As governments institute more and more cutbacks in an attempt to keep the deficit under control, the availability of non-profit funding is shrinking at an alarming rate. One inevitable result is increased competition for severely limited public and private funds. Speaking on How To Develop Effective Grant Proposals at York University‘s Second Annual Summer Institute in Toronto, consultant Winston Mattis shed some light on funders and proposals. Mattis explained, “A winning proposal is like a winning resume”.
Calling funders “The essential link between the project proposal and its implementation,” he went on to list key things everyone in the sector should keep in mind about funders.
“Funders fund their own mandate, not yours. They tend to be detail-oriented, and prefer to fund projects that are expressed in simple terms and which will meet a clearly identified need. Funders must balance competing interests through their funding decisions, and they fund projects that build on logical arguments. They do not fund good ideas; they fund projects they can defend. They also prefer to fund projects in which the project officers believe, and for which there is structural and other support within the sponsoring organization. And remember, they are also risk-averse.”
So what should your proposal do? Mattis says it should draw on human psychology, technical excellence and sound strategy by being targeted, powerful and pragmatic. All proposals, he pointed out, have financial implications, particular geographic, as well as specific audiences, value systems that drive them, a bias toward particular methodologies, social consequences and research implications. His list of areas to addressed when writing a proposal:
Audience: Write to the level of your audience, using direct language and the active voice, and avoid using too many qualifiers in sentences.
Achievement of Organization: Build on your organization’s achievements and emphasize its capabilities, but don’t misrepresent them.
Context: Set the context for the reader to interpret information. Be specific, don’t make sweeping statements, be certain that your conclusions follow from reasoning, and never reach an unsupported conclusion.
Address the Cost Benefit Issue: Make it easy to read by listing all the benefits of your idea. In straightforward terms, how will the idea benefit the community, your organization, the funder and prospective clients?
Involve the Funder: Do a risk analysis before deciding on an appropriate funder role. Meaningful and clearly identified involvement is the goal, without having the funder drive the process.
Length: Funding proposals should not be excessively long. Length depends on the nature of the project and the funder’s decision-making process.
Control: You are in full control of the proposal development process. You set the boundaries. You can be selective about the people you involve and the amount of information you divulge.
Language: Write proposals using simple and understandable language. Where appropriate, use the language of the funding organization to secure leverage, or change language to match the purpose of each given section. Every sentence should be calculated.
