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Across the country, nonprofit leaders are feeling the squeeze. Budgets are stretched, community needs are rising, and the competition for grant funding has grown more intense. According to recent reports from the Urban Institute and Candid, nearly 60% of U.S. nonprofits are seeing flat or reduced government funding, while foundation giving is expected to increase only slightly in the coming year — mostly to organizations already known to funders.

If a self-proclaimed ‘expert’ wants to teach you ‘grantwriting,’ you might want to question whether they really know what they are doing. Could you be wasting your time and money? You want grant funding, right? You’re doing vital work in your community and you need more money to carry on. Somebody claims they’ll help you get a grant. Buyer beware if the ‘grantwriting expert’ is uninformed about these basics . . .

In a grant proposal, the Introduction to the Applicant Organization has two roles: · It highlights your organization’s qualifications to address the problem described in the proposal; and · It demonstates competence to implement the Methods, or program plan.

Just as it is important to define terminology in a proposal so the reader understands what it means at your local level, it's also important to define what I will call concepts. Concepts are often general phrases used to describe conditions or behaviors that are the foundation of a proposal.

Write This—Not That! Episode Two: Define Your terms What is a “food desert”? What does “environmentally unsustainable” mean; or “intolerable noise levels”? It is easy to assume that because we know what a term means in our agency, our neighborhood, our city or state, it has the same meaning to everyone, everywhere.

Write This—Not That! Episode One: How many is “most”? This is the first in a series of blogs that will examine some of the small details that can strengthen a proposal and make it more compelling. And the devil is absolutely in the details:

When you are writing a grant proposal, the goal of your writing should be easy comprehension on the first reading by someone not familiar with your subject. Here are some tips to help you accomplish that:

Carefully crafting the summary section of a grant proposal is vital. Let’s look at why the summary is so important. While the summary must be written last, it is the first thing the reviewer will see. It allows the reader to begin reading with an overview of what the proposal is all about.

Finally! Your proposal is nearing its final draft. It’s now time to pay attention to a final detail - punctuation and page layout. Both of these give important cues to the reader, and those cues will help guide the reader smoothly through the proposal.

If you’ve been notified that your federal grant/s have been canceled or paused, or if the future for your awarded grants is uncertain, it is important to have a communications plan. Develop a media kit with press releases, handouts, and talking points for your designated representative/s. Include examples of how your grant-funded services have helped your community. Be sure to balance statistics with the human face, just as you do in grant proposals.