If you’ve ever been a grant evaluator, you know how tedious it can be. Reading application after application, searching for those that make sense from start to finish, detail high client impact, and provide concise information can be exhausting. One element, however, can make a proposal stand out: storytelling for grant proposals. This technique not only captures interest but also conveys your nonprofit’s mission and impact in a way that resonates with funders. That’s no small feat for grant writers who often face constraints like word counts, specific questions, and the need to align granting agencies’ priorities with their nonprofit’s funding needs.
Storytelling not only captures attention but also helps grant evaluators identify strong, compelling applications. It also guides grant writers, ensuring they stay focused despite application constraints.
Mastering Storytelling for Grant Proposals: Engage, Inform, and Inspire Funders
Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation, or instilling moral values. Crucial elements of stories and storytelling include plot, characters, and narrative point of view. (Ref. Wikipedia). To begin your grant application, you need to assemble these pieces and weave them together into a coherent and compelling story:
- Develop the plot – what is the problem your nonprofit is addressing? How does this problem affect your clients and community? What is the solution your nonprofit has developed to address the problem? Use data to describe the problem and solution.
- Describe the characters – you may have characters beyond just your clients. Be sure to weave them into the story. For example, you may be providing services to children with disabilities, but you are also involving their parents and volunteers from your community. Describe and provide data on how everyone is benefiting from the mission of your nonprofit.
- Educate with Data – It is important to excite the reader and ensure they walk away having learned something they did not know before reading your application. A great place to educate your reader is in the problem solution part of your story. Use data to emphasize how strong your nonprofit impact is on the community.
- Add Emotion with Attachments – Use pictures and client testimonies to evoke emotion in the reader. This can be done as part of the narrative or with attachments. Submit as many attachments as the grant application permits. Include attachments like impact reports, client or volunteer testimonials with visuals, news articles about your nonprofit, and concise case statements. These materials help evoke emotion and build credibility.
Strengthen Your Proposal with Values and Perspective
Instill Confidence with Moral Values
Tell the grant evaluator why your nonprofit’s mission is so important in the lives of your clients and community. It helps the grant evaluator to know that others across the community are committed to your nonprofit’s mission and success. Share your success in partnerships with other nonprofits, corporations, and other granting agencies. Highlight significant community awards or recognition your nonprofit has received. In other words, others believe in you and want to be a part of your success. Everyone wants to do good so be sure to weave them into the story.
Choose the Right Point of View
Your story’s point of view shapes how grant evaluators connect with your narrative. Choose a perspective that provides clear insights into your nonprofit’s work, whether it focuses on the lives of your clients, the community impact, or your team’s efforts. Choose the perspective that best connects with your audience:
- First person for a personal touch
- Third person for a broader perspective
- Second person to place the reader at the center of the action.
The right perspective enhances the connection between your story and the evaluator.
Overcoming Grant Application Challenges
Don’t let the grant questions deter you from telling your story. Take for example, a nonprofit that has achieved significant growth in revenue and clients who were served over the past two years. In the grant application, you are asked for a budget for the year ahead and nothing in the application asks about the nonprofit’s prior successes. It’s up to you or your grant writer to ensure your nonprofit’s past successes are highlighted, showing how the grant will build on this momentum. One way is to include data from the past two years, such as budgets and clients served.
Another example, a grant application asks for outcomes from the previous two years and provides a chart for you to fill in. The first year of data is telling your story of great success. The second year the goals were not met due to a natural disaster in your community. No space is provided to explain. Include an attachment to explain the shortfall. Or better yet, you explained all of that in your previous year’s impact report and that could be the attachment.
What happens when you feel the grant application will just not allow you the space to tell your story? Contact the representative of the funding agency to talk through the application or set up a meeting to share additional materials or send an email adding in what you couldn’t put in the application itself. These options may or not be possible depending on who the funding agency is, but it is worth investing the time to find out.
A word of caution: make sure all of your narrative, data, and attachments are consistent and current. You don’t want your reader to stop in the middle of reviewing your grant noting inconsistencies in your story. It breaks the train of thought, emotional connection, and sows doubt in the mind of the reader.
Crafting a Grant Proposal That Stands Out
Telling your story should ignite your passion for your nonprofit’s mission and inspire those who read it. Start by crafting your story in an unconstrained format, using it as a foundation for your grant proposals. When you are excited about your story, that energy translates to your readers—captivating funders and increasing your chances of success.
Remember that effective storytelling takes time and collaboration. Engage your team to convey the compelling need for grant funding, and ensure your proposal is polished and ready to go at the start of each grant cycle. With a powerful story at its core, your grant proposal will stand out, resonate with funders, and drive meaningful support for your mission.
Ready to transform your grant proposals with storytelling? Let us help you craft compelling narratives that captivate funders. Contact us today for a free consultation and take the first step toward securing the funding your nonprofit needs.
