GRANT PROPOSAL

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

A Grant Proposal is nothing more than an exercise in persuasive writing

The key to being persuasive is to understand your audience

The audience for a grant proposal usually includes both business managers
and engineers, and they view proposals in different ways

Business managers review proposals to see if the plan for solving the
problem is cost effective. They tend to be cautious people who like to take
minimal risks and get good returns on their investments

Engineers review proposals to see if the plan is technically feasible and

innovative

UNDERSTAND YOUR GOAL AND MARKETING STRATEGY

Your grant proposal needs to demonstrate:

You can do the research

You have useful, creative ideas.

You are highly motivated to complete the work proposed

Persuade the audience that your technical idea is sound

Convince the audience that you have thought through the problem and have
a workable solution

Explain the problem clearly and provide full background to give context to
your solution

DEFINING YOUR GOAL

Think about the clients needs and requirements and your objectives

Convince the client that you understand his or her needs and can meet his or
her requirements

Convince the client that you have the credibility, experience, and
qualifications to do the job

You need to design your own marketing strategy

SELECT THE CORRECT WRITING STYLE

From reading your proposal, the reviewers will form an idea of who you
are as a scholar, researcher and as a person

They will decide whether you are creative, logical, analytical, up-to-date in
the relevant literature of the field, and, most important, capable of
executing the proposed project

Allow your discipline and its conventions to determine the general style of
your writing, and allow your own voice (and personality) to come through

Be sure to clarify your projects theoretical orientation and experimental

foundation with data displays and diagrams

ORGANIZE YOUR PROJECT AROUND THE FOUR Ps

Product The product aspects of marketing deal with the specifications of the
actual goods or services that you are proposing

Pricing This refers to the process of setting a price/cost for the product. The
price/cost need not be monetary; it can simply be what is exchanged for the
product or services (e.g., time, energy, psychology, or attention)

Promotion This includes publications/publicity, patents, and personal selling. It

refers to the various methods of promoting the product and the project team

Placement (or distribution) This refers to when and how the product gets to the
clients (e.g., the project schedule, principal investigator as the point of contact, and
the delivery method)

ELEMENTS OF A PROPOSAL
1.
2.
3.

4.
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11.

Title page
Executive Summary
Introduction (Statement of the Problem, Purpose of Research or Goals, and
Significance o research)
Literature Review
Project Description or Program (Objective)
Project Narrative (Methods, Procedures, Outcomes or Deliverables, and
Dissemination)
Project Evaluation
Personnel
Budget and Justification
Timelines
Qualifications

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Short, information-packed summary of the proposal

In 1 or 2 paragraphs

Includes

Purpose of the proposal

Essentials of the program

Total expense of the budget

Should not exceed 1 page

A reader should finish the summary knowing the basic information

INTRODUCTION

Should cover the key elements of your proposal, including:

Statement of the problem

Purpose of research

Research goals or objectives

Significance of the research

INTRODUCTION

The statement of problem should provide the background and rationale for the
project

Establish the need and relevance of the research

How is your project different from previous research on the same topic?

Will you be using new methodologies or covering new theoretical territory?

The research goals or objectives should identify the anticipated outcomes of the
research and should match up to the needs identified in the statement of the
problem

List only the principal goal(s) or objective(s) of your research and save subobjectives for the project narrative

LITERATURE REVIEW

Reviewers want to know whether you have done the necessary preliminary
research to undertake your project

Literature reviews should be selective and critical, not exhaustive

Reviewers want to see your evaluation of previous research

and

development

PROJECT DESCRIPTION OR PROGRAM (OBJECTIVE)

State explicitly what you propose to do

Explain your approach to solving the problem by answering the following questions:

What are the technical specifications for the proposed project?

How will the current research, such as recent articles on the subject or other
projects of a similar kind, be used to help solve the problem?

How does your work fit into a larger project?

3 subsections:
1.

Objectives

2.

Methods

3.

Evaluation

Your objectives must be tangible, specific, concrete, measurable, and achievable in a

specified time period

PROJECT NARRATIVE

Describe the specific activities that will be implemented to accomplish your

project objectives.

Enable the reviewers to visualize the implementation of the project

Match the previously stated objectives

Provide the order and timing for the tasks

Defend your chosen methods, especially if they are new and unorthodox

PROJECT EVALUATION

You need to consider how you will evaluate whether the project is successful

How will you measure whether the project meets its goal?

2 types of formal evaluation:

1.

Product measurement (e.g., test a computer programs performance under

various conditions for versatility, accuracy and speed)

2.

Process Analysis (e.g., analyze the milestones, such as the ability of a

prototype to integrate with other components of a project)

PERSONNEL

Explain staffing requirements in detail, and make sure that staffing makes
sense. Ne very explicit about the skill sets of the personnel already in place
(you will probably include their Curricula Vitae as part of the proposal).

Explain the necessary skill sets and functions of personnel you will recruit

To minimize expenses, phase out personnel who are not relevant to later
phases of a project

BUFGET & BUDGET JUSTIFICATION

The budget spells out project costs and usually consists of a spreadsheet or table
with the budget detailed as line items and a budget narrative (also known as
budget justification) that explains the various expenses

These 2 sections use a short paragraph or 2 to introduce graphic elements, such as

Gantt Charts and Tables, to represent the proposed schedule

TIMELINES

Explain the timeframe for the research project in some detail

When will you begin (and complete) each step?

Present a visual version of your timeline

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QUALIFICATIONS

Presents another argument for why you should be allowed to undertake the
project, usually by identifying professional and academic qualifications,
experience, and attributes (less important) that make you (or your team) a
suitable candidate for completing the plan.

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