Application Components

This is the ninth article in a series on grant writing. Read the introduction to the entire series.

A grant proposal is your opportunity to talk about all the ways your neighborhood association makes a difference in your community. This is where you live, work, and play. You know your neighborhood has the potential to do some amazing things and you know the barriers to reaching that potential. No one is better positioned to write about where you live than you. This is your chance to let others know about the place you call home.

A strong proposal will tell a compelling story of your neighborhood association and your community and will grab the reviewer’s attention from the start and keep it throughout. It will prove the need in your community, establish the credibility of your organization and the people in it, paint a picture of the proposed program, and convince the reviewer that your program will make a real difference in the lives of those it impacts. You know your neighbors, you know the problems your neighborhood faces every day, and you have a great idea for tackling it. This gives you an inherent advantage when writing because you are not just writing about clients you serve, you are writing about the people with whom you share your life.

Grant proposals have several components. This next 5 articles will guide you through the typical sections of a grant proposal. While these are common sections, they are not necessarily the only pieces that may be present in an RFP. Certain funders may also use different names or terminology. However, being familiar with the components below will give you a good foundation for almost any proposal. As always, read the RFP thoroughly and make a plan to ensure you complete every part of the grant proposal.

Articles 10-14 deal with the different application components.