How To Create A Proposal That A Foundation Or Corporation Will Fund ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Foundation and corporate-giving personnel, as we all know, are constantly asked for something... usually money. But during a recent visit to a friend who runs a major foundation, one of these grantors turned the tables. He asked me to do something for him! "Why don't you write something about how to produce a proposal that gets a person like me to take notice and act. Tell people," he stressed, "exactly what should go in such a document... and what to leave out." Having made his request, he opened his arms wide, taking in the piles of proposals that littered his cubicle office. "The truth is," he reported, "the large majority of what's sent to us is a complete waste of time, money, and someone's creative energy." Then he confessed that it all ends up in the trash at the end of the year, an exercise in contemporary futility. I dedicate this article to my friend the frustrated grants officer... and to the tens of thousands of fund seekers who have so far been wasting their time developing documents that do nothing more than add to America's garbage. What Is A Proposal? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Too many people in nonprofit America either don't remember... or never knew... what a proposal is or what it's supposed to do. To them, a proposal is like food stamps: something you present to the grant-making source and come away with bucks. This, of course, is egregiously wrong. No matter how important your organization, no matter how worthy its work, no funding source has an obligation to provide for you, unless you're specif- ically designated a beneficiary in its charter or trust. Thus, the first rule of creating a successful proposal is to strip away any feeling you may have that a funding source must assist you and that you are somehow entitled to its help. They don't have to help. You are entitled to nothing. Once you realize this, you can approach the business of getting money with the utmost clarity... as a marketing problem to be solved. For that's precisely what we're talking about... creating a marketing campaign and developing a document (your proposal) that will persuade, even enthuse, your prospect to support you. The whole business of proposalmanship (including the development of the written proposal itself), properly understood, is just a subsection of marketing. It's about: . identifying the right person (your prospect); . finding out what he wants to achieve and when he wants or needs to achieve it; . approaching with a persuasive argument that indicates to him what you can help him accomplish, and . clearly outlining how you intend to accomplish this objective and what you have available that ensures you can successfully reach your objective. Even the most cursory look at these essential elements suggests what's wrong with most proposals: they're focused on the fund-seeker, not the fund-grantor. If you are to be successful in marketing (whatever you're marketing) the emphasis must always be on the client. And the client in fund raising is always the donor... not the ultimate beneficiary of the funds raised. This will come as a shock to many nonprofit personnel who never consider the donor a prospect, a person who must be persuaded to take action. Instead, they regard this funding prospect as a necessary evil, as someone to go over, through, or around as quickly as possible... just so long as they get the money. For too many in the nonprofit world, funders are perceived as roadblocks, not as real people who have legitimate wants and needs that must be attended to for their own good, as well as the good of the n nonprofit organization itself. This article seeks to rectify this intolerable situation and make it clear that, if you want your proposal to succeed, you must regard the funding prospect in the same way marketers regard any prospect: as a valuable individual who's always right -- whatever he does -- and whose interests are paramount. Chances are, this is not how you view corporate and foundation funding personnel right now. Understanding What The Funding Source Wants From You ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The vast majority of proposals would be different if the writer wrote them from the standpoint of the prospective funder, not from his own and that of his organization. This is called client-centered marketing, and it is essential for your success. Before writing any proposal, you must consider what the prospective funding source wants to achieve. Obviously, in doing this, it helps to know as much as possible about him. This information is not always easy to obtain. You'll find seminal information about prospective funding sources available in annual reports, at grant libraries, in specialized publications, by attending conferences where you can meet donors, or by asking your friends from other organizations what the people who have funded them are interested in. In other words, before you can write the successful client-centered proposal, you've got to know as much as possible about the person you're approaching. This is crucial marketing intelligence, and you forego it at your peril. What Your Research May Indicate ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Granted that getting information about corporate and foundation donors is an imperfect science, you