In the meantime, to get you started on the right track, here are ten essential

tips for writing successful proposals:

 ✓ Read a decent sample of previous grant proposals in your area, espe-

cially ones you know have succeeded. Proposals are rarely available

online to the public. Instead, seek out the nonprofits you know (they

may be local or national) that have been awarded grants and ask permis-

sion to read their proposals.

 ✓ Be sure to write your proposal so that it harmonizes well with the

granting agency’s mission and goals. You’ll need to look up the mission

and goals of the granting agency. You should be able to find both on

the Web site of the agency you intend to approach. But, if not published

there, e-mail them.

 ✓ Write your proposal so that it will stand out as much as possible

against the many competing proposals. This means, in part, stressing

the uniqueness of your enterprise and its mission.

 ✓ Show your compassion/sympathy for the target of benefits (but don’t

overdo it), and convey clearly the urgency of your mission. Try to

make your would-be benefactor feel obligated to help.

 ✓ Show your commitment and your determination to realize your goals.

Show how much time (days, months, years) has so far been devoted to

realizing your mission, how many people have been involved, how much

money has been spent in the process, and so forth. You may also men-

tion some of the more difficult problems you’ve faced and how you man-

aged to solve them.

 ✓ Write simply and as non-technically as possible. The reviewers of your

proposal may be unfamiliar with all the terminology and issues of your

particular field and enterprise. And everyone appreciates an easy-to-

understand style of writing.

 ✓ Closely follow all technical requirements set out by the granting

agency. These guidelines may be as detailed as using the right type size

and page margins. If sections of the proposal have word limits, never

exceed them.

 ✓ Keep the proposal as short as possible. In fact, there is often a pre-

scribed page or word limit, which you should religiously respect.

 ✓ Have other people read your proposal before sending it. Someone

from outside your enterprise should be among the critical readers.

 ✓ Hire a professional grant writer if you have the resources and don’t

trust yourself or your partners in the enterprise to do the job needed

to succeed. You can Google grant-writing services to pull up an exten-

sive list. Ask for references and find out how successful the grants have

been in getting money for the applicants.What’s in a Name?

We can answer Shakespeare’s question in two broad ways:

 ✓ If your enterprise is a nonprofit, description is a primary consider-

ation in naming it. Your name must convey to all interested parties

what your enterprise does and for whom or what, such as animals,

birds, the homeless, the environment, and so on.

 ✓ If your enterprise is a for-profit entity, sales are the primary consid-

eration. You want to choose a name that promotes the good or service

you’re selling. An element of description is involved here, too, but

appeal is the main thing you’re after. In short, a for-profit’s name should

help attract buyers.

 Consider an example: What does the name Secular Humanists of the

Lowcountry tell you about this social enterprise’s mission and goals? The

Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry, based in Charleston, South Carolina,

was established in 1994. Its members consider themselves free thinkers on a

wide range of subjects. Some identify themselves as agnostics; others as athe-

ists; and still others as skeptics, secular humanists, rationalists, or scientific

naturalists.

The mission of the enterprise — which is classified as nonprofit and edu-

cational — is “to promote the non-theistic, human-centered viewpoint as

a valid contribution to public discourse and to strive to maintain the First

Amendment guarantee of separation of state and church.” The organization

is committed to the use of science, reason, and experience as the best way

to understand this world and the universe, as well as to conquer social prob-

lems. It scorns any attempt to deprecate the human intellect, as in claims

that “God knows best.”

When seeing only the name of this enterprise, you might mistake it for a

club formed strictly for the benefit of its members instead of an external

target (a set of ideas). In fact, we think that this group might be able to find a

better name — for example, Society for Secular Humanism or Society for the

Advancement of Secular Humanism. Compared with its present name, either

of the other names makes clearer the educational, political, and philosophi-

cal aims of the organization.