Application 4.3

Proposal Description

Overview: Writing style

Follow grant guidelines – details matter

• Use active voice, first person, and action verbs
• Write with a positive tone to convey energy and a positive attitude
• Write short and declarative sentences
• Use simple language instead of technical jargon

Explain why your project matters …

• Picture the reader—friendly, fair, and educated—yet ignorant of the needs of your community
• Use compelling facts and stories
• Write persuasive rhetoric

Grants are investments

• Boards want smart investments
• Speak the Funder’s language

Write to excite!

•     Use language from the RFP or foundation call

Assignment:

Write a 5-7 sentence paragraph, using your new action verbs, that describes your proposal. Try to convince the reader of its importance (remember, they may not know anything about your topic). Once done, trade with a partner… read each other’s work, and provide a peer review.

Example:

Recreation services for youth with type 1 diabetes can serve as a fun conduit for diabetes education, while also providing fertile environments for cohort studies to understand and improve quality of life. The Recreate, Educate, Advocate, and Climb Higher (REACH) Weber program is a new, Utah-based, year-round recreation service, serving youth with T1D and their families by promoting healthy lifestyles. Studies have supported that attending medical specialty recreation programs can provide positive outcomes for children with chronic illnesses (Hill et al., 2019). Participants who attend specialty camp programs have feelings of being “just a kid” and appreciate being the majority within their peer group, unlike their everyday life (DiDomizio, & Gillard, 2018). It will include a year-round monthly program, a 5-day Tween/Teen Day Camp on a college campus, and a Family Diabetes camp that, unlike existing diabetes camps, includes T1D youth up to age 18. Through a partnership with Primary Children’s Hospital, Weber State, the University of Utah, and the Lions Clubs, REACH will provide the only comprehensive programming of diabetes education, recreation, wellness, and psychosocial development available in Utah.