Guide to Proposal Guide to Proposal WritingWriting

GECAC

General Tips

Be Creative, Positive, Realistic, and Specific

Avoid jargon. Research funding source. Watch due date PROOFREAD FOLLOW the INSTRUCTIONS

Example Instructions

Standard Format Cover Letter Table of Contents Summary Introduction Need Objectives Method Evaluation Budget Letters of Support Appendix

Cover Letter

On agency letterhead Address to specific person and office Brief description, include money needed

and people who will be helped Name, number and email of contact

Table of Contents

Include if proposal is 7+ pages List section plus page numbers by Roman

Numeral– VII Method………………………21

Number pages front to back, including appendices

Summary

Include if proposal is 10+ pages Should be no more than 1 page Similar to a news release What will sell the project?

Introduction

Why should your agency get the money? Examples:

– Designated by another agency for funding– Long-time program– Have run similar programs– Strong Board of Directors– Largest provider in area

Example Introduction Over forty years ago, the Greater Erie Community Action Committee (GECAC) was established to combat poverty in Erie County, Pennsylvania. Starting with one staff member and a budget of approximately $60,000, GECAC has grown to employ over 400 staff members with a budget that has exceeded $35 million since 2001. Agency programming has evolved over the years from the original programs focusing on Head Start and neighborhood development to the current agency structure of five main operating divisions providing over 65 programs through the Area Agency on Aging; Child Development Division; Drug and Alcohol Services Network; Employment, Training and Community Services Division; and Workforce Development Services. Housing programming was established early in GECAC’s history when the first utility, crisis intervention services were offered in 1979. As programming has changed over the years, one thing has remained the same – GECAC’s mission to provide “services directed toward elimination of poverty or causes of poverty in the Greater Erie Area.”

This HUD Local Housing Counseling Agency (LHCA) grant will allow GECAC to expand our housing counseling program to provide default delinquency counseling to households seeking to improve their rental situations and to those who are behind in their mortgage payments (as early as one month behind) and further advance our efforts to provide Erie County residents “the opportunity to live in decency and dignity.”

Need

Show that there is unmet need in community for service you are proposing

Should be QUANTIFIED – get good stats Impact statement How does need relate to objectives

Need continued

Sources for statistics:– Census: www.census.gov– Bureau of Labor Statistics: www.bls.gov/oes– Penn State Data Center: http://pasdc.hbg.psu.edu – PA Department of Education:

www.pde.state.pa.us/k12statistics– Police records: http://ucr.psp.state.pa.us– Erie County Department of Health: www.ecdh.org– Other agencies– Surveys (Scientific or Non-scientific)

Example Need Instructions

Example NeedErie County is located in Northwestern Pennsylvania on the south shore of Lake Erie. The state of New York is its eastern boundary and the state of Ohio is its western boundary, Crawford County, Pennsylvania lies to the south. The county has a total land area of 802.6 square miles. Forestland constitutes 36.5 percent of the land area with crop and pastureland composing 26.8 and 7.7 percent respectively.As estimated by the US Bureau of Census, Population Estimates Program (PEP) in 2004 Erie County’s population is 282,355. This is an increase of 1,512, or one percent (1%), from the 2000 Census population of 280,843. Approximately three-fourths of the area's population is urban, residing chiefly in and around the city of Erie and a small urban cohort (6,384) in the city of Corry in southeastern Erie County. The latest Census Bureau population estimate for the city of Erie (as of July 2003) is 103,981, approximately 37% of the county population.According to the 2004 US Bureau of Census American Community Survey (2004 ACS), 17.9% of Erie County’s population five years of age and older and 41.4% of the population over 65 had a disability. For the population under the age of five, early intervention services are provided by two MAWA agencies. The two agencies reported that 1,030 children received services during the 2004-2005 school year. The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) reported that 6,902 school age children from the thirteen Erie County school districts received special education services during the same school year. (http://ed.hbg.psu.edu)

Objectives

Answer the question – What do you hope to accomplish

Stated in terms of the beneficiaries:– Who will change?– What behavior will change?– In what direction will the behavior change?– How much change is desired?– By when will the change occur?

Objectives continued

MUST be SMART!

–SSpecific

–MMeasurable

–AAttainable

–RRealistic

–TTime-referenced

Objectives continued

Two Types:– Output or process objectives have to do with

the number of people in your program• Example:

Problem: Students are fighting with each other.Objective: To provide 6 training sessions in conflict management to 10 faculty members during the school year.

