No matter how amazing your project is if your proposal is disorganized your project will appear disorganized. A project proposal needs to explain the plan and purpose for the set of activities an NGO wishes to implement, and requests funding from a donor. A project proposal does more than just secure grants. The process of drafting a proposal helps NGOs plan a project from the idea stage to reality. It provides a way to flesh out, explain, test, prove, critique and share the project details. Thus, creating an outline of your project proposal early on is a great way to keep the proposal focused and organized.
Here are four methods to organize a proposal:
By Project Plan
The purpose of a project plan and proposal are very different. However, their content is often similar enough that many proposal writers will take the project plan as a starting point and modify it to become a proposal. This is not a bad strategy for preparing a proposal quickly, but it is not the most effective. The outline and headings, in this case, will be based on what the NGO needs to implement the project, which is often very different from what the donor needs to evaluate the project. It is often obvious to donors which NGOs used this format because there is more emphasis on the technical details surrounding activities, timeline, and M&E plan rather than holistic information in the project rationale, goal, beneficiaries, and sustainability.
Another common and easy method to format a proposal is just by taking all the parts of the proposal you want to include and just calling them by name. This method is fairly useful to both the NGO for internal planning and to the donor for evaluation. However, knowing which parts to include and how to order each part can be challenging. For example, should the Sustainability Plan be included before or after the Budget? Another challenge is that this format style can sometimes feel disjointed, as each piece is described separately with no flow from one section to the next. Additionally, it is easy to forget mentioning important points not specifically brought up in each segment, such as beneficiaries and relevance to the donor’s priorities.
This option for organizing proposals tries to shape your proposal into a story. This is a very engaging and persuasive method, however, it is also more challenging to do well. This format requires very strong writing skills and lots of time. Additionally, not all projects can easily be turned into a narrative: saving young girls from child marriage might make for a great story, but lobbying the government to change marriage laws much less so. Projects that work well for this narrative style have relatable beneficiaries and clear solutions, similar to case studies. This style also ensures that each piece of the project flows together in the proposal, but the pieces that do not fit in easily (M&E plan, organizational profile, etc.) are often discarded or placed in the annex. Despite the difficulties in this format, this is by far the best option for building a highly persuasive and marketable proposal focused on the beneficiaries.
For applications to donors with very strict but transparent requirements, this is by far the best option for organizing your proposal. The idea behind this format is to center the entire proposal around how the donor will evaluate the proposal. This helps to ensure you do not miss any requirements and that the donor does not miss anything important for the evaluation. The potential downsides to this method are that each proposal has to be built around a specific donor, which requires a good amount of donor research and customization. It also requires that the donor make their complete evaluation criteria public.
The Foundation’s Board of Directors will evaluate all proposals based on:
Is the project relevant to the Foundation’s Funding Strategy?
How will the project ensure strong impact?
Is the project sustainable?
Is the projected cost-effectiveness?
Is the NGO qualified to lead this project?
Example outline:
The relevance of the Project
Ensuring Strong Impact through Community
Ensuring Sustainability through Market Forces
The Cost-Effective Solution
Our NGO’s Unique Qualifications
How to Choose a Format
Hopefully, it has been made clear that there is no one best way to organize a proposal. It will depend a lot on the donor, the type of project, and internal capacity. Below is a table illustrating the strengths and weaknesses of each method.
The outline by proposal parts is a fairly safe bet for all types of donors and is also fairly straight-forward to write for those new at proposal writing. An outline based on the project plan is a fairly easy way to prepare a proposal, so great for when you need to submit something quickly or to donors already likely to fund you. It is also really great for donors who like to get directly involved in activities and see all the technical details. However, for donors who care more about the overall impact or individuals who need more convincing to give funding, the narrative format is often a better choice. For institutional donors with very clear application expectations such as those from governments or CfPs, the format following donor requirements is the best option
Alta Alonzi is a writer and researcher focusing on international development funding and grassroots NGOs. She works with the fundraising consulting company Philantropia conducting research for clients ranging from small NGOs to UN organizations. She also works closely with FundsforNGOs running training webinars, contributing resource guides, and updating the Premium donor database.
At first thank you for your kindness words. This is the useful for us.
I am also learning about proposal. I want to submit aproposal about women and in farwestern community hospital Attariya kailali (FARWESTERN REMOTE AREA OF NEPAL )
Thank you very much. Am learning more about proposal writing and I have written my first grant proposal About construction of eco San toilets in less privileged communities in Uganda. Where can I get funds?
Dear Natukunfa: We are not a funding organization and do not provide grants. We are a social enterprise that provides platform to connect you with expert advice on proposal writing to get your amazing projects funded.
Please check out the many resources available on our site.
