Grant Proposal Template

Dear Mr./Mrs. [Client.FirstName][Client.LastName],

The [Sender.Company] kindly requests ($ figure) for a (project, e.g. a community-built dog park) in (exact neighborhood). We look forward to partnering with you in what we believe will be an impactful project for out entire community and an important step in your mission (founder's mission).

The main objective of out proposed project is to (objective, e.g. help the students from the community improve reading, writing, and language comprehension skills) over the course of (period). We plan to achieve this by (methods). We would like to see measurable progress in (period) and we'll specifically be looking at (key goals) as our key success indicators.

With your funding, we will be able to:

(outline the specifics in which the grant will help you execute the program).

We appreciate the (founder's organization) taking the interest in helping your local community and for considering investing in out program. Please give me a call at (number) if you have any questions or require additional information.

Sincerely,

​[Sender.FirstName][Sender.LastName]​

​[Sender.Title]​

The [Sender.Company] was established in (year) by (founders) who had a vision to (specific vision, e.g. create new learning opportunities for local students). The [Sender.Company] currently operates in (city/cities) and serves more than (number) of people through a variety of long and short-term programs. Our mission is to (winder mission, e.g. to empower the local youth both socially and intellectually, help them maximize their potential, and improve their quality of life).

We are aware of the unique educational and social challenges that our youth community faces on a daily basis and are committed to adapting our organization to meet their needs.

Our program objectives include (list specific objectives, e.g. to improving reading and comprehension for at least X% of 3rd-grade students: improving college admission rates by X%, etc.) The project will run for (period), after which we will re-evaluate. The next step will be to establish a scalable process that could be implemented in other communities we're working with.

We believe that this program will help introduce our services to an underserved (population). By the program's end, we anticipate (overall goals, e.g. improved quality of life, better educational outcomes, etc.) for (population).

The total cost of implementation for this project is ($ amount). Your investment of ($ amount) will help us complete the funding to implement the program in our first community ad start driving change for a critical group of people.

Your statement of need (also known as needs statement or problem statement) is the meat of your proposal.

You answer these questions by combining quantitative (stats, research studies, and other data) and qualitative data (stories, real-life examples, testimonies, etc).

Below is what a good needs statement would look like. However, be advised that this is the most important part of your grant proposal and it absolutely needs a lot of data and case-specific information.

In other words, the template below should serve as inspiration, rather than a model that you can instantly copy-paste. Each research project, community car center, school program, and communal institution will gave vastly different project descriptions and needs statements.

The city of (city/town) has been steadily declining in (problem, e.g. employment rates) for the past (period). According to a study by ( respected institution), (relevant stat, e.g. the unemployment rate has climbed from 4.4% in early 2007 to 7.2% in 2009). Since the last census, (relevant data, e.g. yearly family incomes have also decreased overall, dropping to $26.661 this year).

(Continue describing the issues for at least 3-4 paragraphs)

There is a growing need for (services) executed by professionals and distributed across the community with a strong infrastructure.

To address these issues, we propose a (program) that would aim to (achieve specific goals) in (specific period).

Goals and objectives: getting specific

If your needs statement describes what issues they are, your goals and objectives section needs to tell the grantee what your solutions are.

This is another very important section in the grant writing process because it shows your potential funder exactly how pragmatic and goal-oriented your project is. It essentially tells them whether the grantor has a good project timeline and a strong grasp of the solution to the problem outlined in the previous section.

Goals are typically broad the slightly idealistic. Objectives, on the other hand, are measurable outcomes that can be expressed (often numerically).

Methods and strategies

Now that you've let the funder know what you want to achieve, it's time to go into the how.

In the Methods and Strategies section, your job is to outline all the specific requirements of your project: which staff members you need, what is the expected timeline for each part of the project, etc.

You need to make sure your methods are firmly and obviously tied to three things:

Methods:

In the section, you need to explain to the reader how exactly you're planning to access the implementation of your program.

Whatever grantee you're sending your request to, they'll all want see their investment making a difference. That's why it's important for you to demonstrate that you have a plan in place that will show them, without a doubt, how effectively you're implementing the project.

There is one important choice to be made here: whether you're going to evaluate the program internally or use external expertise for evaluation. For nonprofit grants, 5-10 percent of the budget is expected to be invested in evaluation.

The program facilitators will administer (evaluation method, e.g. a set of pretests) to evaluate (metric, e.g. the level of knowledge of each student) before the start of the program, at (period).

After the (mentioned evaluation method), the program will be continuously evaluated by an (external or internal) team comprised of (people and their titles). For the (period, e.g. two-week) duration of the program, a plan will be designed to evaluate all aspects of the program, including but not limited to:

In proposal writing, this part of the process is often the most feared and stressed about.

A lot of writers can craft a perfect proposal letter but get stuck on the project budget section. This happens for a good reason — writing a good budget takes a lot of time, research, and precision. You need to explain which amount of funding is going to be used for which purposes, all while relying on precise pricing information.

That's why the grant writers that win proposals consult with other people in their organization — accountants, marketers, inventory managers — to work on the budget together.

Remember: be as specific as possible and leave nothing out!

About us

The [Sender.Company] was established as a (legal status, e.g. 501(c)(3) organization) in (year) when (a group of people) decided to (fulfill a mission). Today, we are (current state, e.g. tje largest youth organization in city X, counting more than Y members). Since our first project in (year), we have proudly served over (number) of (population, e.g. young people) in (community).

Our programs

Currently, we operate (amount) programs mostly focused on (mission).

Our team

The (organization) is lead by our Board of Directors which includes:

(Sender company)

​[Sender.Company]​

​[Sender.FirstName][Sender.LastName]​

​[Sender.Title]​

​[Sender.Email]​