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How To Perfect Your Needs Statement [With Examples]

Reviewed by:

August 30, 2021

Last Updated:

October 19, 2023

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Everyone has a good idea — but not all ideas are fundable, and not everyone has the commitment to succeed in grant application writing.

Any quality grant application will first begin with an urgent need and then a project idea to meet that need. It is important to understand the specified need drives the activities of the grant proposal. And it is the urgency and caliber of this need that will get the idea funded .

This article will explain what is a needs statement in grant writing, why needs statements are important for your proposal’s success, how to get started writing, and examples and templates for needs statements.

What is a Statement of Need in Grant Writing?

‍ Within a grant proposal, a statement of need outlines the compelling societal or community issue that an organization or project aims to tackle.

Crafted effectively, a needs statement emphasizes the urgency of the situation, underscores the existing gaps, and vividly portrays the tangible consequences of unaddressed needs.

This can also sometimes be called a problem statement, and essentially, they are the same thing. The main difference comes down to the root of the issue and your organization.

If there’s a human element to it, then it is a needs statement. If it’s more environmentally based and there’s no direct human element, then it will be a problem statement.

As you write your grant proposal , make sure that you title the section appropriately based on the application instructions to prevent confusion or potential disqualification for not following the requirements.

A succinct statement of need not only captures the attention of funders but also underscores the project's significance and potential positive impact. Your goal is that by the end of the needs statement, the reviewer should have a clear understanding and recognition of the underlying problem—not just its symptoms—and be inspired to be part of the solution.

Why are Needs Statements Important for Your Proposal's Success?

Your needs statement should establish that if the underlying problem or issue is not addressed, it will cause critical failure in your community.

As a grant writer, it is your job to establish the problem and current conditions within your community that you plan to address in your grant application. ‍

The needs statement for grants gives reviewers a sense of the scope of the problem and helps them to establish the relevance and importance of your grant application. It is also a prime opportunity to link the relevance of your grant application to the funder's mission statement and goals .

If your grant application lacks a compelling, urgent need, your grant will be equally unimpressive. Again, it is an urgent need that will get the idea funded. The statement of need drives your grant proposal and outlines why the project must be undertaken.

Furthermore, it provides you with an opportunity to show why your organization is the perfect fit to address the urgent need.

At every point in your proposal, your application should showcase your organization's strengths to meet the need and solve the problem. Next, let’s explore what makes an effective needs statement that will improve the likelihood of success.

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What Makes an Effective Needs Statement?

Strong Description that Gives a Strong Sense of Urgency

A compelling needs statement should read like a human-interest story that shows the grant reviewer a behind-the-scenes picture of a catastrophe, imparting immediate tragedy but also hope for the future .

Try to put a face on the need and make the problem real and immediate.

Assume the reviewer does not know anything about the problem or conditions that drive the project in your grant proposal .

Describe why this issue is an urgent need, who else sees it as a problem, and what are the various community stakeholder views.

Describe what will happen to the community, or those served, if the urgent need is not addressed.

However, do not editorialize or provide emotional appeals—stick to the facts and describe the need in rational terms.

You have the Magic Solution

Reviewers are smart, intelligent people who have to read hundreds of applications one after another— your job is to make the reviewer's job easier by connecting all the dots and making it clear and easy to see that you have the magic solution to solving the detailed urgent need.

Depending on the funding opportunity, it is likely that every application in the reviewer's pile sounds alike and uses the same data—you need to stand out and catch their attention with clear and concise data, an urgent need, and a compelling solution that blends previous success with new innovative answers.

Recent, Reliable, and Rich Supporting Data

An effective needs statement for grants clearly defines the problem with valid and compelling data . It is important to provide accurate and supporting statistics when describing the need. This will prove that someone other than you believes your need is a critical problem.

When identifying data, be sure you use comparative data .

In other words, find data that provides an appropriate comparison (apples to apples) within the community and at the national level. Identify your target population and ensure all of your data is looking at that same populace.

Look for the most recent datasets that are available to ensure recent and timely updates with downward trends. Consider data bias and reliability when comparing sources to ensure that you have quality information to support the urgent need you want to address.

Data can be found across many different sources, including federal and state agencies, demographic information clearinghouses, scholarly journals and articles, and industry publications. Look at recent local surveys or needs assessments. Talk with local colleges, universities, and libraries about public data sets. Approach regional planning committees or development councils to see what data might have been collected.

