Making a Persuasive Argument for Each Funder
Making the proposal fit the funder is where you really turn a project description into a grant proposal. Starting with the description you and the program staff have agreed on, you’ll use all you learned during your research to create a new description that expresses the project in a way that will get it funded.
You’ll modify your base description for each funder to appeal to its specific interests. You’ll also include references to any past funding of similar projects and anything else that will build recognition on the part of each reader.
WORDS TO THE WISE
Don’t sink your proposal with a word-processing error. There’s no excuse for sending out a proposal to one funder with a different funder’s name in the project description. Keep a clean, unmodified version of your project description—free of any funder’s name or specific interests—to use as the starting point for all proposals.
Before going any further, make a checklist of all the elements each funder requires, both in the proposal and as attachments. As you develop each proposal, refer to these lists and use the checklists again for your final sign-off.
Let’s look at a few examples of customization based on the slightly differing interests of three funders. (You might also want to review the examples in Chapter 9 as illustrations of how to tie your proposal to grantmakers’ interests.)
First, take a look at the main section from a proposal for a literacy program that everyone concerned with the project at the charity has reviewed and which is ready to go.
The Ralph Goodson Literacy Project works with young people and their families in the inner city to promote literacy and the pursuit of knowledge. We do this through three initiatives.
(1) To develop a love of reading in the early years, we sponsor story times at day-care centers. Volunteers read to the 2- to 5-year-olds twice a week. Art projects based on the stories extend the children’s interests. Older children can take home copies of the stories they have heard to share with their families.
(2) We also work with children in grades K–3 to develop reading skills to further learning in all subjects. After-school tutoring ensures that each child will reach or exceed his grade-appropriate reading level. Students are encouraged to complete writing exercises about what they have read to further develop skills and learn to express themselves in writing.
(3) Studies have found that reading skills must be cultivated at home to become engrained. Too often, parents lack good reading skills themselves. Volunteer tutors work with entire families on reading skills in one of our four centers or, in some cases, make house calls for the more difficult-to-reach families.
We have found that this holistic approach provides the best environment over a sustained period to develop advanced reading skills in children from any background.
The following excerpts are from the guidelines of three real foundations, after which you’ll find the preceding program description modified to match those interests. I’ve italicized passages that have been changed and used ellipses (…) to indicate that the remainder of a paragraph would be repeated unchanged from the basic description.
Foundation 1. “Helping children and youth develop the skills and experiences they need to reach their full potential.”
The Ralph Goodson Literacy Project works with young people and their families in the inner city to promote literacy and the pursuit of knowledge. We do this through three initiatives.
(1) For each child to have the opportunity to develop into the best person and citizen he or she can be, a love of reading must be established in the earliest years. The Literacy Project sponsors story times at day-care centers to achieve this. Volunteers read to the 2- to 5-year-olds twice a week. …
(2) We also work with children in grades K–3 to develop reading skills to further learning in all subjects and ensure continued development. …
(3) …
We have found that this holistic approach provides the best environment over a sustained period to develop advanced reading skills in children from any background. After being equipped with the marvelous skill to read anything put before them, the students participating in this program have unlimited opportunities available to them, no matter what their field of endeavor.
Foundation 2. “Development of a broader knowledge base … so students make the transition from learning to read to reading to learn.”
The Ralph Goodson Literacy Project works with young people and their families in the inner city to promote literacy and the pursuit of knowledge. We do this through three initiatives.
(1) To develop a love of reading in the early years, we sponsor story times at day-care centers. Volunteers read to the 2- to 5-year-olds twice a week. [The remainder of this paragraph was omitted for this funder.]
(2) We also work with children in grades K–3 to develop reading skills to help them move from simply learning to read to applying their reading skills to every subject they study. After-school tutoring ensures that each child will reach or exceed his grade-appropriate reading level, working with them to read and comprehend texts in many subject areas. …
(3) …
We have found that this holistic approach provides the best environment over a sustained period to develop advanced reading skills in children from any background. After being equipped with the marvelous skill to read anything put before them, the students participating in this program have unlimited opportunities available to them, no matter what their field of endeavor.
Foundation 3. “Stimulate personal development and encourage commitment to social equity … through writing, literacy, and the promotion of the voices of youth.”
The Ralph Goodson Literacy Project works with young people and their families in the inner city to promote literacy and the pursuit of knowledge. We do this through three initiatives.
(1) To develop a love of reading in the early years, we sponsor story times at day-care centers. Volunteers read to the 2- to 5-year-olds twice a week. Art projects based on the stories extend the children’s interests and encourage them to tell their own stories. Older children can take home copies of the stories they have heard to share with their families.
(2) We also work with children in grades K–3 to develop reading skills to further learning in all subjects. After-school tutoring ensures that each child will reach or exceed his grade-appropriate reading level. Students are encouraged to complete writing exercises about what they have read to further develop skills and learn to express themselves creatively in writing.
(3) Studies have found that reading skills must be cultivated at home to become engrained. Too often, parents lack good reading skills themselves. Volunteer tutors work with entire families on reading skills in one of our four centers or, in some cases, make house calls for the more difficult-to-reach families. By working to improve the reading skills of the entire family, the program makes it possible for the adults to participate more equitably in society and ensures that their children will have opportunities to do so as well.
We have found that this holistic approach provides the best environment over a sustained period to develop advanced reading skills in children from any background and to bring more children and families into the mainstream of American society.
Each version speaks to the funder’s interests without parroting back the same language. Some points get expanded for one funder, while other points get condensed for another. The actual program, however, remains the same.
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