April 11, 2018
“We regret to inform you…” It is always sad when your proposal is not accepted for funding. Last week, a colleague told me her proposal scored a 99, and yet was not funded. What are your next action steps?
Request reviewer comments, and do it immediately
- There are timelines on this opportunity, and it is often 5 – 15 days
Decide which comments were valid criticisms of your proposal, and which were reviewer error
- Probably not all of them were reviewer error, but usually some are.
Share the reviews with other members of your grant writing team, including your external evaluator
- How can anyone improve without specific feedback?
Consider using the federal FOIA or your state FOIA (NY FOIA given here as an example) to request winning applications
- The Freedom of Information Act gives you the opportunity to see what winning proposals look like. Easy to use templates for FOIA requests are available.
Decide to play the long game
- Governments and foundations must spend money, and their RFPs come out regularly, sometimes annually. With these comments, you’ll be ready for the next round!
Want more ideas? Our team at Via Evaluation use these tools and more to improve proposals.
Call us at (716) 362-0627 or email us at [email protected].
