So you have been working hard the last weeks, finding a donor that is a good fit and writing a proposal that is perfect for them. Now you are ready to submit. But there are a couple of things that you should never forget to do before you actually submit a proposal.
Proofreading your proposal is of key importance. Do not do it yourself but ask someone to help you with it. Ideally, you should involve someone who is not part of the project. This way, you will find out if your proposal is also comprehensible for someone outside of your field. Also, typos and minor mistakes may seem like something negligible for you, but they show the donor how much you care. Make sure that the person who reads your proposal does remember it for its quality and not for all its typos.
It is also a good idea to give the proofreader the guidelines as well to have another pair of eyes to see if you follow them strictly. Particularly in competitive calls, not following the guidelines in every detail often is cause for dismissal of your proposal – no matter how good it is.
Normally proofreaders only check the language. They should also take a special look at the formatting though. Even before anybody reads your proposal, they will see how it looks like. A clean and professional first impression is the best start you can get. If the font sizes are different or the sides have a different width, your proposal looks unprofessional and you give the impression that you do not care about details.
The budget is one of the most important parts of your proposal. Look at it as a description of your project in numbers. And these numbers have to add up. It is so easy to make a small mistake, but in the grand scheme of things, this makes a very bad impression. Be sure to check the math in your budget and have someone else do so as well, maybe even the accountant of your organization. This way you also know, if your budget is clear and understandable or if you might have to add a budget narrative.
When you are ready to submit, you need to know where and to whom. Make sure you have the right contact and know how to get your proposal to the donor. Do you need to use a special online form? Do they give you personal contact? Would you have to submit a printed copy by mail? All these things are very important. If you send your proposal to the wrong person, it might not get where it needs to get on time and you might miss the deadline. Knowing your personal contact and referring to this in your cover letter also immediately establishes a better relationship and gives your proposal the best starting conditions.
Many times, you have to submit attachments with your proposal. This might be a copy of your registration documents, a proof of community involvement or references from past donors. Make sure you have these documents handy at the time of submission and that they are updated. If you submit your registration documents from five years ago, the donor might think you have no current documents. If your reference is from ten years ago, it is worth very little. Make sure that all your documents are updated and in the best possible shape.
These are some of the most important things you have to keep in mind before submitting your proposal. If you don’t, you might be set up for failure – it happened to the author once. Read everything about her fail in this article:
Proposal FAIL – Going on vacation instead of submitting
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Eva is based in Germany and has worked for nearly a decade with NGOs on the grassroots level in Nepal in the field of capacity development and promotion of sustainable agricultural practices. Before that, she worked in South America and Europe with different organizations. She holds a Ph.D. in geography and her field of research was sustainability and inclusion in development projects.
Thanks a lot Eva for the great work you have done. I have found them so useful because there a number of things that I did not take them as important. May be in addition could you add on something concerning crowdfunding techniques, cover letters, proposals and more. Regards, Godfrey Obua.
Hello,
thank you very much for your comment. We already have articles on crowdfunding, cover letters and proposals in general, but in the future we will continue to put out helful content every day!
thanks madam Eva and indeed we have been looking for constructive people like you with experience ion grass root fields.
God bless you
Thanks alot for such information i personaly i knew little about proporsal writing
Dear Nagudi:
I am glad you found this article helpful!
Thank you dear for that advise,we have been having a serious challenge to get donors
Dear Mugisa: I am glad that the article is helpful to you.