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The task may overwhelm you. After all, grants have at least ten pages. And ten pages aren’t so easy to finish overnight, let alone merely succeeding in making it convincing enough to the prospective funder that may either supply your badly needed funds or reject your proposal in a flick of a finger. If you’re new in venturing into fundraising, you may find the following grant writing advice helpful to you: 1. Research Being part of your advocacy doesn’t mean that you already knew all the details and important facts that you may use to convince a potential funder. In one way or another, you have to surf the net, conduct a survey, or read in libraries in order to gather data and statistics that you may use to the advantage of your cause. Sometimes, you may even need to search about the funding institution to successfully customize your proposal. 2. Follow the requirements This may seem too obvious and simple. However, the fact is, many are being rejected for their application just because they didn’t follow the instructions and deadlines. So learn from others’ mistakes and clarify the details of the process. Get a copy of the steps you need to take and their schedule, or if there is none, write one for your proposal. This will keep you on track if you’re perfectly complying with what the prospect asks of you. 3. Organize Make an outline of the whole proposal. Should there be anything that will confuse or mislead you in grant writing, the advice is to keep your perspective focused on the outline you made earlier. Once you planned how the piece should go, it will be easy for you to refocus on whatever it is that you have left. Keep your eyes on the goal and have a copy of your grant blueprint on hand. Or better yet, rest for a while and continue writing the proposal with a fresh eye. 4. Speak of specific solutions, not just the problem Remember that proposals are always meant to solve problems. If it only tackles about the predicament, then you probably won’t win it. Don’t address a long statement of predicament with a short generalized answer. In order to convince and evoke action, bring this people in a position where they will feel the pressure that the future of your charity will greatly depend on their help. 5. Be Human Appeal to what interests others. Get real and make the reader feel that behind the document, there is a real human being who got opinions and sentiments like they do. Though you still have to keep your tone professional, this doesn’t mean that you have to settle to the cold-sounding proposal that never won a heart. Put yourself in the shoes of your readers. Make the papers easy to digest. Avoid exaggeration though. 6. Find a Circle The distance between an effective and a haphazard piece is the diameter of the social circle of the person who has written the proposal. Ditching the math aside, one of the most important things that can affect your venture for a cause is whether you have a friend or colleague who can refer you to the prospective funder. If there’s any great grant writing advice professionals can give you, it is making your human interactions as natural so that every person will know that you are genuine in your cause.
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