Grantmakers will be much more likely to fund your project when they know that it will make a real difference in the world.
