No one likes a whiner. If
your grant proposal always begins with a negative picture and you use the same
tired phrases or statistics to show need, you could be whining at your grant
prospects, instead of encouraging them to cooperate with you in success.
Which one of these lead
sentences makes you feel good about a mission to keep children in school?
1. “Over 20,000 school children in (your town) drop
out of school each year. 64% of them engage in criminal activity, and 3% die as
a result of that criminal activity”
OR
2. “In the past year, 6100 more children
successfully graduated from (your area)’s schools thanks to donor support of
our “Stay In School, Succeed in Life” Program. Our donors take great personal
satisfaction in knowing they were a major part of that success.”
Donors get from dozens to
thousands of appeals each year, depending on their size and scope. They already recognize the need. They would not be donors unless they wanted to help, so start your
proposal with a positive. Let them know that donors participating in your
program have been able to have a positive impact. There is usually a place in every proposal for a
statement of need. That’s the place to include the justification for the
program, and to include the negatives you are trying to reverse. Leading off
with a positive statement in either the executive summary or the program
description sets a positive tone for the whole proposal.
Leading with a picture of
success or achievement immediately improves the grant reviewer’s mood. It is
human nature to want to be on a winning team that solves problems, so present
your program as a success, not as a “thumb in the dike”.
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