Most grant applications follow a similar pattern, outlined below. By clicking on each heading, you will find detailed explanations of how to write that section of the grant.
The UMass Arts Council has organized its grant guidelines so that it adheres to this standard structure. You will find that many funding agencies, both on and off campus, require similar information, which allows you to reformulate your grant for different granting agencies, instead of creating a new grant each time.
The Cover Sheet
Cover Sheets (also known as title pages) generally provide granting agencies with the following information:
- applicant name
- applicant address and phone number
- title of project/event
- dates of project/event
- time of project/event
- location of project/event
- anticipated number of people who will be served (attendance)
- summary of budget information (including admission charges, if any and amount being requested from granting agency)
Off-campus granting agencies will also require non-profit tax ID codes and similar information on the cover sheet
While cover sheets are self-explanatory, it is important that you type all the information which is requested. A handwritten cover sheet tends to look sloppy and unprofessional.
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Project Summary
Most granting agencies would like you to summarize your project. This is requested for two reasons: (1) grant reviewers (the people who decide whether or not your project will be funded) are often reading several applications in a short span of time, and find it helpful to look at a summary of your project to jog their memory in the review meeting. (2) The funding agency makes use of the project summary in publications and other literature which explain what kinds of projects they have funded. Therefore, it is critical that your summary describe your project in an informative, but succinct, manner.
The paragraph should read as a brief summary of your entire grant. There fore, it should be written last and include all the different components of your grant. For example, Arts Council project summaries should include:
- The name of your organization
- The title of your event
- When and where the event will be held
- How much you are requesting from the granting agency
- Expected audience, with an anticipated breakdown of students, staff, faculty and general public.
- Whether or not the event is free or ticketed.
- One-two line summary of the event, including the name(s) of the artists who will be presenting at the event. If you have supplementary information about the artist, you should refer to it here.
- A brief summary of the goals of the program
- A description of how students will be involved.
- How the event will be promoted to the campus.
- An indication that a timeline has been attached.
This summary statement may be drawn from other parts of the grant, word for word. Do not worry about repeating yourself in this summary-it is merely an encapsulation of your entire grant. Here's an example below:
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Signature Page
Make sure to get all the signatures which are requested by the granting agency on this form! This is not optional (though many applicants feel that this may be overlooked). If you are at all unsure about who the correct person is to sign the grant, contact the granting agency for a further explanation.
For on-campus agencies, signatures are usually required from the budget officer for the academic department or organization who is sponsoring your program. For off-campus agencies, signatures are usually required of the organization's director and chair of the board of trustees.
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Project Narrative
Your project narrative is the heart of your proposal. Repeat this three times with me.... I cannot underscore this point enough, so if you take anything away from this guide, I hope this is it. Project narratives should add substance to the skeleton of your project summary; or more likely, you will begin by writing your project narrative and condense it into your project summary. Remember that project narratives, more than any other single element in your proposal, are designed to motivate people to fund your project.
Make it easy to scan because reviewers are looking at many proposals at once (one way to do this is to incorporate headings, different type thickness', and so forth).
Make it interesting, because reviewers are looking at many proposals at once (include anecdotes, snippets from past experiences; in short, bring in the human element).
Make it substantive, because reviewers are looking at many proposals at once (provide the facts, answer questions with real answers, not fluff).
Well, you get the idea... reviewers are going to compare your grant to many others, and you need to stand apart from the rest.
Project narratives are almost always tailored to each granting agency's needs. Although most ask you to describe your project, as well as something about the experience of your organization in carrying out projects of this nature, there are a host of other questions which may or may not be asked in project narratives. Here they are in a nutshell:
- Project Description: The what, who, when, where, why questions are essential ingredients to this recipe, which must inspire reviewers and introduce them to your spectacular ideas.
- Project Goals: Here's where you go back into dreamland (remember the visualization/brainstorming we did earlier?) and reflect on why you are doing this project or event. How does this project fit in with the mission of your organization? Why is this project important? What is the need for this project?
- Audience: Who will be involved in this project? Who will attend the event? Understanding your audience is an important key to success-have you developed a program that meets your audience's needs? How many people do you anticipate will attend? Does the space you have chosen accommodate this number of people? What are these attendance figures based upon?
- Timeline/Management Plan: Here's where you will reveal the sequence of events that will lead up to the final performance or exhibit. Grant reviewers like to know that you put some thought into how to present your program. It gives us that warm, fuzzy feeling inside, so humor us. A good way to accomplish this is to describe what tasks will be completed during each week prior to the event.
- Publicity: How will you promote your program? Will you write press releases, create advertisements, design flyers? Describe-in detail-what steps you will take in marketing your event or exhibit.
- Evaluation: How will the success of your project be measured? One way to measure success is to compare the attendance at your performance or exhibit with similar events. Other ideas include questionnaires, surveys, etc.
- Experience: 'Ya know that part on resumes that talks about what experience you have in this or that job? Well, that's what this is all about too. Grantors want to know if you are up to the job. By this time, you've dazzled them with your management plan/timeline and the way that you have completely described what you are doing, but just in case...this is your moment to really send in a home run.
- The Slant Question: Invariably, each funding organization will throw in a few questions which reveal their funding priorities. These "slant questions" reflect the mission or purpose of the funding organization: they are what makes it unique.
