Sample+Grants

Grants come in a variety of sizes, styles and flavors. Proposals may take the form of ten page, fifty page, or hundred page documents. They may also be as simple as a 2-minute video submission to Google. Despite the many potential differences, most granting organizations generally publish a Request for Proposal (RFP) or Request for Application (RFA). This is the preliminary document that outlines what the grant will possibly fund and what requirements exist surrounding the application process. After the grant is submitted, a review process scores the grant applications, and the top (one or more) applicants are awarded funding for their project. Once the RFA is published by the granting organization, the submission process begins. Most grants expect their applications to address four key areas, although the order and depth with which they delve into each may vary greatly. The four sections are as follows: Section 1: Shows the data of the organization and shows the need of the population targeted for funding. An example of data is a school’s demographic information for students, and the need could be for increased technology for those students—such as laptop computers for a class.

Section 2: Explains what the project is about and how you will meet the need of the project. This section generally requires goals and objectives for the project—specific and clearly stated—that indicates how the funding will be used to address the need demonstrated in the first section. . Section 3: Explains the applicant organization. This section gives the history of the organization and demonstrates staff and organizational structure to show that the grant will be well administered. The financial management information is essential, since funders want to know that their money will not be fraudulently used. This section also explains who the applicant is, who the staff are, and who will work on the project. Often short biographical information (bio-sketches) and job descriptions are required. Most grants require a Project Manager position, and that person will be expected to take responsibility for every aspect of the grant project.

Section 4: Explains how the applicant will evaluate the progress of the project. This section goes over how the goals and objectives will be met. Data collection to measure project progress is important, and the outcomes of the grant that show effectiveness of the grant resources to meet the needs of the project must be demonstrated.

Again, this is very a rough outline. Often each section is broken down into multiple, more specific subsections..

The following RFA and successful grant applications give an idea of what to expect for things on the lengthy side of requests and proposals. While these specific grants do not relate directly to the field of education, their relevance in terms of their over-arching structure, level of detail, and organization does.

[|Request fo Application.doc] - This example is from the US Department of Health and Services. This a grant that was listed through grants.gov.

[|Sample Grant 1.doc]- This grant was completed by Willamette Family with purpose of implementing an extended stay, residential program for families involved in Child Welfare addressing drug addiction and related issues. The grant was applied for through the Administration on Children and Families

[|Sample Grant 2.doc]- This grant was also completed by Willamette Family to acquire funds for a Community Health Center. The grant was applied for through the Health Services and Resource Administration.