Priti Thapa madam , I want to learn more this , i want to cooperate with youth for social volunteer ,& social contributors . please give us sources of funds for utilization human resources & country natural resources in developing country like Nepal.
Dear Manish: We are not a funding organization and do not provide grants. We are a social enterprise that provides platform to connect you with expert advice on proposal writing to get your amazing projects funded. If you want to find theme specific donors, we recommend you check our partners website, fundsforngos.org
Hope this will be of help
Thank you!
Wilmon Wickremasinghe
5 years ago
Informative, constructive and encouraging article in preparing a proposal for fund raising.
Great Thanks.
Dear Wilmon: We are glad you found this article helpful.
we will be publishing all of our expert advice daily to this site. So subscribe to our newsletter and check back regularly for more free resources!
Stephen Akili
5 years ago
I learned something from your skills, thank u alot madam. Please can you send me proposal format to know better.
Great piece, thanks so much for flashing out all the various approach, i would like to submit a proposal on governance and peaceful co-existence the war torn South Sudan.
Dear Farouk: We are not a funding organization and do not provide grants. We are a social enterprise that provides platform to connect you with expert advice on proposal writing to get your amazing projects funded.
Please check out the many resources available on our site.
Thank you!
Frankline
5 years ago
Hello, thank you for this very useful article. I will like to work with you in the future on similar topic. Please can i have your personal address (email and phone number)?
Good job for the article, rely I can now identify the mistakes I had written in our project proposal about wetland magement plan development.i hope am going to rectify it.nice regards.
Great article. Tha k you
Thank you for your kind words!
At first thank you for your kindness words. This is the useful for us.
I am also learning about proposal. I want to submit aproposal about women and in farwestern community hospital Attariya kailali (FARWESTERN REMOTE AREA OF NEPAL )
Hello,
Glad you found this article of use! For your work, I would also recommend this article with a sample project background for work with women in Nepal: http://helpfindschool.com/prop/proposals/sample-project-background-womens-issues-nepal/
Good luck!
Thank you very much. Am learning more about proposal writing and I have written my first grant proposal About construction of eco San toilets in less privileged communities in Uganda. Where can I get funds?
Dear Natukunfa: We are not a funding organization and do not provide grants. We are a social enterprise that provides platform to connect you with expert advice on proposal writing to get your amazing projects funded.
Please check out the many resources available on our site.
Thank you!
Priti Thapa madam , I want to learn more this , i want to cooperate with youth for social volunteer ,& social contributors . please give us sources of funds for utilization human resources & country natural resources in developing country like Nepal.
thank you
Manish Adhikari
Dear Manish: We are not a funding organization and do not provide grants. We are a social enterprise that provides platform to connect you with expert advice on proposal writing to get your amazing projects funded. If you want to find theme specific donors, we recommend you check our partners website, fundsforngos.org
Hope this will be of help
Thank you!
Informative, constructive and encouraging article in preparing a proposal for fund raising.
Great Thanks.
Dear Wilmon: We are glad you found this article helpful.
we will be publishing all of our expert advice daily to this site. So subscribe to our newsletter and check back regularly for more free resources!
I learned something from your skills, thank u alot madam. Please can you send me proposal format to know better.
Dear Stephen: You can find our sample resources here.
I get it
Great piece, thanks so much for flashing out all the various approach, i would like to submit a proposal on governance and peaceful co-existence the war torn South Sudan.
Kind Regards
Farouk Ismail Ukach
Dear Farouk: We are not a funding organization and do not provide grants. We are a social enterprise that provides platform to connect you with expert advice on proposal writing to get your amazing projects funded.
Please check out the many resources available on our site.
Thank you!
Hello, thank you for this very useful article. I will like to work with you in the future on similar topic. Please can i have your personal address (email and phone number)?
Dear Frankline: You can contact us at programs@proposalsforngos.com
This is a great resource.
Good job for the article, rely I can now identify the mistakes I had written in our project proposal about wetland magement plan development.i hope am going to rectify it.nice regards.
Dear Twinamasika: We are glad you found this article helpful!
Very informative..especially the diverse formats for different stakeholder needs..thanks!
Dear Iram: We are glad you found this article helpful!
Empowering information thanks
Dear Rodrick, Thank you!
Priti, how can you help a struggling organization like HURESIC to raise funds
Thanks so much for the advice
Very helpful thanks for sharing
Thanks for a very educative document on writing a funding proposal
Glad to read this Substantial article.
Nice article, can I have contact of Alta for more information?
Hello Dennis,
Thank you for your comment. You can contact our office through our contact form if you have any further questions.
Very good article. We are very happy
Fantastic! I have been enlightened by your article. It will always be my reference
This article is an eye opener on good proposal writing skills. Thank you for this endeavor.
Great articles… thankyou