With budget cuts and rising costs receiving grants for animal shelters is a key component in keeping many of these shelters open and serving the animal needs of their local communities. Most animal shelters have no shortage of volunteers willing to devote many hours of service to providing for the welfare of abused and neglected animals. However some of these organizations especially in smaller cities and towns struggle with keeping the doors open due to a lack of funds to pay expenses. With fierce competition for the limited funds available knowing how to write a grant proposal is extremely important to ensure the best possible chances for success.
Keep the following in mind when writing your animal shelter grant proposal request. Most public and private organizations that award grant dollars like to see a request that clearly spells out the goals and objectives that the grant will be used for. The more specific you are in your request the better chance you have of receiving the grant. A request for money to “fix up our kennel” is likely to be turned down. A better request might read “we would like to put in a exercise area and add fans to improve the ventaltion system and increase the comfort of the animals during the summer months”. According to the Corporation For Public Broadcasting a grant proposal should have a clearly purpose and a mission statement.
Make sure you know the grant provider and what types of grants they award. Most organizations have specific rules about the monies they award. Some grants are only awarded in certain demographic areas. Grants can be for certain dollar amounts. The grant might stipulate that a certain percentage of additional funds must be raised before the grant will be awarded. It is very important to match the grant request to the grant provider to avoid the time consuming task of applying for grants which have no chance of success.
If you doubt your grant writing skills there is another option available. You could hire a professional grant writer. Their fees can be quite reasonable and considering how important grants for animal shelters are this is something to consider. A good grant writer will carefully consider your organizations situation and write a grant proposal that has the greatest chance for success.
Whether you hire a professional grant writer or do the work yourself make sure you do your homework when applying for a grant in order to stack the odds in your favor. Animal shelters play a crucial role in providing much needed care and abused and neglected animals of your community are depending on you.
Source: “Grant Proposal Writing Tips”, Corporation For Public Broadcasting.