While drafting the proposal make sure that you read a few winning proposals (these are usually available online), before drafting your proposal. This will help you in structuring your proposal and will give you insight into the terminology, format and language that is preferred by donors. Depending on the size of your organization you can build a team for developing the proposal.
The team members should possess good writing skills along with sound technical knowledge of the related subject.
In the following pages, various sections of a proposal are described; you can draft the proposal using this template and then customize it to suit donor guidelines. For helping you develop your proposal, suitable examples have been used to describe the content of each section.
Title Page:
The title page typically contains the project title, along with contact details of the organization and the donor. Remember that the title of the project should be catchy and should capture the essence of the project proposal. The project title should provide a general idea of what the project is about and at the same time be simple and straightforward.
Your title page should be attractive and should not look cluttered and unprofessional.
Example:
Executive Summary
This section is the summary of the project and presents a snapshot of the project to the reader. The executive summary not only summarizes the project proposal but also analyses important points relating to the problem, the solution, the uniqueness of the proposal and the reason your organization is suitable to carry out such a project.
To set the right tone it is important that you are able to address the Why, How, and what of the proposal, (Why- why do you want to start a particular project/why is the particular problem so important, How relates to the approach you will use to resolve the problem, and What refers to the goals you want to achieve at the end of the project.)
Even though the executive summary is the first section in the proposal document, you can always draft this section once you have completed drafting the entire proposal. This way it will be easier for you to take important points from the proposal body and use it in the summary.
Some points that you should keep in mind while summarizing the proposal are given below:
- Why is the project important?
- What is the problem that you are addressing?
- How do you intend to resolve the problem?
- What is the total budget and duration for the proposed project?
The ideal length of the executive summary usually is around one page long which is approximately 300-500 words.
Example: The Global Widows Report demonstrates that disadvantage in widowhood is not limited to one culture, society, or region. The majority of the widows globally, live in extreme poverty and are often ostracized by society. They have to struggle for gender equity on one hand and for their rights as a widow on the other.
Women in Busia face similar problems as men in society tend to control them through the use of violence. The area also has significantly higher rates of polygamy and promiscuity which further enhances cases of high GBV. Owing to the high incidence of GBV in the area, there is a need to develop a program to help women get rid of such problems and are made aware of their rights, and are empowered.
The proposed project seeks to usher 100 vulnerable women (widows and victims of all forms of GBV) from extreme poverty through entrepreneurship development in Busia County, Kenya.
The project will be implemented during a period of 12 months.
