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(or The Lack of a Program is Not the Problem) Planning programs proactively makes good sense. We plan programs that are compatible with our organizational mission, capabilities, and community needs. Sometimes, though, in real life a funding opportunity lands in our inbox and there may be pressure to apply. We will need to shift to reactive planning—not the most desirable approach.

The heart of program planning is problem analysis. Problem analysis includes the definition of the problem along with why it is happening. As you design a program, clear analysis of the problem leads logically to the outcomes (objectives) of the program. And understanding the causes of the problem gives direction for the approach (methods).

The whole purpose of community programs is to make a change for the better. How much better? That is the Outcome or the measurable result of your work. However, sometimes talking about the results or outcomes of your program can make people nervous. “How well did we do? I’m afraid to ask.”

One of the keys to successful grant proposal writing is understanding the vocabulary used. You’ll avoid problems down the road if you fully understand the funder’s requirements from the outset. Case in point: we’ve heard of confusion about the terms supplement and supplant. They sound similar but have very different meanings.

The person reviewing your grant proposal is often someone who is not familiar with your organization, your community, or the problems your community is facing. Therefore, you want your proposal to be easy to comprehend on the first reading.

As the developer, writer and steward of funding proposals, you might consider approaching 2024 with new ideas and new energy for the task. It’s a wonderful/terrible tradition that we make resolutions at this time of year, so why not think about these for your proposal-writing list.

Before campaign advisors, spin doctors, influencers or ad men, there was the Greek philosopher, Aristotle. His treatise, The Rhetoric, laid out a durable blueprint for creating persuasive arguments and the elements he described are as useful today as they were in 4th century BC Greece. As proposal writers, we sometimes get lost in the weeds of data, logic models, detailed methods and other granular stuff. Preparing persuasive proposals can benefit from reviewing these classical principles.

There comes a time when a proposal needs to include a logic model. Many foundations don’t require one but an increasing number are asking applicants to go beyond objectives and show, in a descriptive chart, the route you plan to take to get to the destination.

The concept probably predates Rakesh Sondhi’s Total Strategy but a VMOST analysis is still a useful way of figuring out what your organization wants to accomplish and how it plans to go about it. Assumptions are sand traps when it comes to planning and submitting proposals. Instead of assuming “everybody knows” why we do what we do and how we do it, this is a useful framework for thinking through the hierarchy of intentions and actions for your organization.

More and more nonprofits are discovering the benefits of collaborating with other organizations (other nonprofits or for-profit businesses) to get things done. These collaborations might be formal partnerships, joint applications, mergers or other arrangements. Whatever their structure, they often deepen and expand the impact of a program or initiative.