Consider using Google Scholar as a starting point to find high-quality data sources. Focus on data that compares, describes, predicts, or explains your urgent need. Furthermore, when searching for data , consider both quantitative (mathematical numbers and facts) and qualitative data (stories, interviews, and open comments).

Implications and Importance of the Problem to the Wider Community

An effective needs statement describes the implications and importance of the problem to the wider community .

Describe the cost to the community — and society as a whole. Explain previous and current challenges in addressing the need. Then, illustrate the gap between the current situation and the desired state. Be sure to state all of the various factors that have prevented a sustainable resolution of this urgent need, and then describe why this problem needs to be addressed now. Lastly, include what is currently being done.

Connecting Your Mission to the Funder's Mission through the Needs Statement

An effective needs statement relates the funding application to both your and the funder's mission .

Describe why external funding must be used in order to meet the urgent need, solve the problem, or reduce the gap. Make sure that you address the urgent need locally and on a wider scale — use data to show the problem on each level.

Do not assume that national issues are automatically an urgent local need—find the data to back it up. Focus on describing what could be accomplished within the given funding timeframe, and then briefly detail an action plan that focuses on achievable and measurable goals to meet the specified need.

A word of caution:

Do not confuse your business needs with the urgent need of your target population. Your grant application and your statement of need should focus on the community of interest.

Remember, it is the urgent need that will get the idea funded.

Show the impact of the urgent need in your community or region.

Related Gaps (Not Just Symptoms) Turned to Opportunities

And, finally, an effective needs statement shows the gaps in the current system that provide opportunities for progress .

Use deductive reasoning to show what has not been discussed in the literature or within the community – what has not been addressed and missed.

Describe important gaps within the current system that could be leveraged to create sustainable change.

Set the stage for your grant application to show that your proposed grant will fill the gap and meet the urgent need.

When stating the related gaps, be sure to avoid circular reasoning, where the absence of your solution is the problem.

Circular reasoning is claiming that the absence of your proposed solution is the actual problem.

For example, "Our problem is that we have no health center. The solution is to build a health center." Firstly, in this example, it is not clear how you know that the absence of a health center is truly an urgent need, nor is it specified how you plan to uniquely tackle this lack. An effective needs statement for grants does not frame your solution as an urgent need — it separates and fleshes out the two.

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Tips for Writing Needs Statements

‍ Grant proposals can be overwhelming, and it can be difficult to know where to begin to make yours stand out.

Here are some tips to help you write compelling needs statements that will grab the attention of funders:

Understand Your Audience

You need to take a step back and really understand your audience—and when it comes to your needs statement, that means the grant funder.

What do they stand for? What are they looking to accomplish? How can you help them further their mission?

Instrumentl has funder profiles that are helpful in giving you streamlined insights into different grant makers, reducing the time you need to search for information about them. For example, Instrumentl’s Giving by NTEE Code snapshots show you which types of work a funder has given to most.

The more you can understand about a particular funder, the better and more targeted your needs statement can be.

Use Empirical Data and Research

Observational and anecdotal evidence is a great way to draw the reader in, but you need to use empirical data and research to back it up. This objective information can prove that what you are proposing is really needed. It’s not just something that you think is necessary.

Data and research communicate how well thought out your needs statement is and how it ties into the bigger picture. This kind of empirical research is really compelling for companies who are trying to expand their corporate social responsibility efforts and impact their communities in measurable ways.

Incorporate Beneficiary Voices

A great way to humanize a needs statement is to incorporate the real voices of people who have been impacted by your work.

They can speak to the real difference that you’ve made and how it’s changed their lives. These voices add dimension to your needs statement. They help funders see what you’ve accomplished and how they can be a part of growing your impact.

Address Potential Objections

When writing your needs statement, take a step back and consider potential objectives. Is there a way that you can address them?

For example, perhaps you want to solve hunger in your community. That’s a lofty goal, and some may wonder how what you’re doing in the short term will achieve long-term sustainability.

It doesn’t need to be in-depth, but by addressing these issues, you show funders that you are aware of challenges and have plans to address them before they even happen.

Highlight Proven Solutions

You have an idea of how you want to solve the problem or address the need. Your needs statement should be building toward this, so make sure you include why you are uniquely suited to provide the solution.

The funder has many applications, so why should they choose you? What can you do that’s different from others?

Crafting a compelling and comprehensive needs statement is one of the most effective ways to help your proposal stand out against the competition.

