by Colette Georgii

Created on: April 28, 2007   Last Updated: April 30, 2007

Grant Writing and Proposal writing is mostly the same, being the Grant is usually called a Grant Proposal. However, there can be proposals for other things such as a contract proposal or a class proposal. So the only difference would be that when you are writing a Grant proposal it is a proposal designed for receiving a Grant; whereas a Proposal could be for any number of different things that someone would need to write a Proposal for. The Proposal would have to be written according to what is being proposed. The Grant Proposal is usually a document that you need to submit to a Foundation for the purpose of receiving a Grant usually for a non-profit organization. There are usually about 5 elements to the Grant Proposal: The description of the project you are requesting the Grant money for; the description of what your organization stands for such as it's mission statement and purpose; the qualifications of the members who will be working on the specific project with the names of these members and maybe their resumes; a timeline of dates for when specific elements of the project will be completed including the goals and objectives of the project; and the budget. The budget is the most important part of the Grant Proposal. The granting organization will want to know how you will be planning to spend the money they are giving you.

Grant proposals are usually offered by foundations that are set up for the purpose of granting money to specific organizations that they normally fund.

The generic proposal would be written along similar lines. Say you want to teach a new class that has never been offered at a specific college. You would describe the class you would like to teach, offer sample lesson plans with goals and objectives, a timeline for how you will reach your goals and objectives. Here could also be included a budget for supplies such as books needed to teach the class.

Grant Proposals and other proposals are usually written along the same lines as a Project Proposal or a Strategic Plan. They are all similar. A project proposal is a proposal for rectifying a specific problem and will usually include a problem statement, which is a one-line statement of the problem. A Strategic Plan is a plan of strategy for getting a mission accomplished. All these types of forms include goals and objectives and a timeline.

When an organization applies for a grant it must first write a letter of interest to the foundation or other granting organization. The organization requesting the grant will then receive instructions from the granting entity about how to apply for their grant. Each foundation has their own system and their own forms. Once-in-a-while an organization will be requested to supply their own forms or a letter.

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