The Approach

by Cynthia M. Adams, CEO, GrantStation.com

Let’s say that you have identified a potential grantmaker and are ready to begin writing your grant proposal. Where do you start?

I once heard a speaker refer to a grant proposal as a “series of building blocks of information.” The speaker went on to say that each part supports and leads to the following part. You are simply developing layer after layer of information that eventually all fits together and convincingly presents your request.

Obviously, you want to have a fairly good grasp of what sort of information you will need to draw on in order to build a compelling grant proposal before you start writing. So, the very first step in developing a grant proposal is to organize your approach and create an outline of what the reviewer needs to know.

Sometimes the approach will be straightforward and fairly simple. For example, a private foundation may require that you submit a grant proposal incorporating these components:

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