What Are the Components of a Needs Statement?

There are different elements that you should include in your needs statement. Here’s an overview, and we’ll walk through examples of how these elements play out in the next sections.

Introduction

Include a short introduction to set the scene.

It should be no more than a sentence or two, but you want to introduce the reader to the need. You can link it to a global or local need. Was there some catalyst that prompted you to start? You want to entice your reader from the first sentence, so make sure to catch their attention with a strong hook.

Description of the Problem

Next, go into a short description of the problem or need in the community. You don’t want to get into how you plan to solve it yet, so these should be objective statements about what you see as the need.

Relevance and Urgency

Why is the problem important? Is there a driving need for why it should be solved now?

Now that you’ve established the problem, you need to talk about why now—and why you are the organization to address it. Make sure to add data, current research, and other statistics to support your claims.

Local Context

Is there a tie to the community that you want to highlight? What’s the context? This part can help you establish the local impact, which will be critical as you look to engage funders who want to make a difference in their local community.

Beneficiaries

Who will benefit from this work? Are there community voices who have already benefited that you can highlight? This introduces a human element to your needs statement, so make sure you connect it to actual people.

Comparison With Similar Needs

Are there any similar needs that you’ve helped address? Or other community success stories when a need has been met?

When you’re writing your report, share how you’ll build upon the work that’s already been started and bring it to the next level or distinguish yourself completely. You need to acknowledge that you’re not the only one working on it, but you still have unique value to add.

Barriers to Addressing the Need

Be realistic about any challenges you will face or why this problem continues to persist—after all, if it were easy to fix, it wouldn’t be an ongoing issue!

If others have tried and failed, address how your approach will be different. This does not have to be a comprehensive list. It simply should address that there are challenges you may face.

Evidence-Based Solutions

Everything leads up to this piece: how do you plan to solve it. What evidence do you have to back up your claims? Use data to back up your needs statements where possible. You don’t have to have all the answers, but funders want to see that you have a clear plan about what you want to do.

Organizational Capacity

Why are you the organization to solve these problems?

Here’s where you tie your statement together about how you’re uniquely positioned to meet the need with the help of the funder. You can talk about what you’ll set up with their help, including any increased capacity within your nonprofit.

End with a short conclusion and an action statement about how you will be able to make a difference, but only with their help. You want them to feel like they are an engaged part of the solution and not just a check. Inspire them to be a part of the change with you.

How to Get Started Writing a Good Needs Statement

In order to get started writing a good needs statement and grant proposal , consider answering the following questions:

1. What Is the Urgent Need That Your Project Will Address?

You need to showcase that your project will address an urgent need.

Here are some questions to consider:

• Who is impacted by the problem, and how?
• What are the facts and sources that substantiate the urgent need for your project?
• Can you put a human face to the problem by telling a story, using an example, or sharing a quote?

Your needs statement really needs to speak to the why behind the project, so getting clear on that from the start will be beneficial. You want to inspire funders to be part of the solution, and that starts by explaining the urgent need for the project.

2. What Is Your Solution to the Urgent Need?

Make sure you have an elevator pitch that explains why you are the nonprofit to solve that urgent need—just a short statement of how you plan to solve the issue at hand.

Of course, you’ll have a more detailed plan of how you can solve it with programs and/or services. However, being able to succinctly summarize how you plan to solve the issue will help you pitch your programming in your needs statement and land funding.

3. What Will the World Look Like After Your Project Is Completed?

Allow yourself to imagine how your project could positively impact the world around you and paint that picture for funders. You want them to be inspired to join in your efforts.

For example, if you want to create an afterschool program, you could talk about the impact it will have in the community, how children’s education will be improved, and how it will allow families to work and improve their socioeconomic status.

Think about a big-picture view of the best-case scenario—just make sure you have a clear path to help get there.

5 Needs Statement Templates and Examples

Below are three templates and two examples you can use as a starting point for writing your own statement of need.

The Gap in Services Application

Next step in a larger goal application, time-sensitive need application, charity: water needs statement example.

While not part of an actual proposal, Charity: Water does a great job of explaining the need behind their mission on their website .

“703 million people in the world live without clean water.

That’s nearly 1 in 10 people worldwide. Or, twice the population of the United States. The majority live in isolated rural areas and spend hours every day walking to collect water for their family. Not only does walking for water keep children out of school or take up time that parents could be using to earn money, but the water often carries diseases that can make everyone sick.

