Funding Formula Stage 6
Writing a winning proposal
- What you need to know when writing a funding proposal
Writing a proposal is a competitive process that goes well beyond stringing words together to convince a donor to trust your Member Association with funding to implement a project, provide goods, or deliver services. Developing a winning proposal involves planning, research, writing, reviewing, and follow-up. Even minor errors can result in a proposal’s disqualification.
- Define and align objectives
Your Member Association’s short-term objective is probably to win funding with your proposal! But your Member Association also has longer term missions, and each individual opportunity for funding has an objective too. To develop winning proposals, it’s important to build on its primary objective – this should be demonstrated in every proposal.
Your proposal team needs to make it clear how the mission of your Member Association aligns with the objectives of the funding opportunity: “How do the capabilities of our Member Association align with what this donor wants to accomplish? How can we show that we’re motivated to achieve the same outcomes they desire, and that we have the best means achieve them?” With this alignment in mind, your proposal team can weave a compelling, unique narrative into its proposal that will convey your Member Association and the donor are well-suited.
- Tell a clear, consistent story
The technical content should not drown out the storytelling: this is the aspect most likely to convince a donor that your project deserves investment. Ask yourself whether your proposal tells a story: it should reflect organizational principles, expertise, and evidence-based results and impacts to improve your beneficiaries’ lives.
Proposals should also clearly articulate your theory of change. Explain how your Member Association will achieve the outcomes that the donor desires in a captivating, engaging manner, and it will stand out from the crowd.
- Have your proposal reviewed
The more experienced your Member Association is in proposal writing, the more easily you can make mistakes! Grammatical errors, poor syntax, or simple inconsistencies in writing are not acceptable – ensure someone else – especially relevant experts – review and critique your proposal.
Inconsistencies can range from differences in writing style, when different colleagues contribute different parts of a proposal, to semantic differences in vocabulary. Simple things can be confusing for proposal readers, such as referring to the same component of a proposal as a project, programme or initiative in different places, or using different titles for sections of the proposal. Be consistent!
When possible, relevant experts should proofread your proposal. Enlist experienced colleagues to read and offer feedback on the parts of a proposal within their areas of expertise.
- Follow the rules
Proposals and submission processes are governed by detailed rules and procedures. Not following these is an easy way to have your proposal disqualified. To avoid losing opportunities for funding, be sure that you understand the rules governing the organization, content, and formatting of your submission.
Be compliant above all, and creative when possible Check the proposal is in the right format, has the correct orientation, spacing, fonts. You want to craft a good story, but within the limits of the donor’s rules and procedures.
- Incorporate feedback into new proposals
Missing out on an opportunity the first time around should not discourage future efforts. Asking for feedback and improving the submission for the next funding cycle can increase the chances of being considered. Feedback helps you see what you missed in the previous submission and helps to improve subsequent proposals. Your Member Association should undertake an after-action review after each proposal so you can learn what to do differently next time.
- Print out a copy of the proposal for review
Make sure your proposal meets the expectation of the donor: print and review the proposal before submission, making sure that the margins, fonts etc are correct and everything fits on the printed page. A wrongly indented page margin or layout can result in disqualification. A team-wide, sit-down review session of the printed proposal is a good “final check” to perform before submission.
- Submission
Before submitting a proposal, look at the method of submission. Some donors accept proposals by email, others require them to be submitted through a portal. Familiarize yourself with the system before the submission deadline. Does it require an individual account per proposal? Have you signed the document? Are the characters within limit?
Make sure your application is as organized and as faultless as possible
- Elements of the best project proposals
Apart from convincing the donor that your Member Association is worth the risk and the project is worth financing, proposals also define the project’s framework and the criteria against which its success or failure will be measured. These proposals can be rejected for factual errors or a lack of synergy between your project’s goals and the donor’s priorities. Here are some elements that can turn good bid documents into winning project proposals.
- Comprehensive yet concise
Your proposal must answer the donor’s questions, including how much the donor will fund, who are the beneficiaries, what is the timeline, and what are the goals and objectives.
The proposal must be comprehensive and well-written, reader-friendly and to the point. Rambling descriptions and lengthy explanations will lose a reviewer’s interest. Use catchy descriptions and action phrases, and don’t overwhelm with too many details and unnecessary information. Relegate details such as funding, schedule, and staffing to the appendix. Your proposal must contain all and only the information the donor is asking for – nothing more, nothing less. If you attach supporting documents and credentials, but the donor did not ask for them, these additional files may be ignored.
