1. Begin with your story

Create a powerful narrative that explains why your community is uniquely suited for the grant opportunity.

• Find your why: If your community could receive a grant for any project, what would it be? How would it transform life in your community? What would be improved?
• Reflect on the key challenges your community is facing, such as flooding, aging infrastructure, coal plant closure, rising energy costs, or declining populations
  • Engage a diverse group of community members to better understand needs, concerns, and opportunities.
• Revisit existing plans, projects, and initiatives. Are there projects in need of expansion? How would this new project align with existing plans?

2. Register for SAM.gov 

Registering for a SAM.gov account is the first step. It can take up to two weeks and requires documentation. 

• Review this needed documentation guide and a step-by-step video about SAM registration.
• Registration must be updated and renewed at least every 12 months.
• After you are registered with SAM.gov, complete your grants.gov registration. 

Federal and state agencies may use additional platforms that require registration. For Illinois grants, register on the GATA portal. Review the Illinois State Grantee Portal New User Guide from Illinois.gov to understand the process.

3. Assess relevant grant opportunities

Search for open and closed grant opportunities. Grants typically accept applications for 30-60 days. Many grants have yearly cycles, start preparing for those now.

• Filter for forecasted grants on grants.gov. It is a good idea to prepare for an upcoming grant before it opens so you have a team and goals established and can pull materials together in time to submit.
• Websites to get started:
  • TCTAC database: Curated list of grant opportunities.
  • Grants.gov: Searchable database of all federal grants.
  • Illinois Environmental Protection Agency: Grants related to green infrastructure, energy efficiency, brownfields, stormwater, and more.
  • Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity: Grants related to the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, clean energy, and economic development.

4. Assemble the grant team

Identify core roles: Project manager, grant writer, finance manager, and implementation team. Assign roles in grants.gov. Collect resumes and headshots for applications.

• Explore potential partners early, especially first-time applicants. Stakeholder mapping is a useful tool. Review this guide Identifying and Analyzing Stakeholders and Their Interests.

5. Review the Notice of Funding Opportunity closely

The Notice of Funding Opportunity is the guide for creating your application; read carefully.

• Typical sections: program description, funding information, eligibility, application and submission info, application review info, and award administration information.
• Most have a program contact for questions. 
• Watch this Writing a Grant Application training from the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity for a detailed overview of the NOFO sections.
• Take note of required documentation, as some may need signatures.

At this stage, you have completed your registration, assembled a dedicated team, and found a grant opportunity that aligns with your community goals. You’re ready to launch into the next step of this journey. 

1. Understand your audience.

Review information about the grant program and agency. Start by looking at the agency’s grants.gov profile.

Pay attention to the tone and language the agency uses in the notice of funding. This tells you what is most important to them. Note what they have already funded to ensure your problem is relevant to the agency.

2. Thoroughly review the notice of funding opportunity.

Generate a list of tasks from the different sections. Confirm eligibility and required documents. Pay attention to additional documents required: DEI plans, project timelines, maps, letters of support, etc. 

Review the criteria and scoring guidelines to guide your application.

• This is typically at the end of the notice of funding opportunity. 
• Reviewers evaluate many grants. Make it easy to find what they are scoring you on.

3. Write a strong introduction.

Establish your organization’s credibility: Share the history, mission, success stories, and staff qualifications. Highlight why your organization is eligible to undertake this project.Define the problem with a focus on addressing local needs. Summarize the objectives of your project.

4. Develop the need statement or problem statement.

Articulate and support the need with data, community stories, and studies. Avoid defining the problem as a lack of a program or facility and frame it as a community need that is not being met.

Explain how the funding opportunity will meet this need, NOT how it will meet your need for funding. Demonstrate your organization’s familiarity and ability with addressing the defined need, and show why your organization is qualified for this role.

View a detailed guide on Writing an Effective Needs Statement. 

5. Describe project description and objectives.

Use SMART objectives to specify what results will be achieved: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic | Timebound

Avoid confusing objectives with methods or strategies. The objective isn’t to build a facility, it is to improve a community outcome by a date. 

• Specify the roles and responsibilities: who is involved, what actions will be taken, the target audience, the location, the timeline, and the reason for this approach.
• Explain why the method you’ve chosen is the best approach and discuss alternative methods to showcase why your way is better.
• Highlight what is innovative about your proposal to make it distinct from others.

View a sample workplan example and this detailed guide from the Congressional Research Service.

6. Provide a detailed evaluation plan.

Some agencies will list specific metrics you can refer to for writing your plan, such as jobs created, energy savings, number of planning activities, communities served, etc. 

Summarize what the program will achieve by the end.

• What data will be collected, when, who is responsible, how it will be used and analyzed. 
• Data collection tools used: Surveys, focus groups, monitoring systems, etc.
• How will progress be assessed? How will adjustments be made if needed?
• How will you measure performance by comparing the actual with the expected? This can be quantifiable or qualitative: Energy savings, quality of life, photos, etc. 

For help writing these sections, view the guide Elements of a Grant Proposal. 

7. Build a budget spreadsheet and narrative. 

Prepare the budget spreadsheet and then write the accompanying narrative. Make sure this is consistent with the program narrative.

Usually contains eight categories: Personnel, fringe benefits, travel, equipment, supplies, construction (typically not an allowable cost), consultants/contracts, other costs, and indirect costs.

Access a general budget template example.

8. Review, review, review!

• Grade your application against the provided criteria and scoring rubric.
• Request partners to offer feedback well before the deadline.
• Reach out to technical assistance groups like us at the Great Lakes Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Center for review.

At this point, you’ve done everything you can to write a strong grant application. Good luck!