The Key Questions
that Funding Programs want answered

The key to understanding how to write a proposal for funding is to put yourself in the shoes of the person who will assess your proposal and determine whether you will receive funding of not.

Whatever the application process, the essential questions that must be answered are as follows:

 

What is the project?

The assessor will immediately want to know what the project is about. This information must be readable at a glance. It is suggested that you write and present at the beginning of your document an Overview that might say something like:

"This proposals provides details of a project to build a new school playground"; or perhaps

"This project is about providing facilities that will increase participation in the sport of Archery within the Brisbane Metropolitan Area".

It also helps if you can give a title to your project as well.

You overview can provide only basic details as you can present more details about the project later on in the proposal.

How much do you want?

The assessor needs to quickly grasp the amount of funding that your organisation is seeking.

In your Overview it is suggested that you provide the following details:

a)

Total cost of the project

b)

The amount of funds provided by your organisation

c)

The amount of funds provided by other funding agencies (if any)

d)

The amount of funds that you seek in this funding application (the garnt sought)

What is the benefit for the community?

You will need a section of your proposal that argues (succinctly) the benefit of your project to the community. You should call this section Benefits for the Commmunity (not surprisingly).

As there is usually more people wanting funding than there is money to go around, the assessor will have to decide which projects will be funded and which will be rejected. How you state your case in this section will be one of the most important determining factors in whether you will receive a grant or not.

Does this organisation have the capability to successfully deliver the project if we gave them the funds?

You must keep in mind the assessor of your funding proposal needs to feel confident that they can give funds to your organisation that you will not waste or spend inappropriately.

You can build confidence by writing an excellent funding submission but you especially need to include a Project Plan. In this section you will present your organisation's capability and professionalism. You can do this by providing details of how the project will be implemented i.e. dates, people, money, tasks, etc.