A Project Proposal is a document that outlines the activities that must be taken to address a specific issue. It lays out a logical sequence and description of the issue, your desired course of action for resolving it, and the associated financial need.
In order to continue making a social impact, the proposal is sent to the donor in the hopes of receiving funding.
Project design is a time-consuming process that necessitates close attention to every phase of project development.
The entire procedure is divided into two phases:
1. Planning the project:
Before you can begin writing the proposal, you will need to respond to a number of questions during the planning stage. The preparation stage involves the following;
(1) Identify the issue that your project would solve:
It’s critical that you choose an issue to focus on when creating your proposal. There may be a number of issues in your community, but you are unable to address them all at once, therefore you must choose one to focus on for your proposal. Determine the most urgent problem that exists at the project site, and then decide on the technique you will use to address it.
(2) Determine potential funding sources:
Searching online to learn more about potential donors is the most effective approach to find them. For the purpose of finding appropriate donors to send the proposal to, you can also use your donor database. You are most likely to find 4-5 donors during this round who offer funds for the kind of work you want to perform.
Whether you send your proposal to the appropriate donors can greatly affect your chance of receiving funding. It’s crucial that you find donors whose interests and financing requirements align with those of your organization.
. You could identify prospects by asking the following questions, for example:
1. Which fundraising organizations from donors are present in your area?
2. Does your group qualify for funding from the donor agency?
3. Are you eligible to submit a proposal to the organization?
4. What are the requirements for submission?
5. Will there be enough time for you to submit the proposal?
3. Understand what the donor is seeking:
Make sure you thoroughly read the Funding Announcement Guidelines and are aware of the donor’s requirements. Many nonprofits ignore this crucial stage and only take it into consideration when submitting a proposal. The guidelines explicitly outline the conditions for eligibility, acceptable formats, due dates, financial details, page limits, required documents, etc.
Do some background study on the donor to get to know them better, their funding history, the number of projects they have supported in the past, etc. After your background study is complete, you can begin developing your proposal.
(4) Create a productive team.
Instead of taking on the entire proposal-writing process by yourself, divide the work among your team members according to their areas of competence. Create a team with clearly defined tasks, responsibilities, and deadlines depending on the size of your nonprofit. The team members should be proficient writers with solid technical understanding of the linked field.
(5) Read successful proposals.
While preparing the proposal, be sure to read some samples of successful grant proposals. You can use this to organize your proposal and gain knowledge about the vocabulary, structure, and language that donors appreciate.
The Second Phase of the Project Proposal
2. Writing the proposal:
After the planning stage is complete, the actual writing of the proposal begins. You must consider the requirements of the donor, the formatting, the proposal’s tone, the creation of a budget, and other factors when you are composing it.
You must pay close attention to both processes if you want to create a compelling proposal. The following guidelines must be taken into account during this second stage of writing the project proposal.
(1) The project’s name ought to express its main idea: Make sure the proposal’s title is catchy and gives the reader a rough picture of the project when choosing a title.
(2) Properly format the proposal: Most frequently, the funding organization will give you a proposal template or format to submit. You can use a standard proposal form with the following subheads if the funding agency has not given one:
3) Incorporate creative concepts and aspects into the project: Most donors are willing to assist organizations that can think beyond the box and include creative concepts in their project proposals. Try to inject some innovation into any aspect of the project, whether it is the use of technology, communication channels, or service delivery.
(4) Craft the executive summary in a way that is understandable, condensed, and appealing. The executive summary not only provides a summary of the project proposal but also highlights key information about the issue, the proposed solution, the originality of the proposal, and why your company is qualified to handle the project.
(5) Be precise and direct: Only include the information that is essential, and support your points with relevant facts. Write the proposal so that it contains all the information the reader needs to understand your project idea. Because the reviewers must read numerous proposals, refrain from including stories and irrelevant information. Your goal should be to clearly state your case in a few pages without boring or overburdening the reader with details.
