Writing Proposals for HIV/AIDS Prevention Grants - U.S. Conference ...

26 TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE REPORTS March 2003Before You Send the Proposal: A Checklist❍ Follow funders’ instructions exactly. Make sure yourproposal follows all instructions related to the organizationand formatting of the proposal such as sectiontitles, margin width, type size, page limitations,page order and numbering, and the inclusion of atable of contents and abstract page. Followingdirections is even more important in matters ofcontent, such as limitations on grant amounts,restrictions on specific kinds of activities or expenditures,and all criteria that determine eligibility.❍ Pay attention to proposal deadlines. Check whetherthe deadline is for the postmark date or date forreceiving the proposal. Whichever the case, send theproposal by a carrier or service that will absolutelyguarantee that the deadline will be met. (If theproposal must be received by a certain date, sendingit by regular mail is rarely a good idea; no matterhow early you send it, there can always be delays.)Check the address you are mailing to very carefully;a wrong number in a zip code or street number candelay the proposal and cause you to miss the deadline.❍ Make time to edit the proposal. Sloppy, poorly writtenproposals are unlikely to succeed. Typos, misspellings,grammatical errors, unclear sentences,and sections that have been copied from other documentsand inserted into your proposal withoutbeing properly integrated into it give the impressionthat the proposal was rushed or, worse, that theapplicant organization is not very professional. Forsome reviewers such mistakes can create a bad firstimpression that may be hard to overcome. (You aretrying, after all, to inspire confidence in your abilities.)They can also make the proposal so frustrating to readthat reviewers miss important information or loseinterest in the substance of the proposal. Someoneother than the main writer of the proposal shouldread the proposal from beginning to end to checkfor errors and clarity of meaning. (Note: runningSpellcheck on your computer is not enough; areference to a "peace of paper" may not be flaggedby the program, but reviewers will certainly noticethe error.)❍ Make sure all sections of the proposal are consistentwith each other. Often different people preparedifferent sections of a proposal and due to timeconstraints no one checks each section to make surethat it agrees with the other sections. Or last-minutechanges are made to one section without adjustingrelated sections to reflect those changes. For example,if you originally propose in the Program narrativeto hold a series of eight workshops and later decide toscale back to only six, you should go back and changethe original number wherever it appears in the workplan (e.g., budget, timetable, evaluation plan). Thismay be hard to do at the last minute, but suchinconsistencies will count against your proposal.Again, asking someone other than the main writerof the proposal read it from beginning to end tomake sure that all parts are consistent with eachother should help you avoid this common pitfall.❍ Check the appendix to make sure it includes allrequired attachments. Often funders require certainattachments such as audit statements or evidence ofyour organization’s 501(c)3(tax exempt) status that,if left out, may disqualifyyour proposal.The United States Conference of Mayors • 1620 Eye Street,NW • Washington, DC 20006 • (202) 293-7330www.usmayors.org/uscm