Beyond the A-Z of proposal writing

Katie Rabone Fundraising Action

How to write emotive, memorable, stand out proposals

Reach your targets

Move the process from painful

to pleasurable

Why are we talking about proposal writing?

ROI is high

Why are we talking about proposal writing?

DSC believes there are around 8,000 charities which give grants to other organisations or individuals for charitable purposes Their giving, in the region of £3 billion a year, makes up almost 8% of the voluntary sector’s income The assets held by all of the trusts and foundations in our sample total almost £45 billion Actual grant spending has recovered to pre-recession levels

Why are we talking about proposal writing?

You can do it anywhere Where do you write? When?

Why emotive? Why stand-out? Why memorable?

Assessors want this. They’re humans. Not robots. Decisions are made by people Levels of competition We are all here to make a difference. We believe in our individual causes. We want to make the world a better place

Why are we talking about proposal writing?

What is there to talk, tweet, post about? It’s painful Remember that ROI

MY TOOLKIT

VISION

Get your VISION down

• The difference you want to make in the world • You will know when to close your doors • One sentence • No more than 15 words • Sounds good read out loud • Emotive • Memorable

VISION For ever. For everyone. National Trust We look after the places you love, from houses, buildings and gardens to coast and countryside. We save children’s lives. Save the Children The charity that saves lives at sea. We are the RNLI Great art and culture for everyone. Arts Council England

Amberley Museum & Heritage Centre

• Amberley Museum & Heritage Centre is set in a 36 acre site in the South Downs National Park.

• Dedicated to the industrial heritage of the South East, exhibits include a narrow-gauge railway and bus service (both provide free nostalgic travel around the site), Connected Earth Telecommunications Hall, Milne Electricity Hall, Printing Workshop and much more.

• The Museum is also home to traditional craftspeople, such as the blacksmith and potter.

Amberley Museum & Heritage Centre

Discover. Learn. Have fun.

FIND & TELL YOUR STORIES

During Sudan's long hot summer, the River Nile can be an appealing playground for school-age children. The refreshing water is inviting and splashing around with friends is a favourite way for teenage boys to cool off in the oppressive heat. Many adults see swimming as a banned activity, partly because of the associated risk of drowning. That means that these children are seldom strong swimmers and are ill-equipped to get out of difficulty if they stray too far from the bank or get into deep water. Too often, by the time help arrives, the only thing left to do is to hunt for the drowned child's body. Away from the larger towns and cities, the River Nile is much more than a place for a refreshing dip. People rely on the River Nile for their livelihoods and day to day living. The river is used for cooking, washing, fishing and irrigation. However, as well as being a life giver, the river is also a great life taker. Many people drown while undertaking these essential activities. In 2014, the annual global death toll from drowning was estimated to be 372,000 by the World Health Organisation (WHO). More than 91% of these deaths occur in low and middle income countries. WHO estimates Africa has the highest continental rate of drowning in the world of 8 per 100,000 population, about 75,000 each year. Some surveys suggest a level four or five times higher than the WHO estimated drowning rate.

FIND & TELL YOUR STORIES The vision of Nile Swimmers is to stop drowning. The mission of Nile Swimmers is to make Africa safe around water. The charity works to achieve this by: • Providing water safety, rescue and CPR training, in

vulnerable populations; • Building capacity of local drowning prevention

organisations including the National Civil Defence, Sudanese Swimming Federation, and Ministry of Youth and Sport;

• Working with the Ministry of Education to provide water safety education in schools.

STOP WRITING

Stop writing!

• READ past bids, other people’s bids, • READ about writing • Be a detective, a journalist • Get on the front line. LIVE your organisation’s work • TALK to staff, volunteers, trustees, beneficiaries and

funders • FIND the stories, the lived experiences (case studies) • TUNE IN to the funders • When was your last audit of bid writing in your

organisation?

What do the funders want?

TUNE IN

Research • Governing documents • Trustee’s interests • Current trends or needs • Benefit to the grant maker

(companies/government) • Relationship with charities/your charity

Groundwork South • Applicants should read through the criteria and ensure their project meets it, before applying • · See if there are any additional resources e.g. Q & A section, applicant guidance notes,

additional support • · Seek help/advice from Voluntary Actions or other sources if its their first time applying for

funding or if they feel they may need it • · Speak to the funder about the project before applying (if possible) • · Applicants should tailor their application and project to meet the criteria and expected

outcomes • · The application should have detail and clarity • · The applicant should demonstrate the need for their project (consultation, evaluation data) • · Include a photo (if possible) • · Don’t exaggerate • · Sell your project… • · Be passionate and enthusiastic! • Applications that don’t follow these tips are the ones that don’t tend to be of high quality.

Esmée Fairbairn Foundation • https://vimeo.com/147327821

Heritage Lottery Fund • The mains reason bids (that would otherwise have the

potential to succeed) fail is – people haven’t read the guidance!

• More specifically – they haven’t looked at the funder’s key terminology and language, and thought about how to convey their project in these terms. The guidance is easily as important/useful while writing the bid as while preparing it. HLF guidance, which has a detailed walkthrough of each question on the form, whichever programme, is almost like a readymade essay plan for the whole thing, complete with the ‘buzz words’ you need to use.

