Many proposals go wrong on page one. A writer opens a blank document, starts with the organization's history and by page ten has drifted away from what the funder asked. Then the reviewer, who is scoring against a form, can't find the answers.
The fix is to build an outline before you write a sentence, and to build it from the notice rather than from memory. This article shows how: copy the structure, attach the criteria, list what each section needs and agree on a short concept first. By the end you'll have a working plan with owners and dates.
Why the outline comes first
A reviewer reads your proposal against the notice. If your sections follow the notice in its order and under its headings, the reviewer can find each answer quickly. If they don't, you are asking a tired person to hunt for points they could have simply given you.
An outline also makes the work visible. Once every section has a name, a length and a person, the team can see who writes what and by when. A draft in one long document hides that.
Copy the skeleton from the notice
Federal notices of funding opportunity (NOFOs) follow a common layout. Under Appendix I to 2 CFR 200, federal agencies must use the same or similar section headings: Basic Information, Eligibility, Program Description, Application Contents and Format, Submission Requirements and Deadlines, Application Review Information, Award Notices and Post-Award Requirements and Administration. Foundation guidelines are looser, but they usually still say what to send.
Two of those sections drive your outline:
- Application Contents and Format must identify the required content of the application and the forms or formats to use. Where relevant, it also covers page limits, font and margin requirements, the required sequence of sections and instructions for the narrative, including any required order or headings.
- Application Review Information must describe each review criterion and sub-criterion and, if they vary in importance, their relative weights or percentages.
Start a document and do this in order:
- Copy every required section and heading from the Application Contents and Format section, in the order given.
- Add the forms and attachments as their own lines: budget, budget narrative, letters, resumes, certifications.
- Paste the review criteria under the heading they belong to. If a criterion doesn't map to a heading, note which section will carry it.
- Add the limits: page or character counts, formatting rules, file types.
Everything on that list comes from the notice. If the notice says something you can't place, flag it. A requirement with no home in the outline is exactly the kind that gets missed.
The notice in front of you always controls. For help finding these pieces, see how to read a funding notice.
Allocate length by points
If the notice assigns points to criteria, use them to decide where the words go. A criterion worth 30 of 100 points deserves roughly 30 percent of your narrative, unless the notice sets section limits that say otherwise.
Say a hypothetical rural health clinic is applying for a 100-point program with a 12-page narrative. The scoring table gives need 20 points, program design 30, organizational capacity 20, evaluation 20 and sustainability 10. A first pass might allocate:
| Section | Points | Pages |
|---|---|---|
| Need | 20 | 2.5 |
| Program design | 30 | 3.5 |
| Organizational capacity | 20 | 2 |
| Evaluation | 20 | 2.5 |
| Sustainability | 10 | 1.5 |
| Total | 100 | 12 |
The numbers are a starting point, not a rule: they track the points loosely and round to half pages. If a section has more to say than its budget allows, you've learned something early: either the content needs trimming, or another section is carrying too much.
Attach sources and owners to each section
A heading and a criterion aren't enough to write from. Under each section, add three things:
- What you need: the data, documents and examples that will make the section concrete.
- Who has it: a named person or file, not "the program team".
- When you'll have it: a date, ahead of the writing date.
Mark the gaps early. Missing data is a request you can send today, not a scramble the night before. A program director who is asked for enrollment numbers ten days before the deadline can usually find them. One who is asked the night before often can't.
The same list tells you what to pull from past applications and what has to be new. You may find that three sections can be assembled largely from existing material, and that one needs fresh work. That is useful to know in week one.
Write a one-paragraph concept and get it approved
Before anyone drafts, write a single paragraph that states four things: the problem, your approach, who benefits and why your organization is the one to do it.
Here's a hypothetical version. Say a small literacy nonprofit is applying to a state education agency:
Third-grade reading scores in our county trail the state average by 14 points, and the gap is widest in the two elementary schools with no reading specialist. We propose a twice-weekly tutoring program in those schools, delivered by trained community volunteers under a certified reading teacher. The program serves 120 students a year. We have run this model in a neighboring district for six years and have the volunteer base to start in the fall.
That paragraph can be read in under a minute. It can also be disagreed with in under a minute, which is the point. If the executive director wants a different approach, or the program lead thinks 120 is too many, you want to know before 3,000 words exist.
Many late rewrites trace back to a concept nobody agreed on. Get a yes from whoever has to approve the project, then write.
Check the outline against the notice
Before you start drafting, read your outline once, top to bottom, with the notice beside it. Ask:
- Does every required section and form appear, in the notice's order?
- Does every review criterion have a home?
- Does every section have a length, an owner and a source?
- Is the concept paragraph still consistent with everything the outline promises?
If any answer is no, fix the outline now. It is far cheaper than fixing a draft. Reviewers score against what the funder values, so what funders are really looking for is worth a read while you set priorities. When you're ready to write the first section, the need statement is usually a good place to start.
Your next step
Pick your next application and build the outline before you write anything. Copy the headings, paste the criteria under them and list the sources and owners. Then write the concept paragraph and send it to the person who has to approve it, with a date for their reply.
SoliContraX works in the same order: you upload the notice, review a proposed concept and approve it before anything is drafted. If you'd like a head start on that stretch, start your next application.