Optimus Template

10. What is the format for presenting your budget?

Look for any forms or instructions for presenting your budget. The “Budget” section of the RFP will let you know how detailed your budget itemization/description must be. It will also tell you if you need to itemize matching funds (use of your own resources for the project in addition to grant funds).

11. What supporting documentation is needed?

Many grants require forms, signature pages, assurances, resumes, MOUS, letters of commitment, or other appendices in addition to the main narrative. These items, along with instructions for completing them, will be included somewhere in the RFP.

In some cases, completing the supporting documentation takes as much or more effort than writing the grant narrative. You don’t want to write a prize-winning grant and find yourself trying frantically to collect letters and signatures at the last minute—so it’s best to be aware of these requirements ahead of time.

12. How and to whom should the grant application be submitted?

A section in the RFP usually called “Application Submission,” “Submission Procedure,” or “Delivery of Application” will tell you how and to whom your grant proposal should be submitted. It will tell you if your grant proposal should be mailed, submitted electronically, or both. It will also tell you how many copies to submit.

In the case of electronic submission, you need to know if the proposal will be emailed or uploaded to a website. This is information is important, because you don’t want to upload your proposal on the last day of a national grant competition, while people from the fifty states are trying to do the same thing – overloading the funding agency’s server.

These 12 questions should give you the information you need to begin writing your grant narrative. A few other tips that are helpful when reading through an RFP are:

-For federal grants, you will want to look for “Absolute Priorities.” These are mandatory, and your grant application will have no chance if you don’t address them. In your narrative, it should be identified early and often how your project meets these priorities. You can usually find these near the “Purpose of the Funding” section of the RFP.

-Also for federal grants, look for “Competitive Preference Priorities.” These are often things like partnering with a certain agency or serving a certain demographic while developing your project. A funding agency will often award extra points to projects that will meet these priorities. Since you want every point you can get, don’t miss out on this “extra credit” opportunity.

-Federal and state grants will often require that your project meet Government and Performance and Results Act (GPRA) measures. These measures usually appear toward the beginning of an RFP, somewhere near the absolute priority and competitive preference priorities. They are not always mentioned in the instructions for what to put in the narrative under “Goals and Objectives” or “Evaluation,” but you will want to make sure to write to these measures in both of these sections of your narrative.

-Lastly, I advise reading for the information I’ve discussed this week first, but to read over the rest of the RFP over the time span of a couple weeks. The RFP will have supplemental information that can be very helpful when composing your narrative.

Remember, make sure to submit your grant writing questions to me through This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , the way for you to ask the questions you were always afraid to ask about grant writing!

Missed the first six of the 12 things to look for? See them here. We continue with #7-9 below:

7. What questions must be answered in the narrative?

When most people refer to “writing a grant,” they are actually referring to writing a “grant narrative,” which is the main body of your proposal. Somewhere in the RFP, a list of questions to answer in your narrative (organized by section) will appear. This part of the RFP is usually titled “Selection Criteria,” “Scoring Criteria,” “Application Composition,” or simply “Proposal Narrative.”

8. How will the grant be scored?

Ultimately, grant proposals are scored using a point system. Simply put, grant proposals that score the most points win. Knowing how many points are awarded for each section (group of questions) in your narrative helps you gauge a section’s importance.

Scoring information usually appears along with the list of questions you must answer in your narrative. Sometimes it appears somewhere else in the RFP as a separate rubric. This additional section on scoring might be called “Scoring Rubric” or “Application Review Process.”

9. What are the formatting requirements?

Most RFPs have a section devoted on “format” that spells out the requirements for font; font size; line spacing, margin size; headers and footers; inclusion of a cover page; table of contents, abstract or executive summary; forms and supporting documents; and most importantly, the PAGE LIMIT.

The last of the 12 things to look for in a grant application will appear tomorrow, along with a few extra tips!

4. How much money can you apply for?

Grant funds are often referred to in an RFP as an “award.”

To find out how much money you can apply for, look for a section of the RFP with the word “award” in the title (“Award Information,” “Maximum Award,” “Estimated Average Award,” “Award Range,” or “Award Amount”). For a multi-year grant, read carefully to determine if the award amount is stated as an annual or total amount.

Your total grant request should fall within the expected range. If you are applying for the maximum award, make sure you have strong justification for it.

Sometimes the amount of money you can apply for depends upon the number of people who will participate or benefit from your grant program. If the RFP includes such a formula for determining the amount of your grant request, be sure to apply it.

5. How many years does the grant period cover?

To find out how many years of funding you can receive, look for a heading in the RFP called “Project Period” or “Performance Period.”

The average funding period for a state or federal grant is 3 years, with a range of 1-5 years.