Objectives continued

Two Types:– Impact or outcome objectives address how the

need changed because of your program.• Example:

Problem: 6th graders are reading at or below a 4th grade reading level.Objective: Within 6 months, 100 of the 200 sixth graders who now read at or below 4th grade will advance a minimum of one grade level in their reading comprehension.

Example Objective Instructions

Example ObjectivesAs shown on the logic model, the following outcomes are expected

from this project: Of the 80 households seeking and receiving one-on-one

counseling to resolve or prevent mortgage delinquency or default, 50 will have their mortgage modified, refinanced or otherwise assisted to avoid foreclosure.

 Of the 80 households seeking and receiving one-on-one counseling to resolve or prevent mortgage delinquency or default, 45 will successfully avoid foreclosure.

  30 new clients will be found as a result of marketing and outreach.

  Of the 400 clients seeking and receiving one-on-one counseling to locate, secure, or maintain residence in rental housing, 350 will find alternative rental housing.

Method – 5 W’s

Who– Is Staff?– Is Client?

What– Are you doing?– Are you offering?

Where– Location

When– Are the services

provided?– Are you going to

start?

With Whom?– Will you collaborate?– Will you refer

Example Method Instructions

Example MethodsThe one, full time housing counselor that GECAC will hire through this grant

will address these two gaps by providing the following activities to residents of Erie County Pennsylvania:

 This counselor will provide one-on-one housing counseling to approximately 520 individuals during the 2006-2007 program year. The majority of this counseling will focus on default delinquency. The counselor will use the tools in GECAC’s new Home Counselor Online system provided by Fannie Mae to pull the clients’ credit reports and work with them on alleviating their current delinquency problems, debt management and budgeting.

      Of the 520 clients that this counselor will see for one-on-one counseling, approximately 80 will have a need related to mortgage delinquency, 400 will have a need related to rental housing, and the remaining 40 will be homeless.

      The counselor will provide materials to each client including Energy Star, utility assistance and Family Saving Account information. In addition, clients will receive referrals to any other housing or related program that fits their needs.

Evaluation

Evaluation of the 4 main sections (need, objectives, method, budget)

What is success? Who will conduct evaluation? When will it be conducted? What tools will be used?

Example Evaluation Instructions

Example Evaluation

GECAC’s housing program has a locally developed, Access database that is used to track all client data. This networked database allows all housing counselors, the housing supervisor and IFSS director to access the information on any client that has received service through any housing related program. This common database serves two major purposes. First, any housing staff member can pickup a client record at any time and no what has been done and what needs to be done for the client. In this way, clients are provided more prompt and cohesive service. Second, the IFSS director has the ability to run regular reports on housing activities and is able to verify that program numbers are being met. If the IFSS director, notices a concern with lower than expected numbers she can discuss the concern with the housing counselors and find a solution.

Budget

Two parts – budget detail and budget narrative

Budget Detail – Spreadsheet format– Itemized costs

Budget Narrative– Narrative description– Why was item included

Budget Continued

NO SURPRISES CHECK your math Be as accurate as possible Include in-kind/ match

Example Budget Detail

Local Phone ($56/mo x 7.5 ph x 12 months (4 academic counselors @ 100%, Director @ 80%, Secretary @ 80%, 1 Academic counselor @ 80%, Coordinator @ 100%, Div. Manager @ 10%))

5,040

Long Distance $77/month x 12 months 928

Cell Phones $45/month x 7 phones x 12 months 3,780

Finance & Data Processing (includes audit) 31,775

Rent 58,477

Office Equipment Maintenance (Warranties for Computers) 1,794

College Fees 150

Example Budget Narrative

The amount budgeted for staff travel costs are reasonable due to the close vicinity of the target schools that the program will serve. For instance, the target school with the most distance is only approximately 40 miles one way from the GECAC Central office. Academic Counselors will efficiently be assigned to target schools that are close to one another for the purposes of accessibility to students served, time management and budgetary concerns. This will allow the counselors to focus the majority of their time on working within their schools and very minimal time on travel.

Appendix

Don't put anything in appendix that you want read.

An Audited Financial Statement IRS letter confirming 501(c) 3 status Organizational Budget Board List Any other thing the funding source

requests

Sources for grant funding

Federal Register: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html

Grants.gov: www.grants.gov Foundation Center:

http://foundationcenter.org The Grantsmanship Center, Inc.:

www.tgci.com