Back to Basics
Winning grant proposals must be well-written. Your cause is extremely important to your agency and the community it serves, but if your application is unorganized and ineffective it is difficult for reviewers to make it past the first paragraph. In short, winning grants must be two things: Informative and engaging. That is, it must be clear, concise and tell a compelling story.
Here are some suggestions on making your grant application stand out:
· Detail all the commitments made by partners/collaborations. Highlighting collaboration strengthens your application.
· Be very specific, detailed, clear and concise in each narrative section of the application.
· Present a reasonable strategic timeline and supportive budget with justifications of large reserves noted and explained clearly.
· Be consistent with budget costs throughout the application. Check your math. Then check it again.
· Follow the grant guidelines.
· Have others review your proposal for objective criticism prior to submission – use your
RETAC Coordinators for support in proposal writing.
· Ensure your endeavor supports EMTS systems improvement and clearly define how to your
audience – include data that supports your claim.
· Clearly define your agency efforts to meeting the financial match – elaborate on specific
hardships, events, etc. to meeting the match and include ideas to sustain in future years.
