Good proposal writing requires a lot of forethought, understanding of your audience, and creative writing to persuade the reader.
In addition, effective proposal writing can make a huge financial difference when there is a lot riding on the proposal such as securing a contract. This is when the proposal becomes the basis for a contract between the donor and the implementing organization.
The proposal acts as a promise for what the NGO will complete with the requested resources. Thus, just like in contracts, it is important for all the details to be written down. A well-written proposal provides the foundational information needed for better communication between donor and NGO. In some cases, a good proposal can be essential in the rare case of a legal challenge.
Generally, organizations create and submit proposals in three main ways:
- In response to formal RFPs (request for proposal)
- in response to an informal request
- As an unsolicited proposal
Of all the proposal types, the RFP is thought of as the most challenging, especially for beginning proposal writers.
In the RFP process, an organization releases an official Request for Proposal (RFP) asking companies to submit proposals for the opportunity. In the case of grants, this is to receive the grant. For for-profit opportunities, this is typically to win a contract for selling the products or services.
When responding to RFPs, there are typically several companies responding and strict requirements for submission and evaluation. Government RFPs are notoriously difficult to respond to, but plenty of other organizations release RFPs with many forms and requirements.
Proposal writing is important because a project proposal is a document that describes a proposed project and its purpose, outcomes, and the steps that will be taken to complete the project.
One of the most important purposes of effective proposal writing is to allow decision-makers to more objectively compare vendors. With a project proposal, decision-makers can compare prices, processes, and projected outcomes.
If there are price differentiations, the decision-maker can also see what aspects of service may differ to create the difference in price. This detailed information helps decision-makers make more informed and objective vendor decisions.
Want to learn more? Tonex offers Proposal Writing Training Course, a 2-day course designed to teach you how to write a winning proposal. Winning proposals are persuasive and interesting but easy to read. They demonstrate clear objectives, specific time frames, reasonable budget requests and doable deliverables.
Through the Proposal Writing Training course, Tonex offers your organization access to our experienced proposal engineers who will teach your staff the key proposal writing techniques needed to develop a fully-compliant and winning proposal.
The Proposal Writing Training course will help you understand the concerns of potential funders and try to address their concerns in your proposals.
For more information, questions, comments, contact us.