6. When is the grant application due?

The words “Due Date” or “Submission Deadline” will probably appear somewhere in the RFP telling you when the proposal is due.

IMPORTANT: Read very carefully to determine if the due date is a postmark deadline – or the date the application must be received by the funding source. Many grants are still submitted by regular mail, and you don’t want to assume the due date is a postmark deadline.

ALSO IMPORTANT: If the due date is the date the application must be received, a time of day will also be specified. Make sure when you mail your application, it will arrive before the specified time – in the time zone of the funding source. FedEx and UPS are great mailing options if you want a guaranteed arrival time.

Items #7-12 are coming up soon!

Thank you, readers, for sending in some great questions through This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (your safety net for asking the grant writing questions you were always afraid to ask.)

I recently received this question, and thought I would do it justice with a longer blog post—so long I’ll be answering it all week in pieces. Enjoy!

Q: These grant guidelines are intimidating. What should I look for in an RFP?

A grant application package can be long and overwhelming, especially if you are new to grant writing. A typical state or federal grant application package, usually called a “request for proposal” (RFP), or “request for application” (RFA), can be anywhere from 50-100 pages in length, and contain a bewildering amount of detailed information. The fact that almost no two RFPs are alike doesn’t help anything.

To successfully tackle an RFP, use it as a reference tool instead of trying to read it cover to cover. This means knowing what information you are looking for—and locating it.

Finding answers to 12 questions in an RFP will give you the key information you need to start writing your proposal. You can always read less critical details later.

1. What is the purpose of the funding?

The purpose for the funds is the most important information in the entire RFP. This is usually described in a section called “Program Description,” “Purpose,” or “Background.”

At its bare essence, a grant proposal is an application to serve the interests of a funding agency. Everything you write should either support or relate to the purpose the funds are being given for.

2. Who is eligible to receive the grant funds?

Before writing, make sure your organization is eligible to receive funds from a particular source.

Eligibility may depend on your organization’s legal status (non-profit, government agency, etc.), total operating budget, service population, partnerships with other agencies, commitment to achieve certain outcomes, or prior funding for similar projects.

This information is usually included in a section of the RFP called “Eligibility Information.”

3. What are you allowed to spend the grant funds on?

Look for a section of the RFP called “Allowable Expenditures” or “Authorized Activities” to find out what you can spend money on. This will help you to know what items can be included in your budget and what activities can be included in your proposal.

So there are the first three things to look for. You can access items #4-12 here, here and here.

I am really enjoying the opportunity to answer some great questions through the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Here’s a recent reader question:

Q: The RFP wants to make sure my plan has “measurable goals.” Can you tell me what they want me to measure?

I plan to expand on this topic in the near future. However, “who will what, how much, by when” is a good, basic format to work from when creating measurable goals. I’ll explain:

-Who will benefit? Make sure to clearly identify the population(s) that will be affected by the project. Since I work with many schools, I’ll develop an example around a professional development project for teachers.

In a program that will train teachers in hands-on instructional teaching strategies, your “who” would be: a) One hundred (100) students in grades 3-6 scoring at or below basic in their math standardized test scores, and b) Thirty (30) participating teachers teaching grades 3-6.

-What will change? You need to indicate the expected change or progress that your project will create (otherwise, why would the funder give you money in the first place?) Continuing from the above example, the “what” is that: a) the students’ math standardized test scores will increase, and b) the teachers will gain increased knowledge of instructional strategies.

-How (much) will it change? It is important here to indicate a measurement of change for the “what.” It isn’t enough to say that things will get better; you have to detail by how much they will improve. For our example, a) students’ math standardized test scores will increase by 10%, and b) teachers’ instructional skills will increase by 10% as measured by an evaluator-developed assessment meant to measure pedagogical progress.

-And finally, by when? It strengthens the funder’s confidence when you hold yourself accountable to a time frame. Indicate when you will reach the expected change. Make sure the time you indicate will be some time before the end of the grant period. For our running example, I’ll give a specific date, like May 2012 for both a and b.

So, that should give us two measurable goals that look like this:

a) One hundred (100) students in grades 3-6 scoring below basic on the math standardized test will increase their score on this test by 10% by May 2012, and

b) Thirty (30) participating teachers will improve their instructional strategy knowledge by 10%, as measured by an evaluator-developed assessment, by May 2012.

As a side note, but still important, make sure that everything you put down is attainable and relevant to the project. While you might meet other organizational goals by May 2012, or involve the same populations in other projects, only provide realistic, measureable goals relevant to the funder and your project.

It’s best to keep your measurable goals clear and brief, but make sure not to leave out those four crucial points: who, what, how much, and by when.

Have a question you’d like to ask via the Novice Grant Writer? Submit it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .