11 grant writing tips for winning proposals

Nonprofit organizations may focus on medical research, community outreach, animal rights, or international humanitarian relief. Despite differences in their primary subject, they all share one common and essential need: funding. 

Grants from government agencies, corporations, or foundations provide much of this vital support. Securing them requires effective grant writing. 

While nearly 70% of charitable giving in America comes from individual donors, organizations cannot exclusively rely on those relationships. It’s also insufficient for nonprofits to merely hope that publicizing their work will automatically draw funders’ attention. Soliciting financial resources directly by writing grant applications remains obligatory.

No single formula will guarantee a proposal; it’s a competitive process, with some win-rate estimates as low as 10%. However, successful grant proposals tend to share certain best practices, as compiled here in Foundant’s checklist of 11 grant writing tips essential for avoiding common grant mistakes and producing winning grant proposals. 

1. Prepare before you start writing

As with any piece of skillful writing, a grant application begins long before the messy first draft. Funding agencies want nonprofits to demonstrate their expertise and impact regarding the challenges they solve and the relevance of their request to the funders’ criteria for awarding money. Moreover, how proposals convey that expertise, impact, and relevancy will significantly affect their odds of success.

Think of it this way: writing grants for nonprofits is, at its core, about storytelling. Data and statistics play important roles in that story, and researching them in advance is essential. However, all elements of the story must be framed strategically.

Before grant writers begin, they should understand relevant projects inside and out and work to identify potential funders who align with their goals. Researching relevant industries or populations affected by a nonprofit’s work may reveal an already-involved funding agency. Individual state nonprofit associations can also be valuable resources for finding grants.

Crucial questions to ask before writing any grant include:

1. What specific needs will be filled by this project?
2. Who is currently addressing this need or funding other related issues?
3. Which organizations have overarching missions related to this need?
4. Are there agencies with historical or personal connections to this work?
5. Are there funders with whom this nonprofit has existing relationships?
6. What is a realistic budget?
7. Which funders focus on projects of this scope?

2. Understand grant guidelines

Following grant writing best practices isn’t just about writing a proposal well. It also means demonstrating a nuanced understanding of the ideas behind a grant program and what its administrators look for. Understanding this upfront will ensure nonprofits better tailor their grant-writing strategies to specific funders. 

Here are a few tips to make sure grant guidelines are used wisely during the grant writing process:

• Read closely: Before crafting a proposal, it’s important to understand the eligibility requirements, project criteria, application process deadlines, and other tiny details.
• Verify in advance: If nonprofits realize they aren’t eligible for a grant only after applying, they’ve wasted everyone’s time and potentially harmed valuable relationships. Similarly, confirm any requirements or expectations that seem unclear.
• Make it personal: Broad, vague grant proposals won’t make projects more appealing; quite the opposite. Successful grant writing examples are finely tailored to each funding opportunity.

Nothing will disqualify a funding application like an indication that the grant writer doesn’t understand or follow the grant guidelines. Studying them up front and adhering to them as closely as possible will prevent this later.

3. Develop a clear concept

Writing a powerful grant application supporting a vaguely defined or ill-conceived project is tricky. Nonprofits need to convey clear, actionable concepts and specific goals developed well before they reach the grant application stage, which act as unifying themes connecting each supporting element of the story told.

Try these writing tips for grants that help develop clear, compelling proposals:

1. Incorporate data and evidence that reinforce the needs discussed and proposed solutions or methods.
2. Provide memorable and personable qualities related to the underlying story—relating each example or anecdote to the unifying theme as you humanize or foster connections to the intended purposes of awarded funds.
3. Push beyond mere examples or statistics, applying narrative techniques to grab readers, keeping them engaged and curious.

Nonprofit grant writing always returns to the principles of storytelling. Readers won’t be convinced of a story’s power if the storyteller doesn’t communicate what makes it so powerful. 

4. Tailor your proposal to the funder

It’s simple: many different projects may be deserving of (and eager for) the resources funders have at their disposal. They’re much more likely to connect with projects that appear well-matched to their existing goals, priorities, and requirements. 

Proposals demonstrating prior research of these and other elements will appear more professional, polished, and ultimately more deserving!

That’s why it’s so important that each proposal be tailored carefully to the specific grant or funder it’s targeting. Grant writing is not the right medium for a “one-size-fits-all” approach.

5. Establish clear and achievable goals

Successful proposals should establish and explain the benchmarks that will be used to measure success and describe the desired impacts or final outcomes. 

This will demonstrate that a project has been thought through fully, from inception to completion. One way to do that? 

Think clearly about measurable goals, as writing SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound) objectives for each project is one of the most effective grant application tips:

• Specific: Avoid the broad and general in favor of the specific and targeted whenever possible.
• Measurable: Get into the nitty gritty details. How many people will be affected? How will that be measured? Which specific numbers will be gathered, and why?
• Attainable: Demonstrate an understanding of the project, the funder, and the issues in question by setting realistic goals.
• Relevant: Focus on goals closely tied to the funding and how it will be employed.
• Time-bound: Set ambitious but realistic time frames, demonstrating dedication and competence.