should still be able to find information that will help you position your proposal for maximum success. Here are some of the things you should be trying to discover: . Where does this funding source make grants? If the foundation says it only supports Cambridge organizations, and you're not a Cambridge organization, don't waste your resources applying. . What kind of organization does it support? If the organization supports young scientists and you are serving meals to the elderly, don't waste your resources applying. . What level of support do they give a first-time applicant? If you see the average grant is $1000, don't waste your resources asking for the top grant they made. That went to an organization with which they have a relationship. . What kind of support do they want to give... capital, project (or program) or operating? If the organization never gives to capital, why do you think you can persuade them to support your capital request? If more organizations followed just these rules and developed their proposals accordingly, it would decidedly cut down the nuisance requests, as anyone at any foundation or corporation will confirm. Building Your Case ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Once you know what the funding source wants from you, then you can set about giving it to them. Remember, the easiest marketing takes place between someone who knows what he wants and a marketer who gives it to him. This is precisely the rule that most nonprofit fund seekers do not follow. Instead, with astonishing arrogance, they say, in effect: "True, you have the money and your own interests. But we're not interested in doing what you want to do. We need the money for our own important work. And we're sure we can persuade you to do things our way." Did these misguided ingenues never hear that "The man who pays the piper calls the tune"? Your job is to find out what the funding source wants to do... can do... and then let him know that you both understand his objective... and can help him achieve it. You achieve this result by building a persuasive case. This case is predicated on your understanding a few very important things: that all people who ask do not receive; that there are too few resources to support every request; that the funders have to make increasingly hard choices about who gets money... and who doesn't. There is, you see, no inevitability about your getting the money. You must therefore be as persuasive as possible. You must understand that unless something motivates a prospective funder to give you the money, it has no place in your document. In other words, everything either helps you get the money... or it should ruthlessly be cut out. Keeping this in mind, what should you put in your document and how should you use it? Proposal Essentials ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In proposalmanship, as in marketing generally, first, last and always speak to the prospect, in this case your prospective funder. This means you should: . write in the second person, directly to your would-be funder; . be direct, candid, personal. This is not the place for a disembodied academic approach to your subject. . write as little as possible to get your point across and as much as it takes to be persuasive. The best proposals, like the best writing generally, are not about facts; they're about persuasion. And, these days, short documents tend to be more persuasive than long ones. My rule of thumb is that if you've had previous dealings with a funding source, your proposal should be no longer than 3 to 4 pages. On the other hand, if this funding source hasn't heard from you before and knows nothing about you, you need to give him more information; your proposal might then be twice as long. What To Put In Your Proposal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The winning proposal contains these sections: . information on why you're approaching this particular funding source. Funding sources, whatever you may think, are all different. And more to the point, they all want to be treated as individuals, not as just a nameless target in your mass marketing campaign. That's why you must tell the funding source why you're approaching him. Think this through. The more consideration you both give and show you have given to this source, the more likely you will get consideration in return. . the facts about why you exist. Too many nonprofit personnel are in a rut. They forget that their organization exists because vigilant, engaged individuals were sufficiently concerned about a problem to take collective action to solve it. You need to remind yourself... you need to tell your prospective funder... about why you exist. . the severity of the problem you deal with. By the same token, you need to indicate to the prospective funder just how bad the problem is you're in business to solve. You had better realize that all problems are not equal. If you fail to convince the funding source of the widespread seriousness of your problem, he is right not to fund you. Remember, you are in a competition for scarce resources. You've got to make the best case for yourself that you can: letting the funding prospect know just how bad (with all relevant facts, figures and statistics) your problem is can only help your case. . why the problem must be solved now. It is not enough to indicate that your problem is severe. You must indicate