(6) Incorporate pertinent case studies and examples: The donor will have a better understanding of how your organization has handled similar problems in the past if you include pertinent examples in the proposal. Try to provide relevant case studies of how your organization has assisted individuals in resolving challenges or problems and had a beneficial effect.
(7) When writing about your organization, avoid boasting about your accomplishments. Instead, show the donor that you have the skills necessary to manage and effectively complete the project by using wording that doesn’t seem to brag about you. You can include any successes and honors that your company has won for undertaking comparable work.
(8) Support your position with evidence and facts: Write facts and figures that support your concern in the project justification. These details may come from information that your company has gathered or through research publications, official reports, news pieces, etc. Make sure the information you cite is current and comes from a reliable source.
(9) The Goal of Your Proposal Should Clearly Describe Its Purpose: The Goal of Your Proposal Should Clearly Describe The Main Purpose Of The Project, The Target Beneficiary, And Specific Aspects Of The Project. The aim statement shouldn’t contain any implausible or ambiguous remarks.
(10) Limit the proposal’s goals to one: It is advised that your project proposal have just one goal. Having several goals for the project shows that you are unsure of what you actually want to accomplish with it and are confused.
(11) Create S.M.A.R.T. objectives. Objectives are specific statements that outline how you plan to accomplish a goal. Write your goals using the S.M.A.R.T. technique.
(12) Clearly state the approach you’ll take to achieving the intended objectives: Clearly outline each and every step you would take in the project’s approach or technique as you write it. Give specifics about the approach you’ll use.
(13) Steer clear of jargon and technical terminology: Throughout the proposal, use clear, uncomplicated language. Use plain language to describe your problem and solution because the reader or reviewer of the proposal may not be an expert in the relevant field and may not be familiar with technical terms.
Use basic diagrams, maps, graphs, and other visuals rather than plain text to make your proposal stand out. (14) Use Charts, Flow Diagrams, and Info Graphs to Make the Proposal. The proposal is more appealing and the reader is given a better knowledge of the context through the use of flow charts and diagrams.
(15) Adhere to the detailed instructions: You must at all times adhere to the donor criteria, which include the number of pages, font size, line spacing, and other details. You should abide by the rules since they are there for a reason.
(16) Properly format the proposal: Make the proposal appealing to the eye. The content should be legible with enough space between lines, with all the paragraphs nicely aligned, and in the same font throughout (Both size and type). Correctly page all the numbers.
(17) Have your coworkers examine the plan, then make any necessary revisions. It is usually a good idea to have your coworkers, board members, etc. review the proposal. Additionally, many organizations have a cold reader review their bids (a person who was not involved in the project writing).
Review the reviewers’ remarks, take note of their observations, and make the necessary corrections to the faults and omissions they pointed out. The assessment aids in raising the proposal’s quality. Repeatedly review the plan to weed out superfluous information and grammatical and factual errors. Make sure your proposal is error-free, follows the rules, and clearly connects the objectives and actions as you revise it.
(20) Complete every section/question on the proposal template: No section or query should go unaddressed. Make sure to write a suitable response even if you think the questions are repetitious. Incomplete forms are rejected during the initial screening and are not accepted for agency review.
(21) Prevent Plagiarism: Ensure that the proposal has been properly revised and has undergone a plagiarism check. If you have taken a sentence, some information, a fact, or another piece of data from another publication, be sure to cite all of your sources. To prevent plagiarism, you can paraphrase, cite, quote, or add a reference page at the end of the proposal. Many organizations, especially those that are focused on research, employ anti-plagiarism software, and if your application demonstrates plagiarism, it may be rejected.
(22) Carefully create the budget, making sure that each line item complies with the demands of the funding source. Always create a narrative to go along with the budget so you can describe the different expenses. The project budget must match the project activities, and all costs mentioned in the budget must be supported by evidence.
