Let’s not kid ourselves, grant writing is a competitive process. There are always more request for funds than funds available. Thus, you need to demonstrate why your population or issue should be prioritized over another.
Writing a compelling needs assessment entails citing data that describes the population you will be serving and the problem you will be addressing.
Your goal is to make it clear to the reader (using data) why this community or program is in need of funding and why their need is more so than others.
Often, we start with explaining location and demographic data. This could be the town, county or school district to be served. Include demographic information and point out any special issues for your population.
For instance, you may want to show that the poverty rate for your service area is much higher than the poverty rate for the state average.
Maybe you want to show geographical information. For example, you could point out that someone in your area would have to drive over 4 hours to secure services if you were not there.
It can also be helpful to show trends. An example of this could be the statement that:
"According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2020, more than 92,000 Americans died from drug overdoses, a nearly 30% increase over 2019."
In this example, current trend data from a reliable source is used to make a very compelling argument to demonstrate that drug overdoses is a problem and getting worse.
Be sure you cite all data used so that the reader can see how current your data is and where it is coming from.
If you have not conducted a thorough needs assessment, it will be difficult to write a compelling argument.
Now, the length of your Needs Statement will vary depending upon the grant requirements. Look over your grant application before you start writing so you know how long to make it.
Also, once you are finished writing your needs assessment/problem statement, show it to someone else within the organization and say:
“I want you to pretend you are a grant reviewer and Find a Reason to Say NO! What is that reason?”
This provides much better results than just asking for feedback. Often people are too worried about hurting your feelings to be honest. Once you have the reason to say no, go back and edit your statement to guard against that reason.
Finally, show your statement to an honest friend/volunteer/coworker and ask them to play to role of reviewer and grade your statement. Provide them with the following as a sample to judge your statement:
Need/Problem Statement
Evaluation Tool
Evaluate the problem statement. Did the applicant sufficiently:
Define the need/problem to be addressed within the geographical area?
How they determined that this need/problem exists?
How they will address the need/problem?
Outline specific goals and objectives?
Do you understand:
The importance or significance of the need/problem
Why this request should be funded now.
How this need relates to the mission of the organization
Specific goals and objectives related to this request
Scale:
0: Insufficient description and rationale of need/problem, "Unconvincing evidence or rationale to support request."
3: Adequate description and rationale of need/problem, "The information wasn't terribly compelling but the overall proposal holds."
5: Exemplary description and rationale of need/problem, "I understand and agree with the significance of this proposal."
Scoring Options: 0 - 5
Comentarios