EPA Grant Writing Tutorial

Grants are amounts of money that are awarded to particular facility or activity and that do not have to be paid back. Grants are paid by government agencies or private organizations and the applicants should understand the goals and activities of the funding federal agencies or private organization before submitting the application form. The U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has developed the grant program to help non-profit organizations and communities for their environmental based development programs.

Successful Grant Proposal

A proposal can become a successful one, if it is well-prepared, clearly planned, and briefly packaged. The basic components of a proposal are proposal summary, organization introduction, problem statement, goals and objectives, project activities and design, qualifications, evaluation, future funding, and budget.

Proposal Summary: This can be attached as a separate sheet or a cover letter. A summary should briefly define the objective of the project.

Organization Introduction: This should include the past, present and future activities of the organization. Also, organization goal, success stories, philosophies, brief history of board members, and record with other grantors can be included.

Problem Statement: This is the key part of a proposal. It should be clear and concise with well-supported statements that should illustrate the need for funds to overcome the problem. The information included should be factual and should directly address the problem.

Goals and Objectives: The goals and objectives should be clear, and should address the expected benefits and result of each objective.

Project Activities and Design: The project activities should list all the tasks that are related with the project. A specific timeline should be given to each task and bigger tasks can be split into many smaller one to make work easy.

Qualification: An applicant should provide their qualification, experience, strength, and network to do the proposed project.

Evaluation: Evaluation criteria should be added in the proposal track the progress of the project.

Future Funding: The applicant should also submit the expected sources of funding after the completion of the grant.

Budget: The project budget should be outlined in a detailed manner. This should include contract costs, personnel benefits and salaries, travel, supplies, and equipment. The budget should also list how the funds will be spent and the person responsible for spending funds.

• EPA Grant Writing Tutorial: This website offers a complete package for writing an EPA grant proposal.
• Guidelines for Proposal: This page clearly gives the essential component that should be included in the proposal.
• Proposal Budget: This page contains detail about writing a proposal budget.
• Grant Proposal: This page gives a clear idea on how to write an inquiry letter.
• Writing Tips: This page lists some useful tips for writing a proposal.
• Components of Grant Proposal: Here, key components of grant proposal are listed with clear explanation.
• Writing a Grant Proposal: This page contains ideas for writing a proposal with all the required critical elements.

Appendices for Grant Proposal

An applicant should attach their resume with the proposal. This resume should contain relevant qualifications, work ethics and commitment, and other success stories. Sometimes, letters of support can be included with the proposal. Other attachments should not be included unless requested by the grantors.

• Components: Here, major components in proposal are listed with good illustrations.
• Appendices: This page clearly explains the necessary components that should be included in the appendices.
• Appendices Guidelines: This page contains the guidelines for appendices in the proposal.
• Guidelines for Grant Application: Here, some basic guidelines for writing the grant application are given.
• Sample Budget: Here, sample budget form is given for better understanding.
• Sample Proposal: This page contains sample proposal for easy understanding.

Grant Proposal Writing Tips

Here are few tips for writing a grant proposal:

• Project should be clearly defined and submitted to the right funding sources.
• Contact the grantors and get the proposal guidelines and submission deadlines.
• Always, add the personnel compensation in the budget requirement.
• Structure the proposal with the basic components defined by the funders. Add clear and concise statements with well-structured information about the project.
• Follow up the proposal, and contact the funders about the status, evaluation, and the result of the proposal.

 Here are few resources on grant writing tips:

• Grant Proposal Tips: This page clearly defines many useful tips for writing a successful grant proposal.
• Successful Grant Proposal: This page offers good tips for writing a grant proposal.
• Grantors Expectation: This [age clearly explains what grantors expect from their applicants.
• Grant Writing: This page gives some valuable tips with good examples.
• Guidelines: This page clearly explains the essential guidelines for the successful grant proposal.
• Grant Writing Tips: Here, useful grant writing tips are given to make the proposal a successful one.
• Grant FAQ: This page lists most frequently asked questions about grants.

Conclusion

Grant writing is a time-consuming process. A grant proposal is always awarded to the thoughtful, clear, and concise projects that really need some funds to achieve its target. A well-planned proposal