Guides → How to write a grant application (for organizations with no grant writer)

How to write a grant application (for organizations with no grant writer)

Written for organizations doing this without a development department.

Most grant applications ask for the same seven things in a slightly different order. Once you can see that structure, the work stops feeling like a blank page and starts feeling like filling in a form you already understand.

1. The opening request

Two or three sentences: who you are, what you do, how much you are asking for, and what for. Reviewers read dozens of these. If they cannot answer those four questions after your first paragraph, everything after it is working uphill.

Write it last. You will know what you are actually arguing only after you have written the rest.

2. The need

Describe the problem in the specific community you serve, not in general. "Food insecurity affects millions of Americans" tells a reviewer nothing about you. "The nearest full-service grocery is eleven miles from the neighborhood we serve, and roughly a third of our clients do not have a car" is a case.

Use whatever local evidence you have: county data, your own intake numbers, what staff observe. Cite the source when you have one.

3. Funder fit

This is the section small organizations most often skip, and it is the one that decides borderline applications. Say plainly why this funder, in their words. If their guidelines name equity, sustainability and rural access as priorities, those three concepts should appear in your narrative doing real work, not as decoration.

4. The program

What actually happens, who delivers it, who it reaches, and how often. Be concrete. "Weekly evening clinic staffed by two nurse practitioners, roughly 40 patients per session" beats any amount of language about commitment and passion.

5. Evidence and track record

Reviewers are asking one question: has this organization done something like this before, and did it work? Answer with what you have. If your data is informal, say so and describe it honestly — see our guide on grant writing without outcomes data.

6. Budget and use of funds

What the money buys and what that makes possible. Round numbers are fine; unexplained numbers are not. The narrative around the budget matters more than the spreadsheet for most small grants — more on this in writing the budget narrative.

7. The closing ask

Name the amount and the purpose one more time, in one sentence. Do not end on gratitude. End on clarity.

Before you submit

• Check the word or character limit and cut to fit. Applications get disqualified on this.
• Verify every number, date and name. One wrong figure undermines the whole document.
• Read it aloud. Anything you stumble over, a reviewer will too.
• Have someone outside your organization read it. Jargon is invisible from the inside.