When you’re applying for federal funding, it’s important to stick out from the crowd, and having a clear methodology–that is, a specific description of how you plan to accomplish your project objectives–will make a strong application even more competitive.
Being able to definitively show how awarded funds will be used to complete you project not only gives you a clear path forward, it also provides your grantor with a solid game plan that inspires confidence.
In this blog, we’ll dive into how to present a purposeful, direct methodology as part of a grant application.
How to Write an Effective Methodology
As a part of a grant proposal, the methodology is where you can clearly outline how you will use the requested funds to accomplish your project’s objectives. It’s the component where you bridge the gap between objectives and eventual outcome. It’s also where you demonstrate your project’s feasibility by detailing the experience and resources that will be used to complete it.
Create a compelling narrative
The bulk of your methodology should contain detailed descriptions of what tasks are involved in the project and how they’ll be carried out. As your “plan of attack,” your proposed methodology shows the funding agency that you have a logical and well-thought-out strategy to carry out the steps necessary for success. The methods you describe should be presented like you’re telling a story: a coherent, straightforward narrative, naturally progressing from start to finish.
For example, if your organization is looking for community development grants to provide increased emergency shelters for the homeless, your methodology should go into detail on your plan to acquire shelter facilities, how you’ll obtain staffing, and what methods of community outreach you’re going to use.
Justify your resources and abilities
In addition, your methodology should be able to illustrate the viability of the project with some form of expert approval. This could be documented through studies related to feasibility, market analyses, site control, surveys, data collection, and other forms of justification. It’s also important that your methodology demonstrate the resources available to achieve your project objectives, such as a description of personnel needed and how they will be selected. You can use this section of the narrative to detail any financial and/or in-kind resources and the clientele to be served. Clearly documenting any and all resources available to a project will bolster your credibility and make grantors confident in your ability to carry out and accomplish a project.
Make sure all costs are in the budget
Another important issue to keep in mind is that all project needs must be reflected in the project budget. Using the example above, if the project requires collecting data on incidents of homelessness in a community, the costs associated with surveying, compensating personnel, and other expenses should be detailed as part of the total project cost within the proposed budget.
Why a good methodology matters
Having a solid project methodology is a vital part of a complete proposal narrative. Painting a vivid picture of how a project will be accomplished will not only demonstrate a carefully planned application, but will also show the funding agency your capacity to produce the desired results. This will not only help secure the funding you need for current projects, but will increase the chances of those projects being successful, leading to future grant opportunities for your community.
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