Young people have always been the most creative and dynamic group of the society. Subsequently, a lot of non-governmental organizations have emerged uniting the people willing to bring their bold ideas to life. However, even the small-scale initiatives often require substantial financial resources to be allocated. In this context, the grants for the promising project proposals appear to be a notable opportunity. Therefore, being aware of how to write a grant application implies a crucial meaning in terms of fulfilling one’s creative potential. In addition, the knowledge of how to write a grant application would be particularly helpful for the young people striving to develop their analytical skills and create a foundation for the future professional career.
The Overview and Purpose of a Grant Application
First of all, it is worth mentioning that there are numerous types of funding opportunities provided by the grantors. Subsequently, the requirements to the grant application may vary depending on the organization which provides the funding. Notably, the grants are usually provided by the investment or charity funds, embassies, and governmental bodies. In addition, each granting program is usually focused on a certain field of societal life. As an example, the grantor may be interested in the applications focused on the social media, human rights, public administration or economic development issues. Therefore, an applicant should examine carefully all the formal requirements and eligibility criteria before starting to prepare a grant application.
Speaking about the purpose of a grant application, it is worth mentioning that the major goal of an application implies convincing the grantor that the project proposal deserves the financial support. Consequently, the above-mentioned result may be achieved only in case if all the formal requirements are fulfilled by an applicant. In this context, it appears reasonable to outline the common elements constituting a grant application.
The Elements of a Grant Application
The elements of an application’s structure may vary with a regard to the specific instructions provided by the grantor, however, most of the applications, as a rule, include the following parts:
- Description of an applicant. In this part, an applicant is required to ensure the grantor of corresponding all the eligibility criteria as well as to demonstrate the capacity to realize the proposed project.
- Problem statement. It is necessary to specify and describe a problem which the applicant is going to resolve by means of the project implementation. Otherwise, in case there is no significant problem, there is no need to realize the initiative.
- In particular, the goals of a project represent the means of tackling the described problem.
- Target groups. An applicant is required to define all the parties involved in the initiative’s implementation. It is necessary, for instance, to point out the direct beneficiaries of the project.
- Project’s activities. In this part, an applicant should specify which activities will be conducted in order to reach the outlined goals and objectives.
- An applicant is often required by the grantor to specify the qualitative and quantitative results of the initiative’s realization.
- Finally, an applicant should provide the information specifying how the received money will be spent within the project’s framework.