What Information Goes Into A Grant Proposal?

Grant proposals usually contain the following information and is often expected by grant donors, today: proposal introduction, organization description, proposed project description, beneficiary population description, statement of need, project evaluation description, project budget description, and closing paragraph. Some of this content may or may not be required (as directed in the giving guidelines of the organization your agency is apply to for the grant) or other content may be requested; and each potential grant donor organization is different from the next. Each grant proposal that your organization submits, therefore, should be tailored specifically to the entity that it is being sent to, per that potential grant donor's giving guidelines. The giving guidelines dictate what should be in the grant proposal and not much else should be added to the grant proposal package. It is not wise to provide extra attachments or information as it is viewed as unnecessary. So, don't waste your agency's time or resources with it, and don't waste the potential donor's time with it. If your agency believes that extra information is important to the potential grant donor understanding the proposal - if they accept phone calls (check their giving guidelines), then call the potential donor, explain the mitigating circumstance, and ask their program manager if it is alright to submit the extra information. Then, do what they recommend. Otherwise, leave extra content out. When a grant donor is considering a nonprofit's request for a grant (the grant proposal) and needs more information they will request it of the nonprofit. What order to place the various content in a grant proposal into varies, too. If the giving guidelines of the agency that your nonprofit is applying to does not state what order the content should be in - then write the proposal with the content in a logical order. Remember, too, that a grant proposal is usually limited to a certain number of words or pages and you want to make a good impression in the written document space that you have; follow their application instructions, tell them everything that they want to know about, be honest, and meet their application deadline on time.

The definition of the standard contents in a grant proposal are:

Proposal Introduction
Organization Description
Proposed Project Description (and How To Make the Case for Your Grant Request In the Grant Proposal, ...Writing In the Grant Proposal About What You Need the Money For)
Beneficiary Population Description (see the above three "Proposed Project Description" links)
Statement of Need
Project Evaluation Description
Project Budget Description
Closing Paragraph

Also, read Basic Grant Writing 101..., The Letter of Introduction or Inquiry: Often the First Step, How Do We Tighten Up Our Grant Proposal, Take That Nonprofit's Grant Writing to the Next Level, What Grant Writing Is and What It Is Not, Time Can Be A Huge Asset In Raising Grants, Be Strategic...When Your Write the Grant Proposal, Descriptions of Different Grant Proposal Documents, and Grant Writing...Mission Success...Its All the Same

See, too, the topic index or "Labels" for further information, below to the right for more grant proposal document writing tips and content ideas.