Submit a Strong Proposal

Private foundations vary widely in their scope, focus, and size, so it’s wise to tailor your grant proposal exactly to a foundation’s specific priorities and proposal requirements. While some foundations prefer to work with project leaders to craft their grant request to be very specific to funding criteria, others are more flexible. The Corporate and Foundation Relations team is quite familiar with the nuances of foundations nationwide and can advise faculty throughout the proposal process, but we’ve listed some considerations for putting your best foot forward.

Connect with program staff

Do your homework and know who you need to speak to in advance of submitting your proposal. When a foundation permits, it’s helpful to connect with a program officer or foundation staff member to talk about your program and its fit for the foundation’s initiative. The CFR team can help to connect you with foundation staff in the event that it makes strategic sense to do so. In some cases, it may also be advantageous for university leadership to meet with foundation executives. You can discuss this with the CFR team during the proposal development process.

Demonstrate an intersection of priorities

The strongest grant proposals show how a project meets your and GW’s priorities while also speaking to foundation priorities. Understand what the foundation is trying to achieve with their RFP or broader initiative. While your project shouldn’t stray from your original intent or goals, it should also speak to the foundation’s goals. The more information you can gather about foundation priorities and criteria for selection on an RFP, the stronger your proposal is likely to be.

Know your project's impact

With a limited amount of funding to award each year, foundations look to fund proposals that will have a marked impact on their target group and within their predetermined geographical scope, whether focused on a small region or worldwide. Know your impact story: Will your project serve a lot of people or introduce a breakthrough development with global implications? Perhaps you are focused on introducing a scalable model.

For instance, if you are launching a program to introduce interdisciplinary learning modules into first-year biology courses, your proposal should outline the number of students who will benefit from this curriculum, how the curriculum will have a broader departmental and university impact, and how (if applicable) it may have an impact on first-year biology education beyond GW. It is most important to know the specific impact the foundation had in mind when introducing the funding program and announcing the RFP. A small quantitative impact isn’t necessarily a negative mark on your proposal as long as you can demonstrate why your impact matters.

Know your project's context and broader purpose

Why is your project’s impact important right now? What larger issue does it help to solve or development might it advance? For broader and less specific RFPs, these questions will be important to answer. For very direct RFPs, particularly for scientific or medical research, you may not need to speak to purpose at length as it should be apparent to the technical reviewers of your proposal.

You also should have an idea for local, regional, and national context for your program. Are you the only one doing this particular kind of project, research, or program? How does your project add to the body of work? How is it different? What is the impact of this work? Your proposal should demonstrate your understanding of context for your project and where it fits in.

Understand project budget needs and restrictions

Be sure you know what budget items a foundation is willing to fund, their grant range, and the general items they want to see in your budget.

Know if you have to provide cost-share. For instance, some foundations like to see that you have additional financial support for the project, whether from your department or other external funders.

Many foundations do not fund indirect costs, or typically only 10-15 percent of a project budget, so you should talk with CFR staff about whether a particular foundation funds these costs and what rate, if this information is not clear in the foundation’s proposal and budget guidelines.

Some foundations require a specific budget format, while others accept a simple Excel document. Be mindful of the format required for your project budget.

Staff in your school's research office will be an important resource as you develop and finalize your grant budget materials.

Demonstrate institutional buy-in

Your proposal may need to demonstrate that you have support from academic and administrative leaders within your school, and for more substantial requests, support may be required at the provost or presidential level.The CFR office can help with securing and demonstrating leadership endorsement for your proposal. Explaining how your project or program ties in to overall GW and school goals will strengthen your proposal and help you to take advantage of GW’s brand recognition. Whether endorsement of your proposal takes the form of cost-share or another kind of commitment, foundations frequently look for buy-in from partners and leadership. If you have sub-grantees, they may need to demonstrate how their part of the project has buy-in from organization leadership.

Plan your project's lifespan

Are you proposing a finite project or a program that will need to grow or be sustained over time? Many foundations will not continue to fund the same program in perpetuity. Foundations often provide bridge funding--that is, seed funding to either launch a program or move it to its next phase. Your proposal should explain clearly why your project will benefit from the amount of funding you’re requesting at this time, and what necessary gap that funding will fill in your program or project. For some proposals, you will need to explain how you plan to sustain the program once the foundation’s grant funds are spent.

Emphasize team credibility

Why are you qualified to take on the work you’re proposing? If you have a team of project leaders, why are they a part of the project? Many foundations will require CVs to be submitted for all project leaders, but there are also opportunities within the proposal narrative to explain how your prior work or research positions your project for success.

Leverage GW's brand and mission

You will be submitting a grant proposal as a principal investigator of the George Washington University. The applicant and recipient of funding will be GW, which means it is to your advantage to leverage GW’s strengths and brand recognition in your proposal. In positioning your project and team for credibility, you may want to include  information about the university and its priorities and mission. For instance, a faculty member with a lab in the Science and Engineering Hall may choose to include information on this state-of-the-art facility and the opportunities it provides for cross-disciplinary collaboration, while also demonstrating GW’s commitment to science, technology, and engineering.