Proposal Writing Toolkit
Step-by-step guidelines to submitting a proposal
- Need to know more about a corporation or foundation? Request a corporate/foundation profile.
- Study the foundation/grantmaker’s website to learn about its scope, areas of interest, limitations, geographic focus, and deadlines.
- Submit a Determination Worksheet to the CFR Office. This determines. whether funds, if awarded, would be received by the U of I Foundation (as a gift) or to U of I via the Office of Sponsored Programs (as a grant).
- Draft a proposal. Use the Proposal Planning Worksheet to help clarify goals, outcomes, major steps, resources, partners, etc.
- Draft a cover letter.
- Draft a budget. Some corporation/foundations supply a budget template on their websites. If not use a budget template.
- Ask someone to review your documents. Contact the CFR Office for consultation and review services.
- Finalize proposal and budget.
- Assemble supporting documents.
Institutional and financial information frequently requested by grant makers
- Annual Operating Budget pdf
- Annual Report pdf
- IRS (501c3) Letter and EIN pdf
- IRS form 990 pdf