But access to clean water means education, income and health - especially for women and kids.”

Why It Works

This statement of need gets right to the point, setting the scene on a global level and backing it up with statistics. It shares why it’s a problem, the impact it has on the community, and what the solution could bring. Best of all, it packs it all in just four sentences!

Kids First Chicago Needs Statement Example

Here’s another great example of communicating need from Kids First Chicago :

“Imagine a Chicago where every child in every community has access to a world-class education—the kind that opens the doors to new opportunities in college, career, and life. These exceptional schools offer an array of unique and innovative programming, and 100% of our students not only graduate, but graduate with the skills to shape our city and the world for the better.

Help us take Chicago’s public education system another “impossible” leap forward. Together, we can create a system where every kid defies gravity—a system that ensures equitable access to quality, funding, and transparent information in all communities—a system that can change the world.”

Why it Works

This statement has an aspirational tone, and brings you along the journey with them to be a part of the solution. It inspires you to take action and imagine a better future.

Recap of Top Tips for Writing a Needs Statement

The Needs Statement Drives your Entire Proposal.

In order for your grant application to be successful, you need the funding reviewer to clearly understand the urgent need that you are attempting to meet—the problem you are trying to solve—and you need to be able to clearly back it up.

Writing the needs statement should be your first step in grant writing, and all parts of your grant application connect back to the needs statement story.

A poorly written statement of need puts the entire grant application in jeopardy, as it often leaves reviewers with too many unanswered questions and a lack of urgency.

A compelling, concise, and effective needs statement establishes a grant application's rationale by clearly identifying the urgent need or unmet problem within your community.

Focus on One Main Underlying Issue.

There are likely many concerns and issues within your community that your organization is trying to address. However, your statement of need must emphasize one single central concern.

Do not get distracted by small, contributing problems. Sort out the urgent central need that you will address. Do not get distracted by symptoms of the central unmet need.

For example, the fact that the unemployed homeless don't have effective resumes and may lack interview skills, although important and may be addressed inside the program, are not central concerns. Find the baseline underlying need that, if not addressed immediately, will cause indeterminable damage to the community.

Use Comparable Data and Statistics to Define the Need.

An effective needs statement clearly defines the problem with valid, accurate, and compelling data. Use both quantitative and qualitative data to tell the story of the underlying need in your community and how your proposed solution will meet that urgent need.

Use both national and local data to show that the problem is focused and evident locally. Do not assume that national trends are relevant to local neighborhoods—demonstrate a clear need and the urgency of the problem by highlighting local trends over the last year.

Tell a Compelling Human-Interest Story.

The needs statement should be balanced with reliable data and authentic emotion. Show the reviewers the true story and how the unmet need is affecting real people. Try to put a face on the need and make the problem real and immediate.

Describe what will happen to the community or those served, if the urgent need is not addressed. Be honest about the challenges your target population is facing by sharing testimonials that are related to the heart of your community.

However, do not get carried away or make emotional appeals—stick to the facts and describe the need in rational terms.

Include Potential Problems and Solutions.

In every grant application, there are potential hurdles or challenges in addressing your urgent need or problem. It is your job as the grant writer to address those obvious concerns for the reviewer.

This may include highlighting barriers that have hindered a resolution of the central need in the past, or challenges that your grant application proposes to meet in new and innovative ways.

It is important to show what has or has not worked in the past, and how your program will incorporate that history of problem-solving.

Don't reinvent the wheel—if something has worked well in the past for your community or for counties in proximity, highlight the continued use of those resources in your proposal. These facts will help the funder to understand the true impact their investment can make in your community.

Wrapping Things Up: How to Write a Needs Statement for Grants

A compelling needs statement presents unmistakable data and profound stories of real people to establish the focus and rationale for your grant application. The needs statement sets the attitude for the rest of your proposal and provides the opportunity to demonstrate that an urgent need exists in your community and that your organization's solution will make a difference.

Two things as we wrap up: if you need help writing general operating grants, you may find our post on that topic helpful here .

And lastly, to increase your grant writing efforts and bring all of your grant writing needs into one place, try Instrumentl for 14-days free !

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Instrumentl is the all-in-one grant management tool for nonprofits and consultants who want to find and win more grants without the stress of juggling grant work through disparate tools and sticky notes.

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How to Write a Compelling Need Statement for Your Grant Proposal

by Fundid on Nov 17, 2021 1:45:00 PM

Before giving you funding for a grant proposal , a benefactor has to be convinced that your project fulfills a pressing need. They need to be assured of its importance both practically and passionately.

