Outline For Writing Your Proposal

What should you grant proposal include:

Your project proposal should include the following sections, and you should use the questions below as a guide for what to include in each section. Your proposal should be approximately 500 – 1000 words in total.

  • Title: Provide a short, informative title for your proposed project (5-7 words) 
  • Abstract: In one sentence, how would you describe your proposed project to someone else?
  • Project Context: This section should be compelling. If you use outside sources, please provide citations.
    • Where will you work? Is this location your hometown? If not, explain how you plan to travel to your project location.
    • What problems, needs or opportunities does your project address? How does your project respond to real issues in your community?
    • Who is impacted by this problem, need, or opportunity?
    • Why does this problem, need, or opportunity matter to you and to your community?
    • Who is your audience or community? Who will you be working with?
    • In what ways might your project be impactful and valuable to the community you seek to collaborate with?
  • Project Plan: This section should be detailed enough to hand your proposal to someone else to deliver.
    • How will you address the problem, need, or opportunity you described above?
    • What is your role in addressing that problem, need, or opportunity?
    • What is the purpose of this project? What are your goals? We are looking for a specific purpose statement or goal(s).
    • What steps will you take to meet those goals?
    • What is your project timeline?
    • Identify any unknowns or uncertainties at this juncture.
    • What might success look like? How will you know if you met your goal? How might you measure your progress? We are looking for 2-3 measures of success that are achievable within your time frame and requested resources.
  • Learning Plan:
    • How does this project relate to your previous learning and experiences?
    • What do you hope to learn from this project? Please be specific.
    • In what areas do you hope to grow personally? Consider specific knowledge, skills and dispositions.
    • How will you and others know if this learning occurred? How might you document this learning?
  • Budget Narrative:
    • What resources do you need to accomplish your goal? How will you use those resources to accomplish your goals?
    • How much money are you requesting and what will it be used for?
    • Complete and upload the budget template in as much detail as possible. Please research actual costs and make educated estimate