Application 4.3

Proposal Description

Overview: Writing style

Follow grant guidelines – details matter

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

Explain why your project matters …

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

Grants are investments

• Boards want smart investments
• Speak the Funders language

Write to excite!

•      Use language from the (Request for Proposal) RFP or foundation call

Assignment:

Write a paragraph (you can even use your new action verbs!) of 5-7 sentences that describes your proposal. Try to convince the reader of its importance (remembering they may know nothing 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 conduits 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-around recreation service serving youth with T1D and their families through the promotion of healthy lifestyles. Studies have supported the notion 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 year-round monthly program, 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. REACH, through a partnership with Primary Children’s Hospital, Weber State, the University of Utah, and the Lions Clubs, will provide the only comprehensive programming of diabetes education, recreation, wellness, and psychosocial development available in Utah.