Foundations of Proposal Writing

Where inspiration meets reality – bring your project/program ideas to life!  

Project administrators and program leaders perform a critical role to ongoing program and organizational success by conducting ongoing research to identify and track potential funding opportunities, maintain positive stakeholder relationships and develop the skills and competencies to write, and contribute to, competitive and successful proposals.  Proposal writing is one of the key activities used by many community organizations to bring their “ideas to life” to secure funding and resources to deliver on their mandate and mission.  

This course provides a practical introduction to the elements of proposal writing. Teams will work together on a proposal that takes a project/program idea from inception to completion.  Activities include writing a concise project/program description, identification of potential funding sources and the completion of a proposal that is ready to present to a range of audiences and decision-makers. 

Topics Covered  

• Types of proposals 

• Prospect identification  

• Letters of Inquiry/Intent               

• Theory of change and evidence of need 

• Logic model, budget and timelines        

• Project/program outcomes and evaluation 

• Supporting documents and best practices       

Learning Goals 

• Be able to differentiate between types of proposals and sources of funding 

• Analyze funder criteria and guidelines to identify proposal opportunities and assess organizational readiness, alignment and eligibility 

• Design, write and present competitive and appropriate proposal responses (written and oral) including key elements and components: statement of need/ rationale, implementation strategies, outcomes, personnel, evaluation, budget, grant evaluation, storytelling and reporting timeframes and deadlines 

• Review and assess proposals according to specific criteria 

• Construct a Logic Model, Theory of Change and implement tools, templates for effective presentation 

• Integration of best practices 

  Learner Effort  

• Weekly online attendance for live sessions  

• Readings and review of reference materials 

• Team  breakout activities   

• Completed Grant Submission (group Project)