Grant writing

Name the funder, the deadline, and the facts you will not invent.

Grant writers are hired close to a deadline by organizations that have the work and not the document. The proposal should identify the opportunity, what the client must still provide, and the submission you are responsible for finishing.

Funder and deadline

Write the funder, the program, and the deadline in the first lines. If the deadline is inside two weeks and the client has no numbers, say whether you will still take it. A proposal that hides a hopeless calendar is unfair on both of you. If several grants are in scope, list them. 'Grant support' with no program named will expand to every application they hear about.

The outcome is a submitted application, or a decision not to submit because the fit is bad. Both are legitimate endings. Winning is not a promise you can put in the fee. Say that where a nervous director will see it, because their board will ask.

Facts you will not invent

You will draft from material they provide: accounts, a project plan, letters, evidence of need. You will not invent outcomes, signatures, or a partnership that does not exist. Write the list of what they owe you and the date you need it. If that date passes, the engagement pauses. This is the clause that saves the relationship.

Budgets prepared by their finance lead, evaluation design by a specialist, and translations are often assumed. Say who does each. Your fee is the narrative and the assembly of the form, unless you have explicitly included more.