Imagine that you receive an invitation to a friend’s birthday party. It’s been so long that you’ve been to a party that you excitedly toss the invitation on the counter and rush to get ready. You put on some nice clothes and buy a fine bottle of wine as a gift. You stroll up to your friend’s house and eagerly knock on the door. But when the door opens, a flood of toddlers with balloons pushes out. Your friend is standing in the doorway, looking at you strangely. The invitation was for his five-year-old’s birthday. And you’re holding a bottle of wine.
Such is the predicament grant seekers might find themselves in if they don’t carefully read an RFP. At GrantWriterTeam.com, we’ll help grant seekers with this issue and others.
An RFP, or Request for Proposal, is a tool that a funding source uses to attract proposals that align with their interests. It is an invitation that outlines precisely what they are seeking from a proposal.
For a grant seeker, an RFP will inform them of the funder’s interests, allowing them to tailor their Letter of Intent (LOI) or full grant application to generate interest in their proposed program or activity.
An RFP will also list more general information such as deadline dates, terms of contract, and the estimated size of the grant. But most importantly for a grant seeker, an RFP lists eligibility requirements. Without careful reading of an RFP, grant seekers may waste their time creating a proposal for a grant that they don’t even qualify for.
On GrantWatch, RFPs can be searched by general recipients and GrantWatch subscribers can review a synopsis of the eligibility requirements and read more in depth through the URL provided to the RFP.
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