Applying for grant funding is a core pillar of capacity building and supporting your organization’s work. It can seem like a daunting task, but it all comes down to knowing what you want to do and why it is important.

Know what you’re writing about. You will generally be more successful if you can design your work first and then seek funding. Know your vision, know your outcome—what activities do you have to do to get there, and what milestones are you hoping to achieve?

What goes into writing a good grant proposal?

Two key questions to ask as you craft your grant proposals are: “How do I make the reader care?” and “How do I establish credibility?”. Additional questions might include “Why does this matter”? and “Why am I the right person to do this?”.

Below are five actionable tips to help guide your process.

Tell a story

Stories are personal. They create context for your work and allow potential funders to visualize the impact of your work on real people. Telling a story allows a funder to become invested in the real-world implications of the problem and your proposed solution.

Can you connect this work to a person or community this work will impact? Can you tell this story in a way that is relatable for your funder (for instance, by foregrounding the fact that everyone should have access to clean water)?

Go back to the storytelling best practices at the beginning of this guide. Are you leading with the values? Are you moving from values, to problems, to your proposed solution?

Using data in your grant proposals

Data can be a great way to complement the story you’re telling in your proposal, but data goes a lot further with the credibility of a story.

You can find quantitative data – for example, the amount of industrial facilities in your state, or the heat vulnerability of your county — through a number of online databases (Climate Vulnerability Index, Data Center Tracker, and DSCEJ’s EJ Data Action Portal are all good options). You could also do this with the help of a research librarian at a local library or university. For credibility, ake sure to assess the sources you choose to cite.

When incorporating data, make sure to humanize it. You’re going to lose some interest if you don’t bring the data back to the level of the individual.

There is an existing “hierarchy of data” that laces anecdotal evidence below quantitative data or thorough qualitative studies. But sometimes, anecdotes are all the data you have. In that case, treat anecdotes like data. Incorporate them as evidence of the need for your work into your proposal.

Qualitative data is data. If you’re missing data in your proposal, consider conducting a preliminary qualitative study. Go out and conduct a series of semi-formal interviews and record your findings. When there’s a gap in the data, that’s data in and of itself. For more information on how to engage in this sort of study, see the University of Kansas’s Center for Community Health and Development Community Tool Box.

Leverage the experience of your organization

Before sitting down to write your proposal think through what you bring to the table. How would partnering with this funder benefit them? What are your assets? This puts you in a better position to think about your proposal, because you’re already thinking about leveraging your own work.

Consider your audience

Who is the funder? Is it an arts organization? Is it an environmental group? Depending on the identity and focus of the funder of a particular grant, you will have to explain some information more or less and highlight some aspects of your program more or less.

When revising your proposal, try to read through the eyes of your particular funder, not just a funder. What might not be clear to them, but is clear to you?

Avoid insider language or jargon when writing your proposal.

How do I know if this is the right funding opportunity for my organization?

This is a great question to ask when considering applying for a grant. Many of the best practices outlined in our COLLABORATION section apply here, but there are a few things to be think about before applying to a grant opportunity: