How to Write a Grant Proposal Need Statement That Gets Funded
Your grant proposal’s statement of need (also known as a need statement, need assessment, or problem statement) is the heart of your grant proposal. It answers the question “why care” about the work you are doing, and the impact it has on your community. It doesn’t get any more important than that!
Your statement of need also demonstrates to potential funders that there is a significant and urgent problem that you can address with their support. This section of your grant will drive the rest of your proposal, so it is important that is compelling and cohesive.
Your statement of need should:
Illustrate that the need you identify aligns with a grantmaker’s funding priorities and that an investment in your organization will address the identified need.
Articulate a significant challenge you address illustrates the urgency and need for change. A detailed narrative with cited sources and qualitative narratives helps paint a clear picture of just how important your work is, and why it should be funded.
Demonstrate your organization’s capacity and credibility by highlighting the specific, high-level ways your mission, vision, and work addresses the need you have identified.
Read More: 6 Secrets to Winning Grant Funding For Your Nonprofit
Incorporating Research and Cited Sources
Your statement of need must look beyond just the work of your organization (and your need for funding!) and incorporate relevant data from sources that address the scope of your identified problem.
Start with your own programs and data. Look at your current demographics on your services, programs, and target population and use this to bolster your argument.
Incorporate local and state-level data on the scope of the problem including demographic information and statistics, work plans from city task forces, press releases from government agencies, and more.
Search for articles about similar problem area trends to identify issues, recommendations, and other data you can use to support your need statement.
Start with a google search, and get ready for lots of reading. The good news is that this information will stay fairly static. You’ll add new research as it is identified and as your programs evolve. Heavy lifting now will help make future grant proposals much easier to write!
Read More: 7 Reasons You Aren’t Getting Grant Funding
Writing Your Statement of Need
Now you’re ready to put it all together! Your statement of need should include the following elements:
Problem Description: What is the specific problem or need that your organization addresses? How do you know it is a problem?
Implications: Who is impacted by this problem, and what will happen if it is not resolved? Describe the target population impacted, the cost to society if the problem is not resolved, and the long-term impact of not investing in addressing the need.
Urgency and Challenges: Why does this problem need to be addressed now, and by your organization? How does this align with your mission, vision, and work and why are you equipped to address it?
Data and Statistics: What qualitative and quantitative data do you have to support your statement of need?
It’s important to remember that your lack of funds or programs is not a need statement. Your goal when writing a need statement is to identify a situation that is causing or threatening harm to a specific community, not shares your organization’s infrastructure challenges.
Sample Statement of Need
Want to put it all together? Here’s a sample Statement of Need we wrote several years ago.
Every 26 seconds in America, a student drops out of school. Chicago public school students face one of the highest dropout rates in the country. Students who fail to graduate can remain caught in a cycle of poverty, while students who graduate are better positioned to become productive and healthy citizens. For Chicago’s at-risk youth, staying in school is a path out of poverty.
Only 66 percent of Chicago public school students will graduate from high school, well below the national average of 80 percent. According to a 2007 study by the National Women’s Law Center, this dropout crisis disproportionately affects young women of color. An estimated 40 percent of African American female students and 37 percent of Hispanic female students fail to graduate high school. In Chicago, where 87 percent of public school students are from low-income families and 85 percent of students are African American or Hispanic, these statistics are particularly troubling.
The reasons for this dropout crisis are complex:
Low-income students are five times more likely to drop out of school than their more affluent peers;
High rates of violence in under-resourced neighborhoods have a negative impact on students’ physical and mental wellbeing;
Basic healthcare is difficult to access; and
Students are isolated from cultural resources.
These interconnected factors undergird low educational attainment, yet only 16 schools in the entire 650-campus school district have full-time trained social workers to support the academic and social-emotional wellbeing of students, according to a 2012 analysis by Catalyst Chicago.
The challenges Chicago public school students face have a significant, negative impact on girls, and jeopardize their ability to stay in school. Girls who fail to graduate high school face higher levels of unemployment than their male peers, earn significantly lower wages, and are more likely to rely on public support in order to provide for their families. One in three young women in the United States has been a victim of emotional, physical or verbal abuse, and girls between the ages of 16 and 24 experience the highest rate of intimate partner violence, a number that is almost triple the national average. Binge drinking, HPV, suicide, and teen pregnancy are significant challenges for girls, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Providing additional support to girls in Chicago public schools is imperative in order to ensure that they are able to overcome the significant challenges they face both in school and at home. Our organization’s rigorously evaluated work focuses on empowering students to overcome these barriers to that they are able to stay in school and graduate, breaking the cycle of poverty and becoming productive and healthy citizens.
Ready to write your own need statement and grant boilerplate?
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