What’s in a name?
A name is a word or set of words by which a person or thing is known, addressed, or referred to. We give names so that its easier for others to understand without explaining further.
The title of your grant proposal is the name of your proposal. A title sets the donor’s first impression, summarizes the project, and makes an application memorable. For so few words, the proposal’s title is disproportionately important. The title is an opportunity for the grant writer to artistically provide the evaluator an idea of what the grant proposal is all about.
Where a good title summarizes the project, a great title makes the donor interested in the project. But a bad title for the proposal can throw off the whole concept of the project leading to the failure of the grant proposal.
You do not want your proposal title to be too generic. Your title should stand out from the pile of hundreds of proposal applications. Make it specific. Emphasize the most important aspects of the project. What you are doing, how you are doing it, where you are doing it, and for whom.
Don’t write: ‘Helping Girls in Rural Areas’
Do write: ‘Advocating for an End of Child Marriage in Kagati Gau, Nuwakot, Nepal’
Yes, the purpose of a title is to describe your full proposal. But descriptive titles are boring. The real purpose of a title is to entice the readers to spend their time to read your writing. Do not waste title space describing the content. Instead, describe the value of your content.
We are taught to use as many vocabulary as you can in our schools. But keep those difficult and fancy words for the SAT exam. Some could be used in your proposal content, but never in a title. You want your tile to be clear and to the point. Use a clear combination of nouns, verbs, and adjectives to identify the project with the generic class. Avoid using scientific terms (unless your project is all about scientific research).
Finding a great title that immediately catches the readers’ attention is hard, especially while ensuring the title is short. But this is no excuse to make your title longer. Try to formulate a title with 15 words or less. Some donors specify the number of letters or characters you can use. A trick could be to have one main title and an additional subtitle to accomplish these goals. You can also use acronyms and nicknames in your title if they are commonly known.
Like stated earlier, using a subtitle on your proposal is a great trick to make your proposal title shorter and make it stand out. It is like a tagline of your proposal which helps to explain the additional context of your project. Using a positive subtitle stimulates reader interest.
You may feel there is no way anyone can make a spelling error in the title. But this assumption is wrong and leads to overlooking the title spell check. While making a mistake in the title may be rare, but when it does occur the proposal evaluator will definitely notice. There are no rigid rules on formatting titles for a proposal, but avoid using all caps. As a general rule of thumb, every noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, and adjective of the title should be capitalized.
Do not decide on the title first. Many writers make the mistake of writing the title first. As they move on to the proposal writing part, the context takes a different approach than their title. The title should be decided once the proposal is near completion.
Many organizations spend their time researching for the narrative of the proposal but do not see the need to research on great titles. They underestimate the importance of a great title. Every NGO should at least spend some time as a team to brainstorm different titles.
A proposal title should be suited to the potential funding source. Always make sure that the title conforms to the donor’s guidelines and is formatted properly. Some donors even specify the number of characters to be used in a title.
If your project is about ‘Creating Awareness on Personal Hygiene Among Adolescent Girls’, do not use ‘Women Empowerment Through Health Education’ as your title. You are cheating by notching up the overall impact of the project in your title. Never make your evaluator expect more from the title then what you are offering. The higher the gap between expectation and reality, the higher are the chances of the proposal fail. Indicate accurately the subject and scope of the project.
Priti is a Development Professional with years of experience as a Director of Operations for an American humanitarian organization in Nepal. She is a published writer and researcher focusing on international development funding and grassroots NGOs. She holds a master’s degree in Business. She oversees the team that provides support to NGOs and site users.
My Focus Research area is CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY. I develop my proposed title as FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO SUSTAINABILITY OF WOMEN IN BUSINESS INDUSTRY.
Is my proposed title too long or does it measurably?
Dear Priti Thapa, thank you so much for posting such a fantastic article. Thank you once again!