How to write a grant proposal that actually gets read

Most grant proposals fail in the first paragraph. A programme officer reading 40 applications in a week gives each one about two minutes on the first pass; if the first paragraph doesn't answer three questions — who are you, what will you do with the money, why does this matter now — the proposal moves to the bottom of the pile.

This guide covers what to put in each part of a proposal so it reads well under that constraint.

The opening paragraph

Answer three questions, in this order, in under 100 words:

1. Who the NGO is — legal form, years of operation, geography, and one sentence on the population served. Not a mission statement; a description a stranger can picture.
2. What the specific project is that the proposal is asking money for. Not "our work in education" — the specific project, in one sentence.
3. Why the project matters now. A statistic, a policy change, a specific gap in existing provision. One sentence.

If the reader gets past that paragraph with a mental picture of what they'll be funding, the rest of the proposal has a chance.

Problem and solution

Two pages, no more. The problem section names the specific gap the project is filling — narrower is better. "Low female literacy in India" is not a problem statement; "the drop-off in girls' school attendance between class 5 and class 8 in three blocks of Mahoba district" is.

The solution section describes the project itself: activities, the theory that connects those activities to the outcome, the actors involved. Avoid the temptation to describe the NGO's entire portfolio — the proposal is for one project, and the funder will read about the rest in the organisational section.

Budget

The budget is where amateur proposals give themselves away. A serious budget:

• Breaks costs into line items — staff salaries with roles and FTE proportions, training and materials, travel, monitoring costs, administrative costs — not aggregate categories
• Matches every line to a project activity in the narrative
• Names the currency, the exchange rate if foreign, and the financial year the budget covers
• Stays within the funder's stated caps — administrative costs under 20% for FCRA-funded projects, matching contribution if the scheme requires one, per-diems within government norms if applying to a central scheme
• Shows the co-funding picture — if 60% of the project is covered by another funder, the funder here needs to see that upfront, not discover it during due diligence

Overrun and underrun both damage the NGO's standing. Build a budget you'll actually spend within 10%.

Outcomes and reporting

State what will change as a result of the project, and how the change will be measured. "1,200 women trained" is an output, not an outcome. "85% of trained women retain employment 12 months post-training, measured via a phone survey" is an outcome with a measurement methodology.

Every serious funder now expects to see:

• Baseline — the number before the project, with the source of that number
• Target — the number after the project, and the timeline to reach it
• Measurement plan — how the target will be measured, by whom, at what interval

Overpromising here is the second-biggest reason grants aren't renewed (after unspent balances). Under-promise slightly; over-deliver.

Organisational section

The funder is not just evaluating the project; they're evaluating the NGO's capacity to execute. Include, in one page:

• Founding year, legal form, registration numbers (12A, 80G, CSR-1 if applying to CSR, FCRA if applying to a foreign funder, Darpan if applying to a central scheme)
• Governance — board size, average tenure, board diversity
• Financial size — last year's total receipts and total spend, split between programme and administrative
• Notable past projects with the funder(s) who supported them
• Key staff — the project lead by name, with a short bio

Attachments

Every funder asks for slightly different attachments, but this set covers 95% of applications and takes a morning to assemble once, reusable for every subsequent proposal:

• Registration certificate
• PAN card
• 12A, 80G certificates (and CSR-1, FCRA where applicable)
• Last three years of audited accounts
• Last year's annual report
• Board resolution authorising the application
• Two letters of support from beneficiary community organisations
• Passport-size photograph of authorised signatory

Keep them in a shared folder with a consistent naming convention. A proposal that arrives with one missing document is a proposal the programme officer sets aside "to follow up on" and often doesn't.