Advancement · Grants & Funding

Outline the proposal
before you write a word.

Proposals run over the page limit, or arrive with no evaluation section, because the writing started before the outline. List the sections in the funder’s order, give each a page budget and a status, and check the ask against the whole project. The generator flags a plan over the limit or a deadline closing with sections not started, and prints an outline with the question each section has to answer.

Outline a proposalWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Grant writer’s desk, $49 for 55 items.

Proposals

The worked example is made up: a community foundation proposal planned at 11 pages for a 10-page limit, an arts council grant due in 9 days that asks for the whole budget and a letter of inquiry with no evaluation section. Saved on this device only.

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What you get

Advancement · Grants & Funding$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A record per proposal: funder, project, deadline, page limit, amount asked, total budget, sections with pages and status, and six checks. Works out pages planned against the limit, the ask as a share of the project, days to the deadline and sections not started; prints an outline with page budgets and the questions each section answers; flags plans over the limit, asks equal to the whole budget, close deadlines with sections not started and missing need, evaluation or budget sections.
Who it is for
Grant writers, development staff and school and nonprofit leaders writing proposals to foundations and government funders.
Format
Browser organizer with a saved record per proposal. Prints the outline, one proposal’s record, every proposal in a table or a blank outline; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Grant writer’s desk ($49) and the Advancement Suite pass ($99), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Grants & Funding space in Caveat Advancement.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Read the guidelines and scoring criteria first.
  2. List sections in the funder’s order.
  3. Give each a page budget that fits the limit.
  4. Print the outline and draft against it.
  5. Update the status as sections are finished.

Outline a proposal

What each section answers

What each section has to answerSectionAsksStatement of needWhat problem, for whom, how known?Goals and objectivesWho changes, how much, by when?MethodsWhat will you do, and why this?EvaluationHow will you know it worked?Budget justificationWhy each cost, and what it buys?SustainabilityWhat happens after the grant?What each section has to answerStatement of needAsks: What problem, for whom, how known?Goals and objectivesAsks: Who changes, how much, by when?MethodsAsks: What will you do, and why this?EvaluationAsks: How will you know it worked?Budget justificationAsks: Why each cost, and what it buys?SustainabilityAsks: What happens after the grant?
Funders name and order sections differently. When the guidelines give a structure, follow it exactly; reviewers score against it.

Page budgets

Give the most pages to the sections reviewers score highest, usually need, methods and evaluation. Writing to a page budget from the start is faster than cutting a finished draft by a third.

Asking for the whole budget

Funders often want to see that a project has other support: other grants, earned income, in-kind contributions or the organization’s own funds. If this grant really is the only source, say why and how the work continues afterward.

Sources

  1. Candid (formerly Foundation Center). Proposal writing short course and the components of a proposal (learning.candid.org).
  2. Grants.gov. Grant writing basics and the parts of a federal application (grants.gov/learn-grants).
  3. Doran, G. T. (1981). There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives. Management Review, 70(11).
  4. W. K. Kellogg Foundation (2004). Logic Model Development Guide.

The worked example and funders in it are made up. Follow each funder’s own guidelines. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.