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

Tip: An Appealing Grant Proposal

It pays to make your proposal as visually appealing to the reviewer as possible. Be sure it is error-free and consistent in font type and size. If your proposal is large enough, consider having it bound by experts at a print shop or office supply store. This gives it a polished, professional appearance.

-Chris

Chris "Free Money" Johnson's Government Grants and Loans

Welcome to Chris "Free Money" Johnson's Grant Tip of the Week!