9 Tips for writing an EXCELLENT training grant proposal

NYC Business Solutions offers a grant to help businesses train their employees, build staff skills, and boost company productivity.  NYC Business Solutions Customized Training provides up to $400,000 to businesses to cover 60% to 70% of eligible training costs.  

If you are thinking of applying, here are 9 tips for writing a successful proposal:

1. Attend public information sessions. They can sound like they will be too broad/full of too many folks, but these sessions are frequently a good source of insider tips and ways to improve your proposal. Make time to attend and draft a list of questions in advance.
2. Read program guidelines. Read them again. Highlight areas that are unclear. Call or email the grant-makers with questions. Consider also asking things like “how proposals are reviewed? How are decisions made?”
3. Be as specific in your proposal as you can.  Don’t waste words on describing the general economy, broad circumstances, or the inherent value of training. Your story is different – tell readers exactly how your challenges and opportunities are different than everyone else’s.
4. Clearly describe the link between the type of training you propose and what you hope to accomplish in your business.  Explain step-by-step how the challenge you’re facing will be addressed by the training you want to do.
5. Ask the grant-makers for help directly. Often free one-on-one assistance is often available. Don’t hesitate to email the grant staff and ask “Can you read a section of my proposal? Can you talk through what factors often make proposals successful?”
6. Be as quantitative in your proposal as you can. Even anecdotes with numbers are helpful. It’s worth measuring errors, customer satisfaction, cost of launching new products, etc so that you can describe how training will reduce those costs.
7. When you’re finished writing, get someone who doesn’t know your business to read the proposal. They can help you identify where critical details or explanations are missing. 
8. Know the submission deadline.  Plan to submit your proposal before the deadline. Be realistic about whether you have time to prepare a competitive proposal that meets the deadline. Know the funder’s policies on late submissions, exceptions, and mail delays. Find out how the funder will notify you about the receipt and status of your proposal. Factor this information into your timeline.
9. Get and include in your proposal three bids from training providers. Explain why you selected the one you did (quality? price? good references from other businesses?). If you would like someone internal (i.e., already on your staff) to offer the training, include them (and the associated costs) as one of your three bids.

Now that you know what makes a great proposal, use your skills by writing a proposal for training funding from NYC Business Solutions.

Sara Schlossberg is the Executive Director of Training for NYC Business Solutions. In this role, Sara helps New York City businesses become more competitive by improving employee skills and productivity. NYC Business Solutions invests more than $1 million each year in helping businesses train employees.

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