# Grant proposal skeleton

A working structure for a nonprofit grant proposal narrative. Reorder, rename,
and cut sections to match the funder's current instructions: the funder's
format always overrides this skeleton. Length shares assume a ten-page
narrative; scale them proportionally for other limits.

Replace every prompt line with your own prose, then delete the prompt.

---

## 1. Executive summary (about half a page, write it last)

- Prompt: In four to six sentences, state who you are, the documented need,
  the program that answers it, the amount requested, and the intended result.
- Prompt: Could a reviewer who reads nothing else describe your request
  accurately? If not, rewrite.
- Failure check: written before the other sections were final, so it no
  longer matches them.

## 2. Organizational background (about one page)

- Prompt: What has the organization done that proves capacity for THIS
  program? Lead with that, not with founding history.
- Prompt: Name current programs, staffing relevant to the request, and one or
  two verifiable results with their dates.
- Prompt: State legal status, service area, and annual budget once, plainly.
- Failure check: a full-history recitation with no link to the proposed work.

## 3. Statement of need (one and a half to two pages)

- Prompt: Who experiences the problem, where, and how many? Cite the source
  and data year for every figure.
- Prompt: What is the condition, and what happens if it continues?
- Prompt: Why is your organization relevant to this need in this place?
- Prompt: What do community members say about the problem in their own terms?
- Failure check: circular need ("we need funding to continue our program")
  or statistics with no connection to the population you serve.

## 4. Program description (about three pages)

- Prompt: Who will do what, for whom, when, where, and at what capacity?
- Prompt: Describe the participant's path through the program from intake to
  exit.
- Prompt: Name the staff roles that deliver each activity and the partners
  involved, with their commitments.
- Prompt: Provide a timeline with owners and deliverables, not just dates.
- Failure check: aspirations without an operating model. If a stranger could
  not sketch the week-to-week operation from this section, it is not done.

## 5. Goals, objectives, and outcomes (folded into program or separate)

- Prompt: State each objective so someone could check later whether it
  happened: who changes, in what way, by how much, by when.
- Prompt: Separate outputs (what you deliver) from outcomes (what changes).
- Failure check: outputs dressed as outcomes ("we will serve 200 students"
  is an output).

## 6. Evaluation plan (one to one and a half pages)

- Prompt: For each objective: what will you measure, with what instrument,
  collected by whom, how often, and what baseline exists?
- Prompt: How will results be used during the program, not only reported
  after it?
- Failure check: "we will survey participants" with no measure, baseline,
  or use named.

## 7. Budget and budget narrative (per funder format)

- Prompt: Does every budget line trace to an activity in the program
  description, and every staffed activity to a budget line?
- Prompt: Explain calculations in the narrative: rates, units, percentages
  of effort.
- Failure check: totals in the budget that disagree with numbers stated in
  the narrative.

## 8. Sustainability (half a page to one page)

- Prompt: What specifically continues after this grant, and what supports
  it: earned revenue, committed funders, absorbed operating cost, or a
  planned wind-down?
- Failure check: "we will seek additional funders" as the entire plan.

## 9. Attachments and compliance items

- Prompt: List every attachment the funder requests, its current version,
  its expiration or "as of" date, and who owns producing it.
- Failure check: an expired determination letter, unsigned board list, or
  missing financial statement discovered on submission day.

---

## Variant: the letter proposal (three pages or fewer)

Some smaller foundations request a short letter instead of a full narrative.
The letter is the complete request, not a cover note. Same burdens of proof,
compressed.

- Paragraph 1, the request: organization, amount, program, population, and
  period, in two or three sentences.
- Paragraphs 2 to 3, the need: the strongest local figure with source and
  year, the service gap, and the consequence.
- Paragraphs 4 to 6, the program: what happens, who delivers it, at what
  capacity, and the one or two objectives you will measure.
- Paragraph 7, capacity: the single result that proves you can run this
  program.
- Paragraph 8, budget: total program budget, amount requested here, and
  other confirmed sources.
- Close: contact person, offer of a full proposal or site visit, signature
  of the person accountable.
- Failure check: a letter that describes the organization for two pages and
  reaches the request in the final paragraph.