Need Grant Writing Help? - Putting It All Together - Part 10 of 11

Your proposal is complete - you did it!  Now you need to package it and send it off to the funder.  Time to talk about presentation with a clear but brief cover letter and the attachments that funders may require you to include.  What?  You thought you were just done?

Ok, time for the cover letter.  This needs to be brief but also informative as it will be the first thing the potential funder reads.  The letter needs to:

• briefly introduce your organization
• highlight the support of your board for the project
• specifically mention the financial request - how much and for what

The goal is one page and 3 to 4 paragraphs max.  You have already written a full and detailed proposal, don't waste the possible funders time with a lengthy cover letter.

Start by introducing your organization and informing the funder of the amount and purpose of your request.

Next BRIEFY highlight the salient points of your proposal - DO THIS IN ONLY ONE PARAGRAPH.

Finally, THANK the possible funder for the consideration of your request and make it clear who they should contact if they had additional questions.  You can also use the final paragraph to invite the possible funder to a meeting or a site visit (an option to build a relationship if one does not exist).

So now you have that one page intro to your proposal.  Let's discuss attachments / appendixes that my be requested.  Most foundations and government funding sources will supply a list of their required attachments but for some reason most corporations do not.  If they say NO attachments, then send NO attachments.  If no list is provided, consider the following:

• your IRS 501(c)3 determination letter (if you are a non-profit, you know this is the letter that the government has given you saying you are a non-profit)
• your organization's most recent audited financial statement
• a list of your Board of Director's with their professional affiliations (this helps to show they, and therefore your organization is well connected to the community)
• your organization's overall budget for that fiscal year
• your latest annual report (if you have one, and it is always a good idea to have one)

Other possible things foundations tend to request are profiles or resumes of key staff members, a marketing or strategic plan, press clippings, pictures, videos, and items specific to your request (if you are building a building for example, blueprints or a draft picture of the finished product).

Time to package.  A simple, clutter free, neatly packaged proposal makes your organization look successful.  A mess does not make a good impression on anyone.

Give your proposal a once over:

• fresh, clean paper
• pages and clearly numbered or identified
• NO TYPOS
• name of foundation, staff person, their address are all CORRECT
• the cover letter is printed on your letterhead
• reread their guidelines and make sure to have the needed number of copies (duplicates are frequently requested)
• if an ordered of attachments is given, FOLLOW IT
• use a binder clip to hold the proposal together (follow the directions if different binding is requested)
• Foundations do not like flashy packaging.  Bider clips hold things together but easily remove to make reading and flipping pages easy.  MAKE THINGS EASY FOR THE POSSIBLE FUNDER.

Congrats!  The proposal is done!