proposal follow-up

Once you send in the proposal, you will probably receive a letter from the grantmaker indicating that your proposal has been fully funded, partially funded, or rejected.

If the proposal is fully or partially funded, congratulations! Send a thank-you letter upon receipt of funds. The letter should be signed by the same person who signed the cover letter, or another individual of high authority in your organization. Also, find out whether the organization has reporting requirements. Your organization may be required to submit one or two reports to describe how well the program has been going.

If the proposal is rejected, use the opportunity as a learning experience. If no reason for rejection is indicated in the letter, call the funder to determine why you were not funded. Sometimes the reason is that your program did not suit their guidelines or that your proposal was lacking. If the latter is the case, find out what was wrong so that you can improve future proposals.