Five Tips to Writing the Grant Proposal
A few tips from editors on preparing a grant proposal could be the difference between earning the grant and merely wishing you had.
1) Short sentences. Short paragraphs. Simple language.
Don’t get bogged down in long, complex sentences, complicated narratives and wander far off the subject. Don’t worry about impressing anyone with your vocabulary. It saves you time and the grant reader from getting lost in piles of verbiage. Get to the point.
2) Economy of words
It’s difficult to edit enough. You would be surprised how many compound and complex sentences can be broken down into simpler statements and phrases. That point you made in seven words? Try doing so in five. Then two.
3) No acronyms or jargon
Here’s an economy of words: Don’t.
4) Drive the point home
Prepare your proposal so that anyone skimming it understands your bigger points. Make your point the start of each section and each paragraph to make clear your point. Leave no doubt.
5) Humanize
Behind every grant – even if it is run by a government agency or large corporation – is at least one human. Brief examples and backgrounds might help your proposal become more readable and might make it easier to understand. It might also help the grant’s reader better relate to your situation. Give it a human aspect.
About GrantWatch
When locating funding opportunities, GrantWatch.com is the leading grant search engine and database. They list grants available for nonprofits, small businesses (for-profits), as well as individuals.
About GrantWatch
A trusted resource since 2010. For more than 16 years, GrantWatch has helped nonprofits, small businesses, schools, government agencies, and individuals discover funding opportunities and navigate the grant process with confidence. Thousands of organizations rely on GrantWatch's extensive database of verified grants and funding resources to identify opportunities and secure support for meaningful projects.
Today, GrantWatch supports organizations across the full grant lifecycle through a single, streamlined platform. In addition to access to more than 11,000 active, verified, and human-curated grant opportunities, the platform includes a centralized Dashboard that serves as the command center for the GrantWatch Full Grant Lifecycle Platform, giving users a centralized view of opportunities, deadlines, research, and workflow activity across the 12-stage Grant Pipeline. Users also benefit from integrated tools including the AI Grant Finder, AI Grant Writing Tool, My Grant Calendar, Grant Alerts, Foundation Search, and Awarded Grant Search, helping move funding efforts from discovery to award and measurable impact.
GrantWatch, founded by Libby Hikind, is the author of The Queen of Grants series, including The Queen of Grants series: The Queen of Grants: From Teacher to Grant Writer to CEO and The Queen of Grants 2: GrantTalk Secrets for the New Era of Writing. Drawing on decades of experience in the grants industry, GrantWatch was created to simplify how organizations discover, evaluate, and pursue funding opportunities.
