January 25, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
NEW BOOKS
Grant Proposal Makeover: Transform Your Request From No to Yes
by Cheryl A. Clarke and Susan P. Fox
Worthy nonprofit groups often suffer from “ugly duckling” grant proposals — disorganized, incomplete, or boring presentations that turn grant makers away, write the authors of this book, who offer tips on creating the “beautiful swan” proposal.
Cheryl A. Clarke and Susan P. Fox, both fund-raising consultants, teach grant seekers by example. Each of the 11 chapters has samples of documents, including foundation guidelines, letters of inquiry, budgets, and proposals. They present a bad draft, describe and correct its mistakes, and follow with the stronger, made-over version. In addition, representatives of 69 grant makers contribute hints and opinions on what makes a great proposal.
A chapter on “florid writing” explores verbose proposals that include lines like this: “Artists exhausted by the hustle and bustle of Metropolitan City and other urban environs have long flocked to our county’s charming hamlets and villages, finding tranquility and peaceful venues within which to create.” The authors prune back the excess words to strengthen the proposal’s messages.
“Follow the rules, use common sense, and add a dash of creativity,” the authors conclude. “That’s the basic recipe for success in grant seeking.”
Other chapters discuss disorganized proposals, using statistics, outlining a budget, and jargon. Appendices include information on collaborative projects between nonprofit groups and a list of foundation representatives that contributed to the book.
Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 989 Market Street, San Francisco, Calif. 94103; (800) 956-7739; fax (317) 572-4002; http://www.josseybass.com; 214 pages; $29.95; ISBN 0-7879-8055-2.
