Print the cover letter on your charity’s letterhead. If it takes more than a page, use blank pages of similar color and quality for subsequent pages. Use regular photocopy paper for everything else. Using heavier paper looks wasteful. If you’re fundraising for an environmental organization, always use recycled paper. Recycled paper makes a good impression on other socially conscious funders, too, and you’ll be doing the environment a favor at the same time.

Twelve-point type is optimum for proposals and cover letters, and never use a font smaller than eleven points. Budgets and charts with numbers might use a font as small as 10 points if the spacing makes it easily legible. You might laugh at these guidelines, but the trustees who will read your proposal are mostly, like me, over 40 with eyesight that isn’t what it once was. They’ll appreciate receiving documents they can read easily. In print, fonts with serifs (such as Times Roman) are easier to read than sans serif fonts (such as Arial). You’ll also find you can get more words to a page using Times New Roman as opposed to using Arial.

Margins of at least 1 inch all around also make a document easier to read. Using a discrete header or footer that identifies your charity and gives page numbers can come in handy for the funder if pages get scrambled in the funder’s photocopying process. Avoid putting the funder’s name in a header or footer. It’s too easy to forget to change these when revising the proposal for a new funder, and failing to do so will make you look incompetent.

Standard proposal formatting calls for paragraphs not to be indented. In addition, I like to have paragraphs formatted flush left with a ragged right margin. Justified text might make pretty blocks on the page, but because justification compromises the spacing between letters and words, it ends up making the text harder to read.

Save your beautiful glossy folders for press packets and sponsorship proposals. Spending a lot on presentation materials can put off funders.

To staple or to paperclip, that is the question—one with an easy answer. Paperclip, always. Chances are the funder will need to make additional copies of your proposal. Stapling makes this more difficult. I clip together each section separately (cover letter, executive summary/proposal, and each attachment) and then use a large clip for the entire package so it comes out of the envelope in one piece. A thick annual report or other publication might not fit into the clip, but all the unbound sheets should.

Use an envelope that looks professional but not flashy. I think white envelopes are always best. The brown craft ones look too plain. Colored ones might make the proposal stand out in a stack of mail, but I don’t think it does so in a positive way.

Label your envelope clearly as a proposal, letter of inquiry, or report. This makes it easier for the funder to sort their mail, and they will appreciate it. You also avoid your time-sensitive proposal getting lost in a pile of reports from other charities.