Tips for Preparing Grant Applications - Visual Presentation Counts

• Follow the Application Guidelines and Directions
• Contacting Program Officers
• Know the Review Criteria
• Know Your Audience
• Clarity of Writing and Organization
• Visual Presentation Counts

  If an application looks inconsistent or poorly devised, a panelist may assume your ideas are similarly sloppy or disorganized. Be consistent with fonts, spacing and section title formats. Provide some white space in the proposal: overcrowded and dense documents are harder to read and subconsciously antagonize reviewers.

  Figures: Make sure your figures or graphics make sense on their own. Reviewers often look at figures before they read the text. Do not force them to find a passage in the body to clarify the meaning of a figure. Place the graphics as close as possible to the citation in the body for figure. Make sure your figures are big enough that they can be deciphered.

  Have someone check your spelling, math, punctuation and the overall presentation (it is almost impossible to objectively proof your own work for mistakes or clarity).

• Consider What Might Go Wrong with Your Project
• Accurate Budgets
• Issues Regarding Similar or Prior Funding

Click here for a PDF version of all grant preparation tips.