8 Essential Grant Writing Tips for Success in 2025

Nearly every grant application requires a pile of attachments, and how you present them says a lot about your organization. This level of detail isn’t just for the funder—it’s an essential project management tool for your own team. It shows that you truly understand the operational lift required to bring your vision to life. They want to see a detailed blueprint that walks them through every activity, assigns responsibility, and puts everything on a logical timeline.

For more support in your grant writing efforts, create a 14-day free Instrumentl account to get personalized grant recommendations and to chat with an Onboarding Advisor on our team 6 strategies to make the grant proposal submission process less stressful about your grants strategy. It is helpful to have some grant writing best practices to refer to as you develop your proposal and application. Start with these steps after you have identified potential sources of funding.

• By doing so, they demonstrate foresight and an understanding of the importance of long-term planning to potential funders.
• The advantage of using color is that you can quickly scan the calendar and identify the tasks and events that are most relevant to you.
• Or many of you, when you think about your resources, when you think about how it is that you’re going to further your education related to evaluation to smart objectives.
• At the beginning of the proposal process, as soon as you know who will be on the proposal team, ask everyone to send you the dates they will be on vacation or otherwise inaccessible.

Defining Meaningful Key Performance Indicators

This approach not only provides evidence of success but also makes your proposal memorable. The narrative is where you can connect with your reader on a human level. Use clear, simple language to explain your project’s significance and potential impact. Look for recent studies, government reports, and reputable sources that provide data and statistics related to your project. Grant writing is an essential yet often complex process that requires clarity, strategy, and persistence. Many individuals and organizations have experienced setbacks and frustrations during the proposal creation process.

• Having a thorough understanding of your organization’s goals and priorities will help you write a grant proposal with more clarity and purpose.
• This approach ensures that reviewers quickly grasp the essential points of your proposal, aligning with compelling grant narrative tips.
• Ultimately, the story that you tell needs to provide enough detail about your nonprofit to demonstrate to funders why you are the best fit to complete your proposed project.

Are grant writers paid well?

We have included a few tips for goal setting to help you create a stronger grant proposal. When writing your grant proposal, it is important to tell your story as if those reading it have no prior knowledge of your nonprofit or project. Don’t assume that the funders are familiar with your organization or the work it does. In this post, we’ll dig into what makes a strong grant proposal, effective tips you can use to plan grant proposals better, and give you techniques you can use to bolster your proposals. Use data, case studies, or testimonials to illustrate the need for your initiative and demonstrate its potential impact. In addition to presenting a well-defined problem, your proposal should articulate a clear and actionable plan for addressing it.

Follow exactly the headings and content requirements established by the granting agency’s call for proposals.Grant proposals are direct and to–the–point. This isn’t a good place for you to embroider your prose with flowery metaphors or weave in subtle literary allusions. Match the concepts and language your readers use and are familiar with. Your readers shouldn’t have to work hard to understand what you are communicating. After you feel that your grant proposal is ready for submission and all edits have been made, have it read by a colleague. This should be someone who is not involved with the project and who does not know very much about it prior to reading the proposal.

Pay attention to specific details

You need to know your program goals (both long and short term), the resources you have versus the ones you need, and the potential problems your nonprofit might run into along the way. With 1.5 million nonprofit organizations in the United States alone, the pool is becoming a little more competitive. The executive summary should also present a well-defined plan of action. Describe the specific tasks to be performed, and clarify how progress and success will be measured and documented.

Research and Identify Potential Grants

A grant budget should support and corroborate your proposal’s narrative. In this episode, you’ll learn how to use smart budget worksheets, estimate costs correctly, and plan for the future to create a sustainable budget. Reviewing funder guidelines is essential, as well as engaging your core team and accounting for shared costs. As you adjust your proposal calendar to accommodate interim deadlines that might have slipped, try to avoid changing your target submission date.

We will work with you to create a customized engagement that meets you where you are, and supercharges your ability to make grants an enduring and effective part of your funding portfolio. It’s likely you will quickly come across the funder’s mission statement when you visit their website. Go to the website with the specific intent of finding their mission and vision statements.

Build Strong Partnerships and Collaborations

Use this feedback as a learning opportunity to refine your future applications. A compelling proposal is the cornerstone of any successful grant application. It should not only outline your project but also convey your organization’s passion and commitment to making a difference. Start by clearly defining the problem your project aims to address and provide evidence to support its significance. We have put together some of the best grant writing tips to teach you how to get to know your grant maker, understand the grant guidelines, communicate successfully, and write a successful grant proposal.

Top 10 Proven Strategies for Successful Grant Applications

Before you type a single word, you have to get inside the head of a grant reviewer. Understanding their point of view is your biggest advantage in what is an incredibly competitive space. For more strategies for handling rejection, check out this guide on responding to grant rejection letters. According to Maryn, the 2nd question is much more likely to get a response from the funder because it comes from an open mindset that is focused on improving your applications in the future. Evaluation has become increasingly important to funders in recent years.

Submitting Right Up To the Deadline or Missing Deadlines

One of the best ways to increase the chances of success in your grant proposal is to ask the funder meaningful questions. Including strong partnership letters in your grant application can significantly enhance your proposal’s appeal. Funders look favorably upon collaborations between nonprofits and other entities, sometimes even mandating them for eligibility. Taking time to determine your nonprofit’s Strengths, Aspirations, Opportunities, and Results can help you create actionable goals for your nonprofit’s grant strategy. Funders are increasingly interested in an organization’s capacity to deliver on its promises and sustain its impact over time. To demonstrate this capacity, provide detailed information about your organization’s structure, staff qualifications, and relevant experience.