hands

How to Write Persuasive Proposals

A 2015 meta-analysis of more than 1000 articles with advice to proposal writers showed that most of the top 10 recommendations focus on strategic positioning and project design.1 I’ve seen scores of presentations advising faculty how to write more competitive grant proposals and I rarely hear anything besides these. Only one of the top 10… read more

need statement

The Core of Your Proposal: The Problem Statement

In this blog, I will address need statements specifically for programmatic grants, which will have a heavy focus on the beneficiaries. The need statement, also known as the problem statement, is a key element of any proposal. It makes a clear, concise, and well-supported statement of the idea you are proposing. It needs to be… read more

problem

What’s the Problem with Your Problem Statement?

When examining research grant proposals submitted to funding agencies, I am always amazed at the lack of detail in problem statements. The most common issue is that the “so what” question or the hook of the proposal is missing, and if it exists, it is often difficult to locate. Also, the problem description is often… read more