MAKING THE

PROJECT
PROPOSAL

Module 4:
What is a project
proposal?
 What is a project
proposal?
A project proposal is a document that is used to
convince a sponsor that a project needs to be
kicked-off to solve a particular business problem
or opportunity. It describes in depth, how the
project is going to be commenced so that the
sponsor understands what is involved early.
 What is a project
proposal?
In the non-profit world, a proposal is a document
with which an NGO puts forward a specific project to a
donor for funding consideration. Thus, a proposal is a
tool for NGOs to gain funding, and for donors to decide
who to fund. In other words, a project proposal explains
the plan and purpose for the set of activities an NGO
wishes to implement, and requests funding from a
donor.
When to use Project
Proposal?
When to use project proposal?

Whenever you start a new project then you need to

complete a project proposal document. The document is
provided to the sponsor of the project for approval.
Only then can the project officially commence. A
project proposal may also be used to set the roadmap
for the project, so that everyone is working towards the
same goals.
 When to use project proposal?

The basic parts of a proposal are fairly standardized,

every proposal is unique. Each NGO, project, and
donor is different, so good project proposals take all of
these factors into account. Additionally, each donor
may have their own application requirements to
include.
 When to use project proposal?

A good proposal is often essential to securing a

grant, it is only one piece of the larger application
process. Even before putting pen to paper, creating
a good project to write about requires a lot of
background research and planning.
Why write a Proposal?
 When to use project proposal?
A project proposal does more than just secure grants. The 
process of drafting a proposal helps NGOs plan a project from
the idea stage to reality. It provides a way to flesh out,
explain, test, prove, critique and share the project details.
Additionally, donors pay great attention to the contents of the
proposal. Donors cannot read your mind, and very few are
able to visit the project site of every applicant. So, donors
have to make do with the information they receive in the
proposal and learn to read between the lines.
Beyond project details, donors read proposals to
answer questions such as:

• Does the NGO have the capacity to implement the project? If an

NGO does not have the capacity to write a good proposal, it may
not have the capacity to run a good project.

• Can the NGO be trusted? NGOs who trust donors with honest and
transparent explanations of project costs, risks, and weaknesses are
more likely to be trusted in return.

• Are all partners and officers on the same page? Inconsistencies in

the proposal may indicate that there is a lack of coordination within
the NGO.
Beyond project details, donors read proposals to
answer questions such as:
• Will the NGO be a good communicator? Communication is vital to
relationships. Donors see spelling, grammar, tone of voice, and
clarity in proposals as a reflection of future communications.
• Will the NGO make a good partner? Donors look to see if you have
researched them, to understand their needs, and to pay attention to
application instructions.
• Will the NGO still be around in five or ten years? The NGO’s
history, current resources, and long-term vision help donors
determine if the NGO will be a long-term player in the development
field.
SIX TYPES OF PROJECT
PROPOSAL
1. Formally Solicited
2. Informally Solicited
3. Unsolicited
4. Continuation
5. Renewal
6. Supplemental
 These might sound intimidating and dull, but bear with me –
they’re all pretty simple once you get past the name.

Although I’ll be providing a sample template for every type

of project proposal, the templates for a formally solicited,
informally solicited, and unsolicited proposals are identical.
The approach for writing these three categories differs with the
level of detail and extra research, but you’ll only create
inconsistencies and confusion by using more than one type of
new project proposal, so the same template can be applied to
each. Basically, if you’re creating a proposal for a new project,
use the general template in the section below.
 FORMALLY SOLICITED
▪ A formally solicited project proposal is made in response to an official
request for a proposal. In a way, this is the easiest way to create a
proposal for a new project, since the Request For Proposal (RFP)
document will usually tell you exactly what the customer or audience
wants and sometimes even directions for preparing the proposal.

▪ RFP forms aren’t to be confused with project request forms though – the

former is a way to directly react to specific needs and desires, whereas
the latter is a way for higher management to request a project of their
teams.
 FORMALLY SOLICITED
▪ Therefore, for formally solicited proposals you should take a
more structured approach. You have to respond directly to
the contents of whatever rough details have been relayed to
you, essentially turning feedback into a quantifiable project
which you can then judge the worth of starting. Your project
proposal checklist doesn’t need to be complicated.
 INFORMALLY SOLICITED
▪ Informally solicited project proposals are the same as formally solicited
ones, except the information they are based on isn’t set out in a specific
document. This makes them a little harder to deal with (more research is
involved in analyzing them) but you at least have a rough starting point.

