Lessons Learned Key Success Factors in Proposal Writing
- Besides adequately addressing the terms of reference, and clearly articulating the proposed program’s unique features, be sure to address such questions as:
o What is the need that the proposed program is meeting? What is the evidence of that need?
o How does your program address this need…
Besides adequately addressing the terms of reference, and clearly articulating the proposed program’s unique features, be sure to address such questions as:
o What is the need that the proposed program is meeting? What is the evidence of that need?
o How does your program address this need?
o What evidence is there that your solution is viable?
o In what ways will stakeholders benefit from this program?
o Are there any additional benefits that may result from the proposed program?
o What is your agency’s track record and current mandate vis-à-vis your proposed program?
o What are or will be the qualifications and experience of staff delivering the program?
Instead of simply appending resumes of the staff team, consider taking the time to write a two or three sentence summary of how each person’s background qualifications and experience relate to the functions that they would carry out in the proposed program.
Other key questions that likely need to be answered include:
o What will be the capacity of the program? How many clients will it serve? Over what period? Are there performance targets set?
o How will the program be evaluated?
o What is the potential for cost-recovery in the program itself? Can the program eventually fund itself? At what point?
o Why do other organizations think your agency would be the best one to lead this work?
o What are the benefits that other organizations in your sector will derive from your work?
o Why is this proposal worthy of funding (and by implication more worthy of funding than its competitors?)
Familiarize yourself with the terminology used by funders and paraphrase “catch phrases” that will demonstrate your understanding of their priorities and goals.
Invest in a good proposal writer on your staff team. Not everyone has ability to clearly communicate in this format.
Write as though the reader knows nothing about your particular agency.
Standardize pieces of information (boiler plate) about your agency so you can easily draw upon them; i.e., your services, vision, goals, clients served, testimonials, references.
Evidence of outcomes speaks volumes, such as positive testimonials and stats and facts. Use evidence you gather through your program monitoring and other (e.g., organizational review) activities.
If your proposal is not successful, ask for feedback from the funder. Find out what were the strengths and weaknesses of your proposal. What made the selected proposal successful?
Never submit an unsolicited proposal (and invest the time it requires to put together a quality one), without ascertaining interest.
A potentially fatal error in proposal writing is to confuse objectives and goals – and in the worse case scenario, to talk too much about what you propose to do, and not enough about what you will accomplish. Remember that funders have expected outcomes and accountability is key for long-term viability.
Don’t over-promise: be realistic about what you can accomplish. It is better to under-promise and over-deliver than to make a promise you can’t keep.