We at the Arts Council only fund projects originated by organizations (we do not fund individuals) which have significant student involvement and have clear artistic merit. Ideally, students will be involved in every phase of the project: describe exactly how students will be involved when answering this question. For the artistic merit portion of the equation, reviewers might ask: does this project feature dance, music, theater, visual arts? Although these describe the Arts Council's funding priorities, each funding organization has its own. It is your task to make sure that your project meets these priorities before you even seek funds from the organization. That's why it's so important to read the grant guidelines from cover to cover, and then discuss your project with the funding officers of each agency. They will most likely help you to shape your program so it fits within their priorities. It's as simple as that.
One last thought about project narratives: often narratives are limited to a certain number of pages (in the case of the Arts Council, we ask that narratives extend no more than four pages), with some granting agencies even limiting the margins, type size and other details. Make sure to keep your narrative within this framework! Some agencies do not even copy the additional pages that applicants submit when sending copies to grant reviewers. This means that portions of your grant that exceed this stated limit may not even be read by the reviewer!
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Budget
Budgets are generally divided into two categories: income and expenses. Income includes ticket revenue, grant amounts from other organizations, in-kind gifts (see below for an explanation of in-kind gifts), your own financial contributions to the project, etc. Expenses include the cost of materials (like paper, pencils, etc.), artist fees, equipment rental, printing, promotional costs, etc. The total of your income less expenses must be equal for your budget to be balanced (i.e. income less expenses equals zero). I cannot say this enough times! must be equal, must be equal, must be equal....
Each organization has its own list of "do's" and "don'ts", so make sure to read the guidelines carefully. Because most granting agencies only fund organizations (such as an academic department), it is always a good idea to consult with their budget guru (every organization has one) before you fill this section out. Budget gurus (otherwise known as Business Managers, Financial Directors, Controllers, etc.) can make sense out of all the little lines and dots, and help you to make a budget that reflects real figures, not something you dreamed up!
Here are some tips to help you with your budget section:
- Be realistic. If you are unsure about the price of an item, call a store and get a quote. Any supportive detail (such as a written quote from a store or rental agency, etc.) will always be smiled upon. Panelists often scrutinize budgets, and look for overbloated expenses as the first area to cut. Review boards are extremely appreciative of realistic budgets, and reward those who are realistic in their expenses.
- Be honest. The last thing you want is a grant officer discovering that you said you applied for, say, $1,000 at XYZ Funding Agency, when you really applied for twice that amount. Believe me, this HAS happened, and you must be aware that once your grant is sent to a funding agency, the information is now public. This will totally destroy your credibility with any agency if you do not present a truthful budget, and will seriously jeapordize future grant applications to that agency.
- Show off your ingenuity! Many granting agencies appreciate a little ingenuity on the part of applicants. For example, if you are able to secure an in-kind donation of goods from a local business, reviewers will be very appreciative of your efforts.
Budgets are a way for you to leave the admiring crowd of reviewers- who have by now gathered to swoon over your grant proposal-with a clear sense that you know what you are doing and how much it is going to take for you to accomplish your goal. If you are awarded funding, remember to work closely with your financial officer to ensure that you fulfill the granting agencies' budget reporting requirements.
What is an In-Kind Donation?
An in-kind donation is a gift of goods or services which are provided at no charge (or a reduced fee) that would normally be considered a program expense. Here are some examples:
- a department photocopying your programs for you
- a costume supply business donating the use of costumes
- the paper example cited earlier
- a designer who donates his/her services to create a poster
- a registered student organization paying the postage to mail a press release
When applying for UMass Arts Council funds, please remember that: "Council funds may not be used to support wages, salaries or honoraria for UMass students, staff or faculty. " Please do not use these fees as in-kind donations of goods or services.
In kind donations are viewed very positively by granting agencies because they show that an applicant is really making a special effort to ensure the success of their program. Remember to always send a letter of thanks (and a free ticket or invitation) to any business or individual that makes a contribution to your program or event. Also be sure to indicate their support on all printed materials and publicity (wording might include: "This project was supported in part by XYZ Corporation," or, "We would like to gratefully acknowledge the support of XYZ Corporation, who donated paper for the invitations." This small consideration will go a long way to ensure the success of your event, because those that contribute to your effort are also your best promoters!
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Additional Materials
It's always a good idea to provide what's lovingly referred to as "supportive detail" with your grant. Translated, this means anything that can provide the reviewers with more information about your program, event or exhibit. In most cases, panelists read a copy of your grant proposal prior to the review meeting where they determine awards. At that meeting, additional materials are passed around the table for all the reviewers to examine. That means that the reviewers will not bring these materials home with them, and--as a result-- will have little time to consider these materials carefully.
Because of this, you must select materials that can easily communicate your message in a short span of time. When you are compiling your additional materials, you might discover that there are some materials which would be useful to include with your actual proposal (such as slides or photographs of an exhibit, for example), provided you haven't exceeded the page limit described in the grant guidelines. If you do this, make sure you have included the specified number of copies plus the original. Copies are generally sent to the reviewers, with the original retained by the granting agency.
Below is a list of additional materials to consider submitting with your application:
- slides or photographs of artwork
- publicity photos of performers
- videotapes of films or speakers
- resumes or artists or performers
- letters of support from faculty, key administrators, artists
- copies of contract or commitment letters with artists
- copies of booking agreements with auditoriums or concert halls (UMass only)
- sample invitations
- press packets
- sample posters, press releases, and other materials
- exhibition plans
Because reviewers have so little time to assess your additional materials, pay close attention to how you present these materials. Enclosing them in a notebook or paper binder is a great way to keep materials together. Providing a simple list of contents is also helpful and allows reviewers to concentrate on the substance, not the structure.
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