Most funders use a scoring guide to evaluate grant proposals. There is a site that has a really great generic scoring guide that you can use to rate your own proposal before you send it in. To navigate to the link from the main site. From there you must click the link in the left menu called "Planning Worksheets" and then again on the link towards the bottom called "Proposal Checklist and Review Worksheet". From there you will see the instruction and a link to download the form in pdf format. It is a good idea to also let someone else rate your proposal using the guide too. (This should ideally be someone who hasn’t previously read your proposal and is not real familiar with your organization…maybe someone with a different nonprofit, so that you can return the favor later. Or your kid sister.)

Is it tough to score well? Yes! But if you do, you will have a grant proposal that stands head and shoulders all others (so to speak). All it takes is lots of thinking and writing and rewriting. Be sure to customize your answers to the specific grant application. Follow directions and answer the application questions in order.