Grant writing is competitive. When responding to an RFP, you know that others are competing for the same dollars. Your proposed project will be evaluated on its merits, but how it is presented is equally important. The free resources presented below will assist you in putting together a better proposal to communicate your project effectively.

The competition for unsolicited grants, often awarded by private foundations and corporations, is also keen. First you have to compete for the reader's attention and communicate the importance of your idea. Remember that although the funding agency has a program interest in your area of research, it was not the one that initiated the proposal.

Persuasiveness and clarity are essential in both solicited and unsolicited grant proposals. Following grant application guidelines and avoiding common mistakes are also important. Finally, in the case of private grant makers, the reviewers may not be experts in the subject matter of your field and most foundations do not use peer- review panels. Avoid the jargon and focus on presenting a clear case aimed at intelligent lay readers. You want to leave them with the clear impression that your project is worthy of funding.

Resources

Proposal writing resources on the web

Proposal writing resources in print

Past grant writing workshop presentations for faculty.

A selection of grant writing presentations by Florida State University faculty covering various disciplines (e.g., education, fine arts & humanities) and specific agencies (e.g. NIH, NSF).

Grant writing short courses

Foundation Center short course
Short, concise overview of grant writing and proposal components.

Non-Profits Guides short course (includes sample proposals)
This is a well-organized site that takes you through the grant writing process in a little more detail. Of particular usefulness at this site are the examples.

The writing process

Before you write: A checklist
This is a useful tool to help you organize your thoughts before starting the writing process.

Elements of a proposal
Once you begin the writing process, this resource complements the "checklist" above, so that what you write reflects your project accurately.

Letters of inquiry
More and more private foundations are requesting that they be approached first with a short letter of inquiry or concept paper before inviting a full proposal. This approach saves everyone a great deal of time and provides the researcher with an indication of the degree of interest on the part of the potential funding agency. It also spares the researcher the effort (and agony) of investing a large amount of energy in a proposal that is otherwise doomed.

General grant writing tips
Simple "DO's" and "DON'Ts" of grant writing.

Tips on writing persuasive proposals
Often, a very good idea is not presented well. This short article focuses on clarity in writing, and its main lessons are avoiding jargon and documenting your assumptions. Especially when writing to private foundations, try to avoid jargon as much as possible because most private foundations do not use peer-review panels. Of particular relevance for researchers is the section on the "Research Plan".

Tips on writing research proposals
An outline of a discussion held by the American Astronomical Society, these useful tips pertain to both Federal and private grant writing.

Not all proposals are successful

How to kill a proposal
The last thing you want to do is make the reviewers' job easy for them in the sense of giving them a reason not to fund your proposal. Don't make these mistakes.

Avoiding Jargon
Another way to cripple the success of your proposal is the use of jargon. The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation presents a funder's perspective on the matter and offers advice to free your good idea from the constraint of jargon. "In Other Words" (downloadable booklet) and the "Jargon Finder" (index) are two particularly useful links.

More reasons proposals fail
Finally, someone has quantified the reasons why proposals fail. Although the referenced article is not new, the numbers appear to have stood the test of time and back up the conventional wisdom.