The RFP: Write a Grant Proposal That Stands Out

Award-winning writer Kathy Widenhouse has helped hundreds of nonprofits and writers produce successful content and has gained 600K+ views for her writing tutorials. She is the author of 9 books. See more of Kathy’s content here.

An online devotional for writers

A Word From The Word

Enlarge your house; build an addition. Spread out your home and spare no expense! (Isaiah 54:2, NLT)

A Word For Writers

An RFP – a Request for Proposals – is an invitation to a nonprofit to write a grant proposal. 

Keep in mind that while you have been invited to apply, so have others. When you write a grant proposal and present the problem your project will solve, you’re submitting an entry into a competition. 

How can your proposal stand out?

Your presentation must give funders the facts that demonstrate the problem your project addresses – and present those facts passionately with a powerful solution to that need.

Both facts and passion are necessary. You need to appeal to both the mind and the heart.

William Carey faced the same challenge you do. He saw a desperate need to share the gospel around the world but was concerned that his fellow Baptists had been largely complacent in this area.

So he prepared his case. He gathered facts about unreached people groups and studied scripture’s mandate to share the good news. 

Yet when he presented his argument to fund missions to 12 pastors gathering for their 1792 conference, Carey did not simply recite dry data gathered about the poor in India and South America. Yes, he included the facts. But he spoke with both sound logic and heartfelt passion. “Enlarge your house,” he urged listeners in what has now become a rallying cry among Christ-followers. “Expect great things from God; Attempt great things for God!”

The pastors were moved to sign a resolution forming the Baptist Mission Society. Now called BMS World Mission, today it supports more than 350 missionaries in 40 countries.

And William Carey, who combined facts and passion in his presentation, is now fondly remembered as the “Father of Modern Missions.”

A Wise Word

Write a grant proposal using both facts and passion.

A Word To Pray

Gracious Father,

Your desire is that I use my words to help organizations to grow. Show me how to use both facts and passion to appeal to both the mind and heart. 

In Jesus’s name, Amen.

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