De-Fog your Writing

The person reviewing your grant proposal is often someone who is not familiar with your organization, your community, or the problems your community is facing. Therefore, you want your proposal to be easy to comprehend on the first reading.

An easy way to test the readability of your writing is to use the Gunning Fog Index. Any Google search will give you multiple references to the Index and how to use it. With a few simple calculations, the index estimates the years of formal education a person needs to understand the text on the first reading. A fog index of 11 requires the reading level of a high school junior.

 

An index of 10-12 is generally considered easy to comprehend on the first reading. This has nothing to do with the educational level or intelligence of the reader. It is all about keeping your reader fully engaged. Every time a reader has to backtrack or re-read a section of the proposal, you are more likely to lose their interest.

 

The Index can also give you clues for improving the clarity of your writing. It is based on two simple calculations: average sentence length and the number of “big” words of three or more syllables. If the Index is too high, the answer is simple: shorter sentences and fewer big words.

 

Average sentence length should be about 17 words. Some sentences will be longer, but should be balanced with shorter sentences. And don’t be afraid of paragraphs. A new paragraph is a signal to the reader that you’re about to change topic or focus. Keep paragraphs short and on-target. A never-ending paragraph can bury important information and tire or confuse the reader.

 

De-fog your writing so the reader can move easily through your proposal. Content is critical to success, but so is clarity.

 

P.S. The Fog Index for this article is 10.1, with an average sentence length of 14 words.

 

Susan Chandler is a former trainer for The Grantsmanship Center
and an independent consultant to nonprofit organizations.

 

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