Composition 3110

Advanced Writing for Students in the Arts and Letters

Write a memo to a foundation or council to request a grant supporting your work. Projects requiring support might be research projects or art projects. Grant letters should include the following information:

• Project Overview including a brief statement of what you hope to accomplish and how
• Your Qualifications
• Procedure—What exactly you will be doing.
• Time Table for completion of the project
• Budget—as specific as possible with one line item for each expense
• Statement of goals for the project—what you will accomplish and how it will be beneficial to the community
• Formal Request of support—a nice way to close the memo

While you may use the above list as an outline for your memo, there are several different ways to arrangement the information depending on your own project's needs.

Remember: the proposals most likely to win the grants are those that present the committee with a project that distinguishes itself in some way from the other proposals they are reviewing. In addition to being distinctive, they should demonstrate that you have thought about the project and have clear ideas about what you hope to do. Even if you are not completely sure what you want to do, you should write a proposal with confidence and conviction.

For this reason, write in the present or future tense. Instead of "I would research the Navajo petroglyphs," write "I will research Navajo petroglyphs." Instead of "This project could cover the great variety in Harold Pinter's work," write "This project covers the great variety in Harold Pinter's work." Do not write in a tentative manner, because that will make your grant sound uncertain. The committees reward confidence.

For similar reasons, be as detailed as you can be about what you plan to do. These details might change later once you plunge yourself into this project, but state them with certainty for now. The grant committee will not compel you to follow your proposal to the letter once you are under way as long as you work in good faith to accomplish your goals.

Distinctive projects are those that address some kind of clear need. In you proposal, establish a need for what you plan to do. Argue that nobody has yet done what you plan to do. Focus on your strengths and those qualities that distinguish you from other artists and scholars who share your interests.