How to Write a Grant Proposal

February 01, 2008

by Preethi Burkholder
Persuasive, cohesive grant proposals are key to winning funding for visual artists from private
foundations, the federal government and individuals. Writing grant proposals is generally thought to
be something that is extremely difficult and time-consuming, It doesn’t have to be. What distinguishes
one proposal from another is thoughtful, systematic and cohesive writing.

There are three basic types of grant proposals:

• A letter of inquiry (LOI) is a one-to-two page summary that outlines the project. Funders
request a brief description of the project before making a decision on whether to ask for a
longer and more comprehensive proposal.
• A letter proposal is a three-five page description of the project plan, the purpose for which
funds are being requested, and background information of the artist or group requesting
funds.
• The long proposal is the most common document that funders seek. Three to forty pages or
longer, it contains the cover letter and proposal summary. The usual format for a long
proposal includes the need statement, goals and objectives, methods, budget, and evaluation.

Here are some tips on how to craft winning grant proposals:

• Begin with the need statement, a description of the artistic need that your project is
addressing. (Some funders refer to the need statement as the “problem” statement.)
• Support your need statement with persuasive evidence such as slides, photographs, news
reports, etc.
• Use language and a format that are easy to read and understand, and be sure your need
statement is consistent with your ability to respond to it responsibly.

Next develop the goals and objectives. The goal defines the ultimate result of the change that is
being proposed, whereas the objectives are the measurable steps you expect to accomplish in the
process of reaching your goal. Simply put, a goal is the end result that the objectives help you to
reach.

• One way to write a good objective is to start your objective statement with wordings that
suggest a purpose, such as “to reduce,” “to increase,” “to decrease,” and “to expand.” Here’s
an example: “The objective of my photographic exhibition is to address the issue of child labor
in South Asia.”
• Objectives must be clear and concise. Your goals and objectives should tie directly to the need
statement. The grant reviewer needs to be able to figure out that by the time the goals and
objectives are met, the problem or need statement will have been addressed.

Then comes the methodology section, which refers to the methods you will use to reach your
objectives. A method is a detailed description of the activities or strategies to be implemented in order
to achieve the end specified in the objectives. This is the section in which you explain what methods
you will be using for the artistic project and why you have selected those specific methods. The
following tips can increase your chances of writing an effective methodology:

• Specify the activities that need to be done to meet the objective.

• State the starting and ending dates of the project.
• Name the person(s) responsible for completing each activity.
• Spell out the criteria for selecting participants.
 • Tell why this particular method was chosen.
• Show how the methods are congruent with resources requested in the budget.
• Specify the population that will be served and, if applicable, how they will be chosen.

Next, the budget section details the funds you will need to carry out the artistic project. This isn’t
the place to surprise the reviewer with any unrelated expenses.

• Every item that’s written in the budget must tie into the rest of the proposal. Funders want to
know exactly where their dollars will be going.
• The budget section can be itemized using topics such as art tools, framing costs, film rolls,
personnel, salary, travel and living expenses.
• If partial funding for the project has already been received, the budget section is the place to
note it.

Finally, the evaluation section is where you show how you will measure the degree of success in
meeting the objectives in the grant application. The fewer objectives you mention in the proposal, the
easier it is to develop the evaluation plan, which should include several things:

• The program’s objectives and how you (and the grantor and the public) will know if they have
been met.
• The data that will be collected to evaluate the project.
• How the data will be analyzed.
• Who will provide a report of the artistic project.
• Closely tied to evaluation is dissemination. Most private foundations want their applicants to
share the findings of the project with others. Dissemination refers to the spreading of the
information, which can be achieved via a report, video, book, conference, radio program or
any combination of these.

The following is the opening section of a proposal I submitted to a private foundation. I requested
funds to do a public art project on alcoholism:

Did you know that there are approximately 32 million people in the United States awaiting death row?
That’s right—32 million alcoholics await execution through the lethal drug. Alcoholism claims one out
of 10 people in the U.S. and is the number one drug killer.

During the last thirty years there has been a general understanding in the United States that
alcoholism is a progressive family disease, and that it is treatable. This medical advancement has
transformed lives of alcoholics and their families to step outside of their self-inflicted cells and to enjoy
things in life besides alcohol.
Unfortunately, the majority of alcoholics and their families live in denial and transmit dysfunctional
elements caused by the disease to the next generation.

“Living in a Box” will be a public art project taking place in Oregon. It will give visual representation to
the insanity caused by alcoholism and how it shrinks the world of alcoholics into cells over a period of
time. The goal of the public art project is to inspire alcoholics and their families to take the first step
toward recovery, and that is to stop living in denial about the disease.

Notice the arresting opening sentence. It paints a graphic image of “thirty two million people awaiting
death row.” Right at the start I convey the gravity of the problem through statistics and point out that
there isn’t time to waste. Painting a vivid picture of the problem that’s being addressed and of what
can be done to make the situation better are bonus points that bring your application a step closer to
getting funded.
Some of the projects visual artists can seek funding for are organizing an exhibition, purchasing a
camera or other artistic equipment, creating public art, producing a published work, enrollment in art
instruction and traveling overseas to conduct artistic projects and research.

Preethi Burkholder is an artist and author. She writes grant proposals on behalf of individual artists
and nonprofits. She can be contacted at preethiwriter@hotmail.com. Visit her website at
www.giftedhandswriting.com.