This Week's Tip: Using Statistics in Your Proposal

Statistics can be useful for bolstering the points in your grant proposal, but they should be used properly and sparingly. A professional reviewer cautions, “Statistics are important, but can be confusing. Use them when they set the stage and give a context for the project.”

Be sure to explain why you’re including them and what they mean in terms of the point you wish to make.  Use just what you need; dumping rows and rows of numbers into your proposal will not necessarily help its credibility or improve your chances of approval.

Grant reviewers have to read through a large number of proposals and will not have time to analyze a lot of statistics without context. They want to be able to be interested in your proposal, so make sure that it is concise, clear, and interesting, with statistics used in the proper amount and for the right purpose. 

-Chris

Tip: Be Organized and Logical

I see many grant proposals from people who are clearly passionate and excited about their project, but fall a little short of putting forth a persuasive argument for the funders. While a small bit of “human touch” can help an already well-structured proposal, emotion should be used sparingly.

 You want to lay out a clear, rational explanation of why your project is aligned with the funder’s priorities and the award would be used effectively. You already know why your proposal should be chosen and how you can be successful in implementing it. However, if you do not convey this understandably to the funder, they may not select your proposal for funding.

 In addition, please be sure that your claims are feasible and that you make logical connections. It is not enough to say that if you receive $300,000, you can end hunger in your town. Rather, you will need to provide statistics on hunger in your area, what it would take to provide meals to the number of needy people, and how you can make it happen within budgetary constraints. You could logically say that if you operated a soup kitchen that served two meals per day, you could largely eliminate the problem of people in your community going a day or more without eating.

 It’s great to be passionate and committed, but be sure that you demonstrate how your good idea can become a successful project.    

-Chris

Tip: What If Your Proposal Is Rejected?

It’s unquestionably a huge disappointment to work hard on your grant proposal, only to have it not be chosen. At this point you can either become discouraged and give up, or you can use the rejection as a learning experience.

 Most proposals are initially rejected. Given the large numbers of proposals that are submitted, that is a reality of the process. However, you can try to pinpoint the reason in several ways:

§        Re-examine the funder’s priorities and honestly assess whether your proposal was really a match.

§        Take another look at your proposal to see whether it follows the grant agency’s guidelines and is as well written as it can be.  

§        Contact the grant agency to see whether you might be able to speak to a grant officer to ask for feedback. If they do not have time, though, please be understanding of that.

If you need to tweak your proposal, do so. If you think it is fine, you can leave it as is, and perhaps solicit a second opinion from someone who is a good judge of writing.

Most importantly, resubmit your proposal to the funder and to other funders. You may succeed in a different funding cycle. Don’t give up!  

 -Chris

Tip: Hidden Grants

Some grants are not publicized on the web. You may be able to uncover one of these hidden gems by calling or visiting your local government office and asking for the grant expert. It sometimes takes some persistence to find the right person, but the result can be well worth the effort. Happy grant hunting!

-Chris

Tip: Make Sure Your Interests Match the Funder’s

Most successful grants proposals outline programs whose goals align with the funder's priorities. You can target your grant proposals more effectively if you:
-do some research on the funder to discover their stated mission
-find out the types of projects they have funded in the past

This will increase the chances of your grant proposal being approved and prevent wasting everyone's time if your project is not a good match.

-Chris

Tip: Be Succinct

It's understandable to be excited about your project and want to write all about every detail of it in your proposal. However, remember that the grant reviewer may have dozens or even hundreds of proposals to read. Make sure that your make your point clearly, succinctly, and early in your proposal. You want for your good idea to receive the attention it deserves, so make it easy for the reviewer to know exactly what you want to say.

-Chris

Tip: Your Executive Summary

Your executive summary should be the last part of your proposal that you write. Proposals sometimes evolve as we are creating them, so you will likely not be able to summarize your proposal accurately before you have written the main section of it.

Remember too that a summary should contain the highlights of your project and be just enough to pique the reviewer's interest. Details belong in the main section of your proposal.

-Chris