The Six Components of a Grant Proposal

North Carolina's Center for Participatory Change proposed the following valuable information.

Most of the items listed below are part of every application for foundation, corporation or government funding. Sometimes they will be listed as several items, sometimes they will be asked as questions, and sometimes you will need to cover them in a written narrative--but these are the standard building blocks you'll use.

1. THE STATEMENT OF NEED OR OPPORTUNITY. Here you outline the current situation that your project will address. If you’re trying to solve a problem or build on an opportunity, you have to define it first. Be as specific as you can. Don’t assume that the reader knows anything about your community or the situation. But don’t dwell on the negative; don’t portray the problem as one that’s too overwhelming to solve. When you define a problem, define it in a way that it’s clear that your group can actually address the problem. Finally, it’s best if this section is brief — just quickly, yet concretely, describe the situation that you’ll be addressing.

2. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES. This section outlines what you hope to achieve with your project. Goals refer to the general things that you want to accomplish — for example, “We will start an after-school program for children from our community,” or “We will try to help people earn more income through the creation of a cooperative business.” Objectives are outcomes, more specific things that can be easily measured — for example, “Reading ability for 65 children will be improved; we will show this improvement by comparing before and after scores on a short reading test,” or “People who participate in this cooperative will show an increase in their income after one year .”
For both goals and objectives, be as specific as possible. This is key.

3. PROJECT ACTIVITIES. Once you have defined what you’re going to do (in the goals and objectives section), you need to define how you’re going to do it. These are the project activities, where you explain in the nuts-and-bolts of how you’re going to carry out your project. This section should be as specific and detailed as possible too; it should also include a timeline that shows when the activities will be carried out.
For example, the project activities for an after-school program might include: “We will have 65 children between the ages of 7 and 10 on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 3 to 5 pm. Children will work with a volunteer, who will read stories with them and ask questions that test their comprehension. Sept - Dec, 2000.”

4. EVALUATION PLAN. An evaluation plan outlines a plan for showing that you met the goals that you set for your project. Evaluation does not have to be complicated — getting people to tell stories about how the project has benefited them can be one of the best ways to evaluate your work. More information on evaluation can be found in CPC’s brochure entitled, “Self-Evaluation for Grassroots Groups.”

5. ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION. Somewhere in the proposal, you will need to outline your organization — its history, accomplishments so far, structure, qualifications of key people, and so on. Use this section to explain why you are the right group to do this project.

6. ATTACHMENTS. In most proposals, you will be asked to attach several things, including a budget (anticipated income and expenses both for your project and your organization as a whole), a copy of the letter from the IRS about receiving your tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status (if applicable), and a list of your board of directors with professional and community affiliations.

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