Grant reviewers want to fund projects that are compelling and urgent, but they also want to fund projects that will be successful. 

6. Write a strong needs statement

When crafting grant proposals, it’s crucial not to lose sight of the ultimate motivations driving them: a demonstrated need that the project will fill. A strong and compelling needs statement will showcase the importance of the project a grant would fund while also providing details about why that need exists and how it might be addressed. 

Needs statements can serve as living documents informing multiple proposals from different funding agencies. This does not mean you’ll submit the same grant to multiple funders! 

However, templating some content about the applying organization and its projects provides a useful foundation and saves considerable time. The details and data behind a project’s importance (along with funder specifics) should be the underlying basis for tailoring each application. 

7. Use simple and concise language

It’s just common sense: a grant proposal should always focus on the issues and work being discussed rather than the grant writer's impressive vocabulary.

Successful grant applications are clearly and gracefully written—it’s obvious that good, strong writing is important. But that doesn’t necessarily mean verbose, flowery, grandiloquent, bombastic, or braggadocious prose. (...Do you see what we did there?)

When in doubt, keep it simple. Get to the point quickly. Paint a vivid picture without wandering off-topic. Above all, prize clarity and concision!

8. Demonstrate impact and sustainability

Even a well-written proposal is unlikely to convince grant reviewers without a clear plan for how the project will achieve its desired impact and how the organization will remain financially sustainable. 

Funders will want to see that nonprofits have thought this through. To do this, grants should discuss how the project's work will continue beyond the terms of the grant itself and how a nonprofit will establish functional, ongoing, and lasting operations. 

The two concepts are intertwined. A project cannot have its intended impact on its recipients if its operating organization cannot keep itself afloat. By discussing these ideas, grant proposals can show donors how the grant money will be used in the immediate and distant future.

9. Include accurate data and evidence

As discussed above, a project's clear concept should rely on relevant statistics to tell its story. Some of the most compelling proposal writing techniques also involve weaving research and relevant metrics throughout the story, including data and evidence wherever possible. 

Here are a few tips for thinking creatively about how to include data and research in a grant proposal:

1. Discuss an underlying need by contextualizing it with demographic data, local trends, and historical program performance numbers.
2. Discuss directly the impacts and outcomes of previous or current relevant projects, such as continued work helping a certain population or in other demonstrative cases.
3. Provide data to demonstrate the effectiveness of other work done by the organization requesting funding.

It’s important to strike a balance—too many numbers, and the story starts to feel more like a list of facts. But too few, and the story feels vague, wispy, and unconvincing. 

10. Develop a realistic budget

Of course, data is also essential for creating, communicating, and defending a realistic project budget. 

A well-prepared budget will demonstrate that the project has been crafted with thought, expertise, and clarity. To do this, it’s important to consider:

• What will we need in terms of personnel? Materials? Travel? Supplies?
• What will the nonprofit’s operational costs be while the project progresses?
• Will there be outreach expenses? Legal fees? Other indirect costs?
• What are some unexpected costs that may arise suddenly?

It’s important to remember that not everything can be predicted or planned. However, the more flexible and creative the thinking behind a budget is, the more impressive its presentation will be.

11. Get feedback

Ultimately, even grants written by individual writers are group efforts. Successful grant writing will solicit the expertise of many stakeholders, each of whom may have access to different data and offer unique perspectives. 

Seek feedback from team members at different organizational levels who interact with relevant communities in different roles. A local clinic doctor, for example, will have a different perspective on the healthcare needs of her community than the CFO of a nonprofit. Viewing a project through both lenses will enrich its proposal, making it more likely to succeed.

Common grant writing mistakes to avoid

It’s easy to set a goal of following grant writing best practices. But without an awareness of what those best practices are attempting to avoid, it’s all too easy to fall into traps. 

Keep these common grant-writing mistakes in mind: 

1. Ignorance of (or disregard for) guidelines
2. Vague, uninformed statements
3. Overly ambitious plans
4. Incomplete budget parameters

Grant writing is time-consuming, and following the different sets of guidelines for many different funding agencies can be overwhelming. But it’s worth taking the extra time to avoid these mistakes.

Need help submitting and managing your grants?

Grant funding is central to nonprofit operations, and finding it can be overwhelming. Following these grant writing tips will increase the odds of success, but it’s incredibly challenging to consistently meet them for the many annual applications most nonprofits prepare. 

That’s why tools such as grant management software are so helpful.

Features like performance tracking, compliance monitoring, application processing, and detailed analytics can streamline the entire grant management process—from application writing to financial management.

Interested in how it works? Learn how Foundant can support your nonprofit through the grant writing process and beyond.