One day you have your next great idea. It just strikes you. It’s for your post-doc, for your startup, for your foundation, for the next project of your employer.
Regardless of what it is, a good idea is nothing much without some support, and you need to get that support. You gather your thoughts, look at different options and you make your decision: you are going to get a grant.
And THAT is where the problems start.
See, getting a grant is not automatic. You need to write a proposal for that. Writing a proposal – trust me on this – is tough. You have different elements whose completion requires different skills, and what usually happens is that you are forced to address them all at the same time.
Option 1 is getting a grant writer, if you have the budget for it (they are often quite costly). Option 2, is going in prepared.
In this article I’ll give you a basic work structure to follow when you’re faced with accessing a grant for your next big idea.
The basics
There are three elements to a grant proposal. Regardless of the size and source these three elements always apply:
Administrative Documentation
This element is easy, it’s just a collection of documents (e.g. proof of registration for a company) you need to provide so that the evaluators can tick off a few boxes. You may have to look through some of your old documents, but it is nothing that requires much brainwork. It can be time-consuming, but it’s important to pay close attention to the instructions.
Methodology or Narrative
This is the core of the proposal. This is where you explain what your project is and what precise steps you will take in order to reach it. This is by no means easy, and this is the area in which you will devote 95% of your brainpower.
Budget
A well-planned budget based on a solid tool is easy. An improvised budget plotted on an empty spreadsheet can easily spin out of control if not constantly monitored. Monitor this element constantly, and consider investing in a robust tool to help you keep track of your finances.
The Proposal Writing Blueprint
These three elements need to be plotted in a process. Below is a chart of my process, developed in over 7 years of proposal writing.
The first three blocks are nothing more than an answer to the question “do you know what you’re doing?”
Before you embark in such a huge process, you need to make sure that your project is aligned to the goals of the fund you are targeting, that you or your company are eligible to participate in the process (e.g. sometimes it’s NGOs only), and that you will be distributing your efforts proportionately to the award criteria. For example if the call says that 30% of your score will depend on the methodology and the rest on cost, it’s probably a good idea to focus on cutting down budget costs than finding the most amazing methodology ever.
STEP 1
You start by taking care of the Administrative Documents. Give yourself plenty of time to pull these together. You do not want to find out three days before the deadline that a required document will take three weeks to be delivered.
It is possible and it has happened before, so start this process first thing.
Following that, frame three aspects clearly:
These three sections will build the backbone of the methodology.
Once you have that down, start building the budget directly with the steps you described. You need to build the budget in parallel to the methodology, not one after the other.
STEP 2
You have the description of your goal, methodology, context description and budget. Your task now is to transfer them to the proposal template.
Different grants use different structures for their documents – it is important for them that all proposals be delivered in the same format as it makes it easier for them to evaluate them. Your case is no exception.
Why not punch all the elements of step one directly in the template, you ask? Because it’s easy to get lost and confused. Those elements are the basic points and you need to have them clear – punching them in an existing template while trying to understand the template itself is very likely to mess up their coherence.
STEP 3
Expand each element according to the template by elaborating on it. The guiding element right now is the methodology. You need to explain in each step:
This makes things clearer for the evaluator and easier to understand – working to your advantage.
Each time you expand or modify an element, make sure to report it in the budget you are building. In the budget you need to be able to explain who will be working in each step, for how many hours, costing how much and lasting how long.
STEP 4
Gather all the documents and ask someone else to revise your work. Don’t do it yourself. You need an external perspective on this because you know the project way too well to give an objective opinion.
If all this sounds and look difficult and complicated, it’s because it is. People (myself included) train years to build up the capability of managing so many different elements at the same time and to keep it together.
If you want to go deeper in the subject, take a look at my book: Writing Proposals: a Handbook of What Makes Your Project Right for Funding. The book includes:
– A downloadable proposal template and budget sheet
– An A-to-Z methodology to write your proposal and budget developed over 7 years of practice
– In-depth explanations for each proposal section
– Several examples of paragraph texts
– 7 Writing techniques to make your project’s case better
– 26 Proposal-Specific writing tips
And, of course, best of luck for your next great idea!