▪ It’s pretty much just a lack of detail that separates formal from informal
– formal proposal requests have set details, goals, deliverables, and
potentially even methods, while informal ones could be based on a
conversation. If you’ve been asked for a proposal but haven’t been given
any specifics, it’s an informally solicited one.
 INFORMALLY SOLICITED

▪ The approach for this isn’t too different from a formally

solicited one, but you’ll have to put in some extra legwork
in defining details like the objectives and method, and in
assessing how viable the whole thing is.
 UNSOLICITED
▪ Unsolicited project proposals are the project equivalent of 
cold calls – nobody asked to receive one, but (if you’ve
done your homework) it can still provide a ton of value.
These are proposals which are thought of by the person
submitting them and can be inspired by anything, from a
eureka moment in the employee’s daily work to a casual
conversation with a customer.
 UNSOLICITED
▪ Arguably these are the hardest proposals to write, as
you’ll have to be extra persuasive (nobody asked for
the proposal so they’ll need extra nudging). This
means gathering more evidence than usual to prove
the proposal’s worth and taking extra care when
writing to make sure that it’s convincing.
 CONTINUATION
▪ Continuation project proposals are by far and away the easiest to
write, since these are essentially reminders/updates for ongoing
(and already approved) projects.

▪ These are almost not even proposals, in the sense that you’re
not asking for anything new or pitching your case. Instead, all
you have to do is remind the audience of the project they
previously approved, report on its progress, account for any
changes and ask for permission to continue.
 CONTINUATION

▪ Usually, continuation proposals are reserved for requesting funds

when starting a new phase in a project.
 RENEWAL
▪ Once an ongoing project has finished or outlived its usefulness (and
support for it is going to be terminated), a renewal project proposal can
be written to make the case for its continued support.

▪ Much like continuation proposals, these are less about convincing

the audience of the project’s worth by itself and more about
showing why it’s valuable to continue doing it. This usually means
weighing up the return benefits with the resources it takes to upkeep
the practice.
 RENEWAL

▪ It’s also good to compare the project you’re trying to get renewed
support for with other continuing projects – this puts its worth in
the context of other ongoing efforts, and can indicate areas better
suited to being discontinued.
 SUPPLEMENTAL

▪ A supplemental project proposal is required when you need

to ask for extra resources for a project (beyond those
originally proposed). The main aim when writing these
proposals is to be able to justify the extra resources and
produce updated estimates of what the project will now take
to complete.
 SUPPLEMENTAL

▪ If the project’s scope is being increased to have a further

reach then this will read as an extension of the original
document with a focus on explaining the benefits of
expanding the scope.
 SUPPLEMENTAL

▪ However, if problems or new information have arisen that mean the

original goals require extra resources, you should instead focus on
reiterating the benefits that the project will bring, explain why such
problems and/or information weren’t seen in advance, and reassure
the audience that the operation is still worth the investment.
 PLANNING YOUR
PROJECT PROPOSAL
 Planning your Project Proposal

▪ Once you know what kind of proposal you’re writing you

need to research and plan out the document to make sure
you don’t miss out any vital information. Although what you
write will vary a little depending on the type of proposal
you’re submitting and the format it’s using, you’ll generally
want to:
 Planning your Project Proposal
1. Define your audience
2. Know what problem the proposal tackles
3. Research the current state of the issue
4. Clearly define the proposal
5. Predict the effect this will have
6. Assess the time and resources this will take
7. Create an outline of the document
Proposed Format for a Full
Project Proposal
 TITLE PAGE

▪ A title page should appear on proposals longer than three to

four pages. The title page should indicate the project title,
the name of the lead organisation (and potential partners, if
any), the place and date of project preparation and the name
of the donor agency to whom the proposal is addressed.
 PROJECT TITLE

▪ The project title should be short, concise, and

preferably refer to a certain key project result or the
leading project activity. Project titles that are too long
or too general fail to give the reader an effective
snapshot of what is inside.
 ABSTRACT/ EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY

▪ Many readers lack the time needed to read the whole project
proposal. It is therefore useful to insert a short project
summary, an abstract or executive summary. The abstract
should include: the problem statement, the project’s
objectives, implementing organisations; key project
activities; and potentially the total project budget.
 ABSTRACT/ EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY

