by Margaret Jamal

Created on: January 07, 2009   Last Updated: January 27, 2012

Even in a slow economy, grants for essential social, economic, health and institutional issues are still made available. Grants are funds awarded in response to a plan submitted as a grant proposal for addressing these or other issues

While there are certain basics of writing grant proposals, the categories of required information may vary according to the type and amount of funding being requested. For example, a grant proposal that is seeking to cover costs for a bus to transport homeless people will not need all of the same type of information as one seeking funds to operate an afterschool program. Many times a grant proposal will be submitted in response to a Request for Proposal (or RFP) from a funding source. The content of the RFP will influence the content of the grant proposal.

Grant proposals that are organized in sections make it easier for donors to locate the information. Every section should reinforce whatever issue is being proposed for funding. All of the responses provided in each section should clearly relate to the primary issue presented in the grant proposal.

The following briefly describes the basic sections that should be included when writing grant proposals:

Problem statement: A Problem Statement identifies something wrong that is in urgent need of a solution. Keep in mind that the types of problems identifying significant pain, suffering or hardship for others will have the greatest chance for getting funded. For example, consider the following: There has been a 20% increase in substance abuse related arrests among juveniles between ages 18 through 24. Statistics from the XYZ Global Youth Initiative indicates that a common trigger for substance abuse among juveniles in this age range is social isolation.

The problem statement in the example above plainly identifies something wrong. It also indicates who has the problem and how much the problem is making an impact. This problem statement also suggests a root cause for the problem.

Notice that it did not have to address the totality of the problem, but only an area that may be addressed in the grant proposal.

Needs statement: The needs statement describes a lack of resources required to solve a problem. For example, a portion of the needs statement could include: The social isolation that triggers the problem of substance abuse among juveniles between ages 18 through 24 reveals a need for developing socialization skills. There is a critical shortage of counselors who are able to teach

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