Content

The Full Proposal should include the following 7 sections.

Each section should, at a minimum, include the information identified under each heading.  Aside from the Executive Summary (which should come first), the sections should be presented in whatever order makes your request the clearest (not necessarily in the order in which they are listed here).

Need help? The Foundation Center provides free resources for grant writing.

  1. Executive summary
  2. Funding and budget information
    • Total amount requested.
    • Budget breakdown (table or itemized budget), clearly indicating which budget items you are asking the CSF to fund.
    • Other funding sources (include the existing project assets and discuss potential other funding sources for the project, if any).
    • Grant or loan status (do you intend to pay back any of the grant?).
    • How does your project meet the goals of the funding organization?
       
  3. Sustainability impact
    • The sustainability problem (statement of need), be sure to discuss the local context of the problem if your project addresses a broader sustainability concern.
    • How your project addresses the sustainability problem.
    • How your project’s impacts will be measured (for monitoring and evaluation).
       
  4. Education and outreach
    • How will the UW community find out about your project?
    • How will the UW community become involved in and/or support your project?
       
  5. Student involvement
    • How will your project directly involve/affect UW students?
    • If you plan to use student volunteers in your project, how will you identify and recruit student volunteers?
       
  6. Accountability and feasibility
    • Project timeline (Gantt chart or a list of project tasks and expected duration of each task).
    • List of project team and any sub-teams
    • Is your project “shovel-ready”?  Should your project be funded, what, if any, steps need to take place in order for your project to begin?
       
  7. Partners and Stakeholders
    • The project partner (the campus unit that the project will work with most directly).
    • Who the project will need direct approval from (remember that any project that directly affects a campus unit will require approval from the campus unit prior to funding).  The project partner may or may not be the one providing direct approval.  Some projects will require approval from more than one campus unit.
    • List other important stakeholders for the project (specifically any faculty, staff, student groups, and external individuals or groups that will be involved in the project)

Style

Use concise, clear sentences.  Elaborate only as much as is helpful for the reader to have a general understanding of the points you are making.  Remember that the committee needs enough information to understand the project, but they do not need to have enough information to be able to implement the project on their own.

Use section headings, numbered and bulleted lists, and other formatting that help to lead your reader through the proposal.

Follow the guidelines for clear, concise writing that are presented in class and that are available on the course website.  Wherever possible, use the active voice and cut sentences down to their core meanings.