▪ Theoretically, the abstract should be compiled after

the relevant items already exist in their long form. For
a small project the abstract may not be longer than 10
lines. Bigger projects often provide abstracts as long
as two pages.
 CONTEXT

▪ This part of the project describes the social, economic,

political and cultural background from which the
project is initiated. It should contain relevant data
from research carried out in the project planning phase
or collected from other sources.
 PROJECT
JUSTIFICATION
A rationale should be provided for the project. Due to its
importance, this section is sometimes divided into four or more sub-
sections:
Problem Statement
Priority Needs
The Proposed Approach (Type of Intervention)
The Implementing Organization
Project Aims
 PROJECT
JUSTIFICATION
Problem Statement
The problem statement provides a description of the specific
problem(s) the project is trying to solve, in order to “make a case”
for the project. Furthermore, the project proposal should point out
why a certain issue is a problem for the community or society as a
whole, i.e. what negative implications affect the target group.
There should also be an explanation of the needs of the target
group that appear as a direct consequence of the described
problem.
 PROJECT
JUSTIFICATION
Priority Needs
The needs of the target group that have arisen as a direct
negative impact of the problem should be prioritised. An
explanation as to how this decision was reached must also
be included.
 PROJECT
JUSTIFICATION
The Proposed Approach (Type of Intervention
The needs of the target group that have arisen as a direct
negative impact of the problem should be prioritised. An
explanation as to how this decision was reached must also
be included.
 PROJECT
JUSTIFICATION
The Implementing Organization
This section should describe the capabilities of your
organisation by referring to its capacity and previous project
record. Describe why exactly your organisation is the most
appropriate to run the project, its connexion to the local
community, the constituency behind the organisation and what
kind of expertise the organisation can provide. If other partners are
involved in implementation provide some information on their
capacity as well.
 PROJECT
JUSTIFICATION
Project Aims
This information should be obtained from the Logframe Matrix,
including the project goal (a general aim that should explain what
the core problem is and why the project is important, i.e. what the
long-term benefits to the target group are), project purpose (that
should address the core problem in terms of the benefits to be
received by the project beneficiaries or target group as a direct
result of the project) and the outputs (i.e. results describe the
services or products to be delivered to the intended beneficiaries).
 TARGET GROUP

▪ The target group and show how it will benefit from

the project. The project should provide a detailed
description of the size and characteristics of the target
groups, and especially of direct project beneficiaries.
 PROJECT
IMPLEMENTATION

▪ The implementation plan should describe activities

and resource allocation in as much detail as possible.
It is exceptionally important to provide a good
overview of who is going to implement the project’s
activities, as well as when and where.
 PROJECT
IMPLEMENTATION
▪ The implementation plan may be divided into two key
elements: the activity plan and the resource plan. The
activity plan should include specific information and
explanations of each of the planned project activities. The
duration of the project should be clearly stated, with
considerable detail on the beginning and the end of the
project.
 In general, two main formats are used to express the activity
plan: a simple table (a simple table with columns for activities,
sub-activities, tasks, timing and responsibility in  a clear and
readily understandable format) and the Gantt chart (a
universal format for presenting activities in certain times
frames, shows the dependence and sequence for each activity,
see project management for more info.

The resource plan should provide information on the means

necessary to undertake the project. Cost categories are
established at this stage in order to aggregate and summarize
the cost information for budgeting.
 BUDJET
An itemized summary of an organization’s expected
income and expenses over a specified period of time.

MONITORING AND EVALUATION

The basis for monitoring is set when the indicators for results
are set. The project proposal should indicate: how and when
the project management team will conduct activities to monitor
the project’s progress; which methods will be used to monitor
and evaluate; and who will do the evaluation.
 REPORTING
The schedule of project progress and financial
report could be set in the project proposal. Often these
obligations are determined by the standard requirements of the
donor agency. The project report may be compiled in different
versions, with regard to the audience they are targeting.

MANAGEMENT AND PERSONNEL

A brief description should be given of the project personnel,
the individual roles each one has assumed, and the 
communication mechanisms that exist between them. All the
additional information (such as CVs) should be attached to the
annexes.
PROJECT PROPOSAL
TEMPLATE
THANK YOU!!!!