Step 4

Developing Your Proposal

Meeting basic content requirements is generally enough to keep you in the running. However, in a competitive environment, proposals must also provide adequate evidence and examples to support their claims and strike an emotional chord with readers in a way that persuades them to select you over other applicants.

In this section, we provide an overview of core content requirements, and some tips for providing adequate evidence and striking an emotional chord. Each proposal section is then discussed, in the order that it should be developed.

• 4.1 Core content requirements
• 4.2 Providing adequate evidence and examples
• 4.3 Striking an emotional chord: persuading the funder
• 4.4 Introduction
• 4.5 Project Description
  • 4.5.1 Goals and objectives
  • 4.5.2 Methodology
  • 4.5.3 Staffing and administration
  • 4.5.4 Evaluation
  • 4.5.5 Sustainability and future orientation
• 4.6 Budget
• 4.7 Organization Information
• 4.8 Appendices
• 4.9 Executive Summary
• 4.10 Title Page
• 4.11 Cover Letter