A proposal without a kickoff tends to go the same way. Someone reads the notice, someone else hears about it secondhand, and a week later three people are working from three different ideas of what the application should say. Questions that one meeting could have settled turn up as rewrites close to the deadline.
This article gives you a short kickoff you can run for any application: what to prepare, an agenda that fits in an hour, and what to send afterward so the work keeps moving.
Decide whether you are applying before you call the meeting
A kickoff is for an application you have decided to pursue. If you are still deciding, settle that first with a few people and the go or no-go questions. Calling a whole team together for an application you then drop costs everyone time and costs you goodwill.
Once the answer is yes, set the date for the kickoff as early as you can. Everything that follows depends on it.
Prepare three things before the meeting
People arrive better prepared when they have something short to read. Send these two days ahead:
- A notice summary. One page with the funder, the program, the amount available, the key dates, who is eligible, how it will be scored and what must be submitted. The guide to reading a funding notice shows where to find each item.
- A draft concept. A short paragraph or a page on what you propose: the problem, the approach, who is served and the rough scale. It is a starting point for discussion, not a finished idea.
- A list of open questions. What do you need to know that the notice does not say?
For federal opportunities, the notice summary is easier to build because agencies follow a common layout. Appendix I to 2 CFR 200 requires federal NOFOs to include these sections: Basic Information, Eligibility, Program Description, Application Contents and Format, Submission Requirements and Deadlines, Application Review Information, Award Notices, and Post-Award Requirements and Administration. The Application Contents and Format section must address page limits, formatting, required forms, and any requirements for letters of support or commitment. Foundation guidelines are less standardized, so you may need to assemble the same information from several pages.
Run an agenda that fits in an hour
Keep the meeting to 60 minutes and give each item a time. A workable version:
| Minutes | Item | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Notice walk-through | Everyone has the same facts about eligibility, scoring and deadlines |
| 15 | Concept | The group agrees on the idea, or on what must change |
| 10 | Roles | Each task has one named owner |
| 10 | Outline | Sections listed with page limits and an owner for each |
| 10 | Deadlines and information requests | Internal due dates set, and requests assigned |
| 5 | Recap | Read back the decisions and the next steps |
Concept
Present the draft, then ask for the strongest objection. If a delivery lead says the timeline is unrealistic, you want to hear it now. The article on the proposal team and the project team explains why delivery staff should see the concept early.
Roles
Name an owner for each of these: the lead writer, the budget, the partners and letters, the data and evaluation section, the final review and the submission. Small teams will double up, and that is fine as long as each task has one name next to it. If you need guidance on running the team after the kickoff, see managing a grant team.
Outline and deadlines
Turn the scoring criteria into section headings, as described in from notice to outline, and assign each section to one person. Work backward from the submission deadline to set internal dates: first drafts, budget sign-off, partner documents, leadership review and a buffer for upload.
Information requests
List the documents, numbers and approvals you need from people outside the room, such as audited financials, board signatures and partner letters. Give each request an owner and a date at the meeting, rather than sending a round of emails afterward.
A worked example
Say a small tribal health program is applying to a federal opportunity with a two-month window. At the kickoff, the program manager says the target of 200 participants is too high for current staffing. The group agrees to revise it to 120 and adds an information request for the clinic's last two years of enrollment counts. The finance lead takes the budget, the director takes partner letters, and the writer sets the first-draft date for day 18. The meeting ends with every task owned and every date set. This example is hypothetical.
Send notes and a calendar the same day
The meeting only helps if its decisions survive it. Within 24 hours, send one message to everyone that includes:
- The concept as agreed, in two or three sentences.
- The list of tasks, with owner and due date for each.
- The outline, with page limits.
- The internal calendar, ending with the submission deadline.
- The notice summary, so it is one click away.
Put the dates on the shared calendar, not just in the email. Then check in at the first internal deadline. If something is slipping, it is cheaper to find out then than at the final read-through.
Keep the meeting from becoming a drafting session
Two habits protect the hour. First, park drafting. If someone starts rewriting a sentence, note it and move on. Second, decide who decides. Input from the room is welcome, but one person, usually the proposal lead, makes the final call on the concept and the outline. When the group cannot agree, name what information would settle it and who will get it.
Your next step
Use this agenda for your next proposal kickoff. Two days before the meeting, send the one-page notice summary and the draft concept, and block 60 minutes on the calendar. Bring a blank task list with an empty owner column, and do not end the meeting until every row has a name.
SoliContraX can help you get ready for the meeting: upload the funding notice and you can work from a clear read of its requirements and a concept to react to, then carry the decisions through to a finished application. Start your next application.