JARGON
PLAIN LANGUAGE
PASSIVE VOICE
ACTIVE VOICE
Due to inadequate
absorption capacity,
local CBOs require
substantial investments
in capacity-building
from bilateral and
multilateral agencies.
Community groups in
this district need help to
develop their own financial
and program management
skills before they can
handle larger grants from
international funders.
Training was conducted for
the members of the savings
association.
The program coordinator
trained the members of
the savings association.
A grant for 2 years was
awarded by the XX Foundation.
The XX Foundation
awarded a 2-year grant.
Gender mainstreaming
is one of the most
impactful modalities
for ensuring social
inclusion for the
marginalized.
One of the best ways to
make sure that less powerful
groups in society participate
in decision-making is to
make sure that both women
and men are involved.
The project has been
launched by the cooperative.
The cooperative
launched the project.
Women in the community
are having their awareness
raised by the campaign on
the issue of HIV/AIDS.
The campaign is
raising awareness of
HIV/AIDS among the
community’s women.
Keep it simple and strive for clarity.
Using foreign language terms/concepts that may
be unfamiliar – Make sure to define the word and
explain what it means. Assume the person reading
your proposal does not understand the language or
the cultural context of the term.
Break your narrative into short, easy-to-read paragraphs.
headings and bullet points to make it easy to follow.
Use
Don’t just cut and paste from prior proposals: look
at the funder’s specific questions and craft your
responses accordingly. Be sure to relate these answers
back to the funder’s interests and priorities.
Focusing on the problem instead of the solution –
Make sure you focus on what action you are taking
– how you will make a difference, not just on the
magnitude of the problem.
Back up your arguments with evidence, but don’t
overwhelm the reader with too much background
information or statistics. Provide only what you
need to make your point.
Sharing ideas instead of action – Show the funder
why you are the best organization to work on this
issue, not just that you are knowledgeable about
the issues. The funder is not looking for a research
paper, but instead is looking for an action plan.
Provide needed background information about
your organization and the context for your work,
but keep this as short as possible and relate this
information to the project.
Using complicated formatting, fonts, colors, fancy paper,
covers, etc. – These tricks just get in the way and can
actually annoy reviewers, instead of impressing them.
Focus your proposal on what you will do and what
your work will achieve. Don’t spend most of the space
in your narrative on defining/explaining the problem.
Making the document hard to read – Don’t make
the font or the margins too small in order to keep
the narrative within page limits. A good guideline
is to use a font size no smaller than 11 and page
margins of no less than ¾ inch (or 2 cm).
Make sure to talk about the results and outcomes
of your work, not just the process. What are the big
picture results you want to achieve as well as the
small, measurable results you can accomplish within
the proposed grant period?
Providing lots of extra information besides what’s
asked for by the funder – Don’t submit multiple
appendices with documents, photos, and charts unless
you know the foundation wants these materials.
Develop specific measures of success for your proposal.
Show that you have thought through what you want to
achieve and how to measure progress toward your goals.
Edit, edit, edit. Keep it short. Say only what you
need to say/what the funder wants to learn, not
everything you’d like to say or everything you know
about the subject. Make sure to keep the proposal
length within the funder’s page limitations.
WRITING TIPS
Create an outline to guide your writing. Keep
your proposal focused and don’t miss any of the
funder’s requirements.
active voice instead of passive voice.
Use
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