- Tailored to a specific donor
Do your research! Find out about the project being tendered and the funding agency. Visit the donor’s website to know more about its mission and vision, goals and objectives. What has the donor previously funded, what sectors does it usually support? If publicly available, analyze other proposals the donor has received to give you a better idea of their expectations.
Contact the donor to gain more information about the tender: prepare and ask clear, well-thought-out questions.Draft the proposal to fit the funding agency’s needs and requirements. If you find out that the donor is already funding an organization implementing a project similar to yours, consider partnering with that organization instead.
- Use donor’s language and preferred proposal format
If you’ve done your research, you know the terms or phrases the donor uses when it describes projects it wants to finance. Use the same language to convince the donor that your proposal fits nicely with its goals and objectives. But take time to understand what these buzzwords mean!
When writing the proposal, check if the donor specified a format. Does it require a one-page summary, with a detailed proposal later? Does it have a standard format with set headings? Some donors require no format at all, which means you can decide what information the donor would find most useful.
- Do not overuse jargon and acronyms
Using the donor’s language can help to show that your Member Association’s goals and objectives are similar to theirs; however, avoid using too much technical and organizational jargon. In addition, do not assume that the reader understands all acronyms and abbreviations used by the development community: make sure the appendix contains a glossary explaining the meanings of the acronyms.
- Factual, specific and error-free
Use facts to make your case. A human story with no corroborating evidence, and making statements based on generalities, won’t win you any favours. Be specific in your assertions, and include your sources of data and facts in footnotes. Provide itemized budget breakdowns for funding requests. Double check all calculations for accuracy. Make sure all the numbers mentioned in the main document, tables and appendix match.
- Highlight your Member Association’s track record and credibility
Do not assume tat the donor knows all about your Member Association, what you do and which sectors you work in: provide a short overview of your Member Association, including its mission and vision, goals and objectives. Highlight the communities it serves, its governance structure, and its strengths:
- the level of expertise of staff members who will be involved in the project
- updates and outcomes of similar projects implemented in the past
- the project’s impact on the community
- how the budget was managed
- how activities were implemented
- how development outcomes were measured
If your Member Association is new, ask civil society groups and development professionals, or other donors, to vouch for your credibility; accountancy firms can confirm you have good financial systems in place. Highlight the experience, strengths and track record of your management team.
- Sets realistic goals, timelines and budgets
Do not promise more than your Member Association can deliver, whether in terms of the schedule, outcomes, budget or your staff members. Take into account local factors and bureaucratic procedures to ensure goals can be met within the agreed time period. Properly assess the skills and capabilities of staff members who will be implementing the project and factor in training, if needed, into the schedule.
Do not underestimate the funding required for staff salaries, technology support, infrastructure, travel expenses and operations. Low funding requests tell a reviewer that your Member Association does not have a realistic assessment of what it takes to implement the project on time and on budget.
The appendix can include a detailed breakdown of how the budget will be allocated and supporting documentation to justify projected costs. Do not include items that are not relevant to the project.
- Follows guidelines and instructions
Read donor guidelines carefully and make sure everything is followed, even if you feel they do not make sense or are repetitive. Clarify instructions with the donor if anything is unclear. Do not submit proposals for projects that are outside the donor’s sectoral and geographic priorities, and do not ask for items that are outside the project’s scope. Follow all of the donor’s prescribed formats for the entire proposal and for specific sections. Include all donor requirements in the proposal.
- Offers a solid sustainability plan
Donors are more likely to finance your project when there is a plan to ensure the project will continue after funding runs out. If your Member Association will work with other agencies in implementing the project, indicate a strategy for sustaining that collaboration beyond the grant period. There must be a solid plan in place that is included in the project’s objectives. It is not enough to say that your Member Association will look for other funding once grant money has been exhausted.
Writing winning project proposals require careful planning and attention to detail. But having all these elements in your proposal will be for nothing if the donor does not receive it on time! Do not wait until the deadline to submit your proposal. The donor will be inundated with an influx of last-minute submissions that could result in technical problems that may delay delivery of your bid documents.