Writing An Effective Introduction For Your Grant Proposal

In this article, we will discuss writing your grant introduction, which is one of the most important aspects of writing a grant. This also may be called, Applicant Background…Description of Applicant or Applicant Information. This section tells the funder about your organization, the person writing the proposal, and the problem the grant can address. This section of your proposal is your first “HELLO NICE TO MEET YOU” to the funder and you must not only capture their attention, but you must also keep it. In the Introduction the funder is looking for 4 specific things:

-Credibility of your organization

-You should be able to clearly identify or explain what the organization does

-Clearly show your organization’s qualifications to handle funding

-Clearly show your organizations experience in grant administration

Now for the breakdown: How do you describe your organization

-Give the Mission

-Give the history, now on this part, you need to be concise

-Give your location and where the project will take place….this can be the same place or two different places. Keep in mind that every grant has a specific service area that it covers. ?You must make sure that your project covers the service area required by the grant.

-Who is your target audience. Be very specific with this. For example your target audience is 18-24 year old females who dropped out of school in their senior year of high school that live in Galveston, Texas. Also you need to incorporate how many girls are you going to offer these services.?

-What services are you providing, be very specific. For example you will pay for all the students to take the practice GED test, then hire specialized tutors for each girl that needs improvement in specific areas like math or science. ?You will also pay for the girls to take the GED test. With the services you need to be specific so the funder will have an understanding of what the money will be spent on.?

-Who are you board of directors. With this if you don’t have a board of directors do not even mention, unless the funders ask for it in the RFP.

-What is the size of your organization….how many people do you have working for the organization and or how many volunteers do you have within the organization

-What is the structure of your organization…Who is the executive director and how many years of service do they have…Who does the finances and how many years of service do they have….who is the administrative assistant and how many years of service do they have. Of course sometimes you have one person that does several roles, this is not frowned upon but you must explain it in detail.?

-What are your other funding sources….are you receiving money from another funder, or you receiving money from a private donor or donors. Are you fundraising? If you are not receiving any other funding please state that in one sentence. But I will say, if you are not receiving any kind of funding from any where else, this is frowned upon by the funders. Funders do not want to be your sole source of income.

For more training, coaching and consulting on writing an award winning grant Contact Me Now