Grant funding is part of the funding mix for most nonprofits. For some organizations, grants make up the bulk of their funding. However, few organizations can rely solely on grant funding. In part this is because grant funding is unpredictable. Both the number of grants received, and the awarded amounts, can vary considerably from year to year. In addition to the unpredictability of grants, there are other drawbacks. Five are outlined below. Before you embark on the pursuit of grant funding, you'll want to prepare for each of these challenges.

If you are new to grant writing, your first question is likely to be: How Do I Write a Grant Proposal?At its core, writing a grant proposal comes down to five steps. Each of the five steps is described briefly below. If you are interested in reading more, you'll find links to earlier posts that describe the steps in detail.

This post will take a closer look at the application process and the standard sections you are likely to encounter so you'll know what to expect. As you review these standard pieces, you may find you have some of the information and text already on hand or that it will be relatively easy to pull it together.

A style sheet is a useful tool to capture your (or your organization’s) preferences for how to handle basic style questions. The style sheet is not exhaustive—it won’t replace a style guide such as The Chicago Manual of Style—but it should cover many of the common style questions that affect how a document looks. Your employer may already have developed a style sheet to ensure uniformity across the various types of publications it produces. If your employer does not have a style sheet, it is worth taking time early in the proposal process to create one that incorporates not only basic style elements but also the specific requirements for the grant application you're working on.

Writing a grant proposal is rarely, if ever, a solo activity. Unless you are starting a nonprofit on your own and trying to land that first grant, preparing a grant involves multiple people. The proposal team could be configured different ways: You might have several people writing content, or maybe one person doing the bulk of the writing and a handful of people involved as reviewers. Either way, more than one person will be involved. All of these individuals require coordination.

A core part of the prospect research process involves evaluating potential sources of funding such as private foundations, community foundations, and government agencies to determine which sources of funding are the right “fit” for your organization or project and worth pursuing.

Writing grant proposals requires skills in a number of areas, including the use of software programs like Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat,  knowledge of funders, and the ability to write compelling prose. There are several ways to build your skills in these areas.

For some funding opportunities, you may need to hire a consultant to prepare the proposal. The consultant may be a subject-matter expert who can work with you on strategy, a grant writer who can write the content and manage the proposal process, or a former government or foundation staff member who can help with the review process and ensure that your proposal is responsive to the funder’s needs.

There are several arguments for conducting a competitor analysis, some more persuasive than others. However, the main (if unspoken) benefit of completing one is to give an organization a sense of control. Having a competitor analysis in hand fosters the belief that everything that can be done to create a winning proposal is being done. The value of the security and confidence this belief creates should not be discounted. The key is to remain aware of the limitations of the competitor analysis process and not lose sight of other activities that could have a greater impact.

Create a process to avoid these 10 common mistakes during the proposal process, and you’ll be in a good position to deal successfully with other problems that develop!

The required elements of a grant proposal vary by funder. However, some pieces of information (or “boilerplate”) are basic ingredients for almost all proposals.  Proposal guidelines are recipes, to use a cooking analogy, and the items below are staples that you should always have stocked in your informational pantry.

Grant writing, like other types of writing, is susceptible to words that have lost their impact through overuse. The three words below frequently appear in grant proposals to add emphasis or communicate progress but often fail to do either. Fortunately, they can easily be exchanged for stronger descriptive words that can be more persuasive and precise.

A go/no-go meeting should be conducted for each funding opportunity of potential interest. The meeting ensures that there has been a thoughtful, deliberative process to determine whether to respond to an opportunity. The go/no-go decision process can break down for a number of reasons.

Below are five websites that frequently post job announcements for grant writers, proposal managers, and resource development staff. These job boards specialize in listing positions at nonprofit organizations and academic institutions.

If you are interested in receiving funding from USAID, the USAID business forecast is an important resource you should be using. USAID releases the forecast quarterly. The forecast provides information about awards USAID is in the process of developing and includes grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements. 

For many funding opportunities, particularly Request for Applications (RFAs) released by government agencies, you’ll have roughly six weeks to prepare and submit your response. With this six-week period in mind, you can create a proposal development plan that consists of a general timeline of draft due dates and review periods. Once you have a general outline for 6-week proposal process in place, you can then adjust it as needed for opportunities that have shorter or longer time horizons.

When the proposal work begins, and deadlines are looming, even the most experienced proposal writers can be tempted to write proposal language that is more visionary than grounded. Here are three signs that your proposal may be promising too much....

Welcome to Peak Proposals, a website created to share tools and resources for finding funding opportunities, writing competitive grants, and managing the proposal process.