Big Lottery Fund COMMENTS TO FOLLOW TUESDAY 22ND

Where are we so far in the process? Vision - 360 of your org

STOP WRITING

Tune in - research funders

Key stages of the proposal

Project design,

support & management

Find your voice - pushing

through the pain barrier

START WRITING

Internal audit Review funders

KEY ELEMENTS OF A PROPOSAL

Stage by stage (don’t panic)

• Your organisation. Vision, track record & stories SHOW OFF!

• The need – current and a wide range of evidence

• The project - incl. aim and outcomes • The budget – rounded numbers? Really? • Monitoring and evaluation

Your organisation Your vision, mission, aims and objectives History Volunteer led? Grass-roots? Impact to date Your USP

Your track record Impact to date – direct and indirect beneficiaries STATS please. BE SMART Significant funders already supporting you Key partnerships, policies you are plugged into Awards won, projects and learning being shared Quality marks?

The need • Need is a complex issue that can be broadly categorised by

the following types:1 • Material need - to be adequately nourished, have

somewhere to live, be warm, have a decent home, adequate transport, adequate income, employment, basic possessions and activities, basic skills and qualifications.

• Psychological need - mental health, self-esteem, competence, autonomy, good quality relationships, security.

• One approach to defining need is to view those in need as lacking particular resources or facing certain barriers, in accessing the support, information or care they need.2

1Adapted from Sinking & Swimming: Understanding Britain's Unmet Needs. Young Foundation 2010 2Adapted from Deep and persistent exclusion: interrogating the idea of the "bottom 2.5%" Young Foundation 2008

How do you know? Your stories Your data – waiting lists. Your project teams. Need and cause? Local, regional and national data and weave it in Who else is meeting these needs locally? Quantitative and qualitative Evidence – within last 2 years. Consultation and engagement You can’t start designing a project or writing a bid unless you have current consultation evidence and understand the local, regional and national evidence and policies on the subject

Your project • What is a project? A project is a specific and

distinct piece of work that you would like us to fund. (Big Lottery)

• Core costs – linked to vision!

• Grantmaking Tango etc put link in here have there been any updates since this?

Project management • Find a proposal champion that chairs the

project group feeding into the bid process

• Projects from the frontline and/or strategic staff. Funding led is NOT ideal

• Ask staff for their shopping lists! Listen to what is missing

JARGON

Full cost recovery • TALK to your Treasurer, Finance Director • Understand the stories behind your

organisation’s finances • Full cost recovery means ensuring your

organisation recovers the full cost of delivering a service or project. Full cost recovery is a process. The aim is to find out the whole cost of projects or services. (Big Lottery)

Outcomes The difference you will make to: • Individuals and families. E.g. fathers improve their parenting skills

resulting in stronger family relationships • Communities. E.g. fewer young people involved in criminal or anti-

social behaviour as a result of participating in a range of positive activities

• The environment. E.g. improvements in local habitats will lead to higher levels of species biodiversity

• Organisations. E.g.charities have greater skills and capacity to meet local needs

• Systems and structures. E.g. a decrease in congestion city-wide from an increase in cycle routes.

Words of change (more, better, less, improved)

Impact • Direct and indirect beneficiaries • Your staff • Your volunteers • Your community • Peers • The sector • Policy makers

WHY CAN WRITING BE SO HARD?

• Revealing yourself. It’s personal • Who are you comparing yourself to? • Private task that becomes public property • Accept the process – the emotional roller-

coaster

Stop writing (again) Change of scenery Mute your inner critic. Be brave Find your motivation – vision, mission, beneficiaries and their stories. NOT TARGETS.

Still not writing… Find your flow – when, where are you going to write Urgency – self-imposed deadlines. STRESS v ADRENALINE Focus on one task AT A TIME

Nope, not writing yet

• Love your PC, stationery, gadgets, desk

• Linear action points – stay focused

• Reduce distractions and set your alarm

START WRITING!

Be creative. Be YOU • Expressing ideas in writing • Finding your voice – authentic • Freewriting – writing version of brainstorming • Experimental – there is no perfect way. Stop

editing and move on • Finding your flow – move to a different location,

switch medium • Reading aloud • Sort your ideas before you start writing (vision,

mission, project design, its aims etc)

Styles of writing • Plain English – active verbs, you and we, avoid

jargon, • Link words/sentences – The problems is, We

also know that • Breaking rules • Play with the length of sentences.

‘Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines or a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.’ Strunk and White, The Elements of Style

Writing your proposal • Write for the intelligent lay person in the

street • Keep practicing • Hold a workshop with peers/colleagues • Find the hidden wordsmiths in your

organisation

THE LAST WORD TUNE IN = no scatter gun, 50 a month proposals AUDIT, AUDIT, AUDIT – 360 Giving LOBBY grant makers REMEMBER they are on your side. They want and HAVE to fund you RELATIONSHIP – touch points…how many before you submit Ask for help Content not style

Plain English • Alleviate – ease, reduce

• Ascertain – find out • Attributable to – due to, because of • Consequently – so • Currently – now • Demonstrate show, prove • Diminish – reduce, lessen • Due to the fact of – because, as • Endeavour – try • Furthermore – then, also, and • Numerous, many (or say how many) • You are requested - please

My toolkit • VISION – 360º of your organisation • STOP WRITING proposals. For a while at least... • TUNE IN– research the funders • BREAK IT DOWN - the proposal into segments • PROJECTS – BEWARE OF MISSION DRIFT • GOOD STATIONERY Know your own rhythms. Be

kind to yourself • START WRITING • REVIEW, AUDIT

Windsurfers do it standing up Vicars do it on their knees Grant administrators like it done on two sides of A4