why it needs to be solved now. In marketing, "now" is the only time that matters. There are lots of problems in the world... but why is it so necessary that yours be solved right away? You must say. Saying it must be solved immediately because you say so or because you organization exists and needs the money isn't nearly good enough, either. You must indicate that the problem needs to be solved now because not solving it leaves real people hurting... or for some other motivating reason. And don't be afraid to point out what will happen if you can't get the support you need to solve the problem. Failure to raise money has consequences. Motivate your prospective funder by bringing these to his attention. More Of What The Winning Proposal Contains ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In addition to these important sections, the winning proposal also contains: . facts about the people who are involved in your project. Funders don't give money to organizations; they give money to people whom they feel can achieve success, reach the objective. Don't just tell who's involved with your project... provide reasons why they will get the job done. . a specific plan for exactly how you will achieve what you say you want. The sad fact is that most proposals are ill thought out, and funders quickly learn how to discover that. Don't just ask for money. Ask for money to achieve a specific objective. And know exactly what you need to do to reach this goal. Too, be realistic about what you can achieve. "Don't tell me you can reform the world for $5,000," one foundation officer said in a recent speech. I'll know you don't know what you're doing." Be realistic. c. Know what you need. And be prepared to say exactly what you'll do to reach the objective. . an indication that others are involved in reaching the objective. While it is certainly true that some foundations and corporations want to be the sole funding source -- and derive full credit -- for a particular project, most corporations and foundations want to participate in a project that gathers general support. Thus, indicate who else is interested in what you're doing; who else has supported it, and where else you're going for support. Make no pretense about this. Projects that are worth supporting generate widespread support. Let your prospective donor know you have this kind of support... or what you're doing to get it. Tips To Help Get Your Proposal Funded ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . Give your proposal a headline that's about what you're trying to achieve... not about your organization. That is, say, "How The ABC Trust Can Help Feed 20 Elderly Men in Cambridge Working With Good Will House." Remember, people give money to achieve results. So, let the funding source know right away what exciting results you can bring about... if only they join you. . Write your proposal like a feature story... not an academic paper. If people are bored -- yes, even funding sources -- they're not going to give your proposal the attention it deserves. Your proposal should be written by your strongest writer. It should feature short sentences, active verbs, lots of bullets and emphasizing devices. In short, it should interest the reader. . Either double space your proposal or write it in short block paragraph style. Don't cram too much into your paragraphs, either. Remember, the objective of each word, each line, each paragraph is to motivate your reader to keep reading. A mass of type, no matter how pivital the subject matter, looks forbidding and gets put off. One Last Piece Of Advice: Remember That Every Proposal Invites Your Prospect's Counter Proposal! Too many people in the nonprofit world seeking funds are not good negotiators. In effect, they throw their proposal at funding prospects and say, "Here it is. Fund it." However, the very word "proposal" means offer. You must remember the person you're making your offer to may wish to say something in return. Be prepared to listen. And be prepared to modify your proposal accordingly, making the sensible changes that will enable you to get the support of this crucial individual. Getting this proposal funded -- as well as future proposals to the same source -- means developing a relationship, not making a demand. Your proposal must excite, enthuse, arouse, and persuade your prospect to help you. Not simply expect them to throw money your way whenever you want it. ____________________________________________________________________________ Marketing consultant Dr. Jeffrey Lant specializes in creating documents... fund raising proposals, direct mail letters, brochures, etc.... that get your prospects to do what you want them to do. His many books provide step-by-step details so you can achieve this on your own. These include DEVELOPMENT TODAY: A FUND RAISING GUIDE FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS ($28.45 postpaid) MONEY MAKING MARKETING: FINDING THE PEOPLE WHO NEED WHAT YOU'RE SELLING AND MAKING SURE THEY BUY IT ($34 postpaid) THE UNABASHED SELF-PROMOTER'S GUIDE: WHAT EVERY MAN, WOMAN, CHILD AND ORGANIZATION IN AMERICA NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT GETTING AHEAD BY EXPLOITING THE MEDIA. ($34 postpaid). Get them through The Sure-Fire Business Success Catalog, 50 Follen St., Suite 507, Cambridge, MA 02138 or with MC/VISA from (617) 547-6372. 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