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10 Tips for Technology Proposal-Writers
Sun Associates collaborates with school districts
and state education agencies to write educational technology
funding proposals, and to implement funded activities, including
professional development and evaluation. We have found that
successful funding proposals have several things in common. We
invite you to share these 10 tips with your colleagues, and use
them as a starting point for your next grant-planning meeting.
1. Read the RFP
2. Write appropriate proposals
3. Follow the RFP structure
4. Clearly state goals
5. Align your request with your
technology plan
6. Specify the project's teaching
and learning impact
7. Include evaluation and
dissemination components
8. Not all proposals fund hardware
9. Collaborate!
10. Write, modify, resubmit
1. Read the Request for Proposals
(RFP)
The number one rule for writing a successful grant
is to read the RFP...and then to follow the RFP's rules and
guidelines when writing your proposal. Not surprisingly, most
unsuccessful proposals violate this basic rule. The RFP is written
for the specific purpose of providing prospective grantees with
all of the information that they need to write a successful
proposal. Most grant-makers spend a huge amount of time writing
their RFP. They expect you to read it and follow it carefully.
2. Write Appropriate
Proposals
This follows from reading (and understanding) the
RFP. Do not waste your time, or the reviewers' time by submitting
proposals that do not meet the guidelines of the RFP. If an RFP
says that it will not fund proposals for specific items,
expenditure categories, or for specific populations, then do not
write a proposal asking for these things. For example, it is quite
common for grant-makers to state that they will not provide funds
for hardware and software. If this is the case with your RFP, then
do not write a proposal asking for funds for hardware and
software. Grant-makers follow their own rules to the letter, and
"exceptions" are not made. Rather, inappropriate proposals are
almost always simply rejected.
3. Follow the Structure Provided by
the RFP
Another thing that virtually all RFPs provide is a
"suggested" proposal structure or table of contents. If your RFP
provides such a structure, follow it! Most of the time, this
suggested structure forms the basis of the checklist that
reviewers will use when reading your proposal. Reviewers use a
checklist to determine if each proposal has all of the required
elements, sections, etc. Make their job easier, and thereby
improve the chances that they will like your proposal; organize
your proposal by their structure.
4. Clearly State Your Proposal's
Goals
All reviewers want to see your proposed project's
goals. If you do not clearly state these goals, then the
assumption will be that you do not have goals. Goal-less proposals
are generally not funded. Furthermore, it is important that your
goals be aligned with the purposes of the grant program (as stated
in the RFP) and that they are reasonable given the scope of your
proposed project and resources. Good goals are at the core of all
good proposals.
5. Align Your Proposal with Your
Technology Planning Goals
Good goals are also at the core of good educational
technology plans. Therefore, when writing technology proposals,
you should reference your planning goals. Show how your proposal
supports your broader goals and how it completes some element
(albeit a possibly small element) of your technology plan.
Alignment with planning goals gives your proposal a "big picture"
that demonstrates that the funds you are requesting will
accomplish much more good than the specific, anticipated, outcomes
from the proposed project.
This is also a good place to mention that
increasingly, technology proposals that come from districts which
do not have technology plans are not funded. Funders expect
grantwriters to have their proposals grounded in the long-term
vision and strategies expressed in a technology plan. While it is
not often necessary to include your technology plan with your
proposal, it is always a good idea (or in fact, often a
requirement) to reference it in your proposal and/or include it as
an appendix.
6. Specifically State Your
Project's Impact on Teaching and Learning
What impact will your proposal have on teaching and
learning? This is the bottom line of any successful technology
proposal. If you cannot show impact, it is unlikely that your
proposal will receive funding. Do not make the reviewers search
for your anticipated impact. Do not assume that they will
understand your impact unless you specify it. Specifically state
how your project will positively impact students and their
educational environment.
7. Include Evaluation and
Dissemination Components
In many cases, an RFP will dictate that you include
one or both of these components. Funders see the projects they
fund as learning experiences for a larger educational constituency
and as guides for future funding inititiatives they might make.
Therefore, funders are interested in projects that can measure
their success, document their challenges, identify potential
problems, and ask questions for future research. This is the value
of an evaluation component to your project. Further, virtually all
funders seek ways to share the outcomes and learnings of their
projects. This is the point of a dissemination component.
It is a common mistake for proposal writers to
consider evaluation and dissemination as "wastes" of often-tight
project funds. Do not fall into this trap. Evaluation and
dissemination components are critical to successful projects.
Conscientious proposal writers, who have a "big picture" for their
project, devote sufficient project time and resources to
evaluation and dissemination. Even when the RFP does not
specifically ask for one of these components, their inclusion very
much strengthens a proposal.
8. Realize that Not All
Technology-Related RFPs Fund "Computers"
In fact, most grant programs do not fund basic
hardware, software, network access, and other "infrastructure"
needs. Rather, the majority of technology-related grant programs
now fund staff development and curriculum development. Writing a
proposal for one of these programs requires a through
understanding of not only what you will use, but how and why you
will use it. Another way of putting this is that few funders
simply want to "give you stuff." Instead, they are mostly
interested in how you are putting "stuff" to good use and creating
positive impacts on teaching and learning.
9. Collaborate!
Successful proposals are collaboratively written.
Collaboration not only helps in terms of editing and reviewing
drafts, but more importantly it expands the ideas in your
proposal. Proposals that are obviously "one person's idea" are not
favorably reviewed. Further, proposals that involve several
collaborating partners are always more successful than those which
are limited to a single organization/school/individual.
Collaboration shows that others believe in your proposal's idea
and will work to make it a reality.
10. Write, Modify, Resubmit
Few proposals are successful the first time around.
If your proposed project is rejected by a funder, try again. Try
with a different funder and if possible, resubmit the proposal to
the original grant maker. Before you resubmit an idea, it is wise
to incorporate any feedback you received on your rejected
proposal. Remember, when resubmitting a proposal it is necessary
to redraft the proposal document to the new RFP (in terms of
organization, components, budget requirements, etc.). Do not
simply photocopy your old proposal for the new submission and do
not submit proposals that do not fully fulfill the current RFP.
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