The Government Department, Corporation, Foundation or Trust disburses funds in form of grants to educational institutions, business enterprises or to individuals. Generally, since the government gives huge grants to fund projects or business ventures, they demand compliance by the people and of the people along with regular reporting. “Grant Writing” i.e. a proposal or application with proper details about one’s project (motive, reason and resources) by the applicant to a potential funder, is required to receive grants. So before chasing money, it?s essential to have an outlined plan for the project in form of government grant writing.
Over the years, human?s desires, wants and necessities have increased, but economic resources are still unequally allocated in the society. As an indirect result of this, the number of grant seekers and grant makers has also gone up. Thus with increase in demand, many grant providers have appealed for a detailed and complex ?grant proposal?. It?s apparent enough that as time has passed, some common principles have evolved for writing grant proposals with the development of a generic protocol with variations being related only to the quality and details of information rather than the nature of information.Thus to acquire government grants, a strong proposal is needed which in turn must be compatible with the queries of the grant makers.
Fundamentally, grant seekers need to craft a concrete meaningful proposal that will beat all the other applicants in competition and this requires diligence and extensive investigation. Just surfing the internet is not enough, one needs to think beyond and construct his/her proposals on well researched information about both the grant maker and the grant seeker and its programs. The grant proposals can be either written by the grant seekers themselves, or they can hire professionals for the job. Both approaches have their negatives and positives largely depending upon the available resources because if there are no monetary constraints, then hiring a professional for grant writing is the best option. Moreover market forces have ensured that professionals are available at competitive prices. Those schools, individuals or non-profit boards who are too busy to do it themselves and don?t have the money either, turn to online alternatives.
To know how to write an effective government grant proposal, it?s important to know the elements of a good proposal which will include the following:
1. A Formal Summary – it serves as an introduction to your entire proposal and should summarize the need, description, budget and managerial information. In short, it should aptly reflect a professional approach and a potential for succeeding and thus is instrumental in actually selling the proposal, making your proposal stand out in the crowd of other applicants.
2. Specification of the Need – this should basically help place the project in desired context explaining its need based on the research.
3. Project Description – the entire project?s explanation, quantitatively and qualitatively, is done under this and so it should be logical and easily comprehendible. Explain the ?what and how? of your goals and objectives including the performance indicator through evaluation. Complete and accurate information is essential.
4. Budget – explain how you will use their money, which areas will require more funds and convince the grant makers that their money is going in safe hands.
5. Organizational information – brief them on the history and experience of your organization and persuade them to have faith in your organization capability.
6. Conclusion – concisely summarize all of the above referring to your main strong points building a final picture of your venture.
7. Evaluation/Outcomes – in order to evaluate your program, Set feasible and quantifiable goals and standards and decide authority roles.
Keeping the above format in mind, government grant proposals can be easily written. For effective grant writing a proper research, strong concrete motives and plans, an outlined format of your program is necessary which can convince the government authority to give you grants for your venture.
By: Amaan Goyal
