How to Write a Good Proposal for a Nonprofit Organization

A proposal is the foundation of a nonprofit and is necessary to gain nonprofit status and seek funding from grants.

When creating a nonprofit organization, writing proposals becomes extremely important for seeking nonprofit status. The proposal often consists of several documents, including a cover letter, executive summary, and statement of need. Many times, this proposal will be needed during various stages of a nonprofit's existence, especially when it comes time to search for funding and grants in order to continue running the organization. Once a proper proposal has been drafted, it can be edited over the years to suit various needs.

Instructions

1. Determine the format that the proposal must be submitted in. When submitting a proposal for grants, many organizations will ask a proposal to be submitted online, mailed with certain postage and packaging, addressed to a specific person or typed in a certain manuscript format. This information varies depending on the sponsoring organization and details should be available on the website or brochure. If the proposal is to seek nonprofit status from the IRS, this information is available on the IRS website.

2. Compile the basic information for the proposal, including the name of your organization, your goals, the structure (such as a board members, an executive board, or hired staff), where potential funding will come from, the needs of your nonprofit, what your organization will do to help a targeted population, and why you are seeking to obtain nonprofit status rather than join an established group. Much of this information will have already been decided by the time you are prepared to submit for nonprofit status or to obtain grants.

3. Draft a cover letter. This will be submitted with your proposal and gives a one-page summary as to why the organization you are submitting to should bother to read the rest of the proposal. In this cover letter, mention the name and purpose of your nonprofit once more, and briefly cover the importance of it and why you deserve to obtain nonprofit status or funding. If you are seeking funding with this proposal, make sure to give a very brief outline of how much you are seeking and why.

4. Write an executive summary. The executive summary is used to once again cover the importance of the nonprofit organization, as well as to give a time line of what you hope to do and an itemized budget of how much money you need and why. This document is usually one to five pages, though many organizations specify the length. It should detail the reason why your nonprofit is choosing to act as it should; for example, if a nonprofit aims to give stuffed animals to orphans, use data to explain why giving toys is the best option to help orphans.

5. Create a statement of need. Similar to the executive summary and cover letter, the statement of need is about convincing someone that your nonprofit organization is needed and deserves to be created or funded. Here, data is essential. Use as many sources as possible to create this one to five page document, explaining why your method of helping a population is important and why it's effective. Before drafting this section, look into any research that has been done with your targeted population in order to find data.

References

• George Mason University: Proposal for Non Profit Web Site
• Non-Profit Guides: Guidelines

Resources

• IRS: Application for Recognition of Exemption
• Marriott School: Executive Summary