Grant Proposal writing rules
The grant is targeted financial support provided to scientists. Grants are one of the main ways to finance research activities. To receive such support, it is necessary to create appropriate grant proposals. A funding application is a written request for support (usually with money or equipment), with which you apply to a foundation, corporation, or other institution and offer to use your organization, experience, and professionalism of your employees to solve the problem in your area or region. Usually, the application consists of 10 or 15 pages of well-prepared and written material. The fact that the application is large does not mean that it is of high quality. In order to write a good paper, you need to read many examples of successful grant proposals.
HOW TO GET A GRANT
Different funds have different requirements for writing applications, all sorts of priorities, deadlines for submitting applications, and goals. In each case, you need to know as much as possible about what people want to get in each particular fund and try to provide the information required. Find grant proposal ideas that will interest potential sponsors.
About 90% of all applications for funding are rejected by the grantors. Why? The applicant has not figured out how to apply to the funds and often does not even know if the fund is suitable for financing this or that project. Finding sponsors may take a lot of time. It does not consist in finding one fund and turning to it every time you need financing. To search for support and funding, you must perform the following steps.
DESCRIBE YOUR PROJECT
Write what your project is about. What problem will be solved? Which group or populations will benefit from your activities? How? Learn the funds. Find at least five-ten potential grantors whose interests coincide with the interests of your organization or project. Think about your project carefully, weigh everything
LOOK FOR NEW SPONSORS
If you have received funding twice in the same fund and the same area, do not contact this fund again (however, it happens that the grantor agrees to grant you grants for several years in a row). Some funds do not allocate grants to the same organization twice. If this is true in your case, start looking for a new grantor with a large number of funding, longer-term grants, etc.
Determine the area of funding accurately. If you need financing for such a vast area as "education," you can find 100 grantors. However, if your educational project is called a “seminar,” then, in this case, you should look for funds that finance educational seminars. Contact the organizations that work for your country or region. Do not ask for more funding than the grantor usually allocates. If the fund has never allocated more than $ 1,000, you should not apply for $ 5,000. In this case, you will surely be refused, even if your project is very interesting and necessary.
EXPLORE THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Investigate the need to solve the problem you are proposing very attentively. It is also necessary to determine with which sponsor to work on it. If the problem is not explored, you will not have the material on the basis of which you would have drafted an application, and consequently, you will have nothing to submit to the grantor.
Remember that the funds and grantors need you, just as much as you need them. Funds are looking for small, newly formed organizations, full of new ideas and energy. Choose unique, original ideas for grant proposals that will help solve an important issue.
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