That balance can be difficult to master. But it can be done by writing a document that serves as the rational and philosophical center of your proposal: the statement of need.

What Is a Statement of Need in a Grant Proposal?

The need statement serves as a direct definition of the situation, problem, or issue that your project addresses or solves. It spells out the situation to the foundation or agency staff who are ultimately responsible for issuing the grant.

The needs statement is the primary driver of your grant proposal. It explains the problem at hand, its effect on the community, the benefits of solving it, and the ramifications of not solving it.

Oftentimes, the needs statement is the starting point for the grant proposal . Before the grant writer sets out what they want to do, it’s helpful to understand the depth of the problem they want to address. The needs statement establishes the context for the whole proposal.

Why is a need statement for a grant proposal important? Quite simply, it tells potential funders why they should care about the issue. A good needs statement inspires benefactors to be agents of change. It makes them want to take some responsibility for improving the lives of others.

But first, funders have to be convinced that the issue is important to solve — and that the grant will help to solve it. 

What Makes a Compelling Needs Statement for a Grant Proposal?

The needs statement is a combination of data and insight that appeals to both intellect and emotion — in other words, it addresses both the mind and the heart. An effective needs statement navigates that balance to create a riveting narrative.

A successful needs statement has a few necessary components:

What is the current situation that your proposed grant addresses? Explain it in detail. For example, your community may have a problem with teenage crime, and you believe building a youth recreation center will help ease the problem. Describe the known facts and current status of the issue at hand.

Tell the stories of the person or group most affected by the situation. What have they experienced as a result of this problem? How has it affected them and their families on a personal and measurable basis? A few real-life accounts go a long way in spelling out the impact of the problem.

Funders want to see evidence. They need to have real, comparative, and current data that shows how the problem is affecting the community. They also need comparative data that shows how your solution will work, or how similar solutions have worked in other communities. 

This data should be quantitative and quantitative — both hard numbers and reasoned interpretations.

A well-written needs statement organizes all these elements in a clear, concise, and logical way. It can’t be too aspirational or unprovable — it must be comprehensible and realistic, while being interesting and engaging for the general readership. 

What Should a Need Statement for a Grant Proposal Include?

Here’s how to write a statement of need and every element it must cover. Staying organized during this process is important for any business owner. If you are looking for a way to keep everything organized, try ClickUp or Asana as a project tool with you or with your whole team.

Project Name

Your project should have a captivating name or title that creates interest on a wide scale. This doesn’t have to be the first thing you do , but it should be the first thing listed on your needs statement.

When will the project launch? Try to be precise -- to the exact date, if possible.

Problem Description

Explain the underlying problem you’re concerned about — what is the situation you want to fix? It could be anything from a sidewalk in disrepair to a rise in violent crime or a local housing shortage.

Who’s Affected by the Problem or Need?

Funders will want to know the people who are suffering the most from this issue — who are they? How are they connected to the problem, and what effect has it had on their lives? Describe the people who hold the highest stakes in solving the issue.

Problem Implications

Tell about what will happen if the problem is not resolved. What or who will suffer the most and exactly how will it impact the community? This point will likely need real-world, comparative data to back up your assertion.

Potential Roadblocks or Challenges

It’s important to be upfront with prospective funders about what could go wrong with your project — everything from schedule conflicts and equipment shortages to public resistance and difficult approval processes. The grantor may even have ideas on how to overcome these challenges.

Sense of Urgency

Why does this solution need to happen now ? Why can’t it wait another minute? A good needs statement will convey why the project should be a top priority but won’t be melodramatic or exaggerated.

Potential Outcome

What will be the result if your proposal is accepted, and work is completed? What tangible benefits will occur, and how will lives improve? This may be the most important factor in lining up financing — it’s the result your benefactor wants to see come from their gift.

Real-World Examples

The problem you’re trying to solve may seem unique to your locality — but chances are other communities have faced very similar problems and found ways to solve them. Find anecdotal examples that show how your solution has worked in real life.

Statistics and Data

Where possible, every element in this section should be backed up by hard data. It should be extensively documented, clearly explained, and easily verifiable. 

Foundations and charitable organizations have missions uppermost in their minds — but they’re also businesses. All businesses thrive and survive on data and research. With this in mind, you’ll want to have as much data as they can digest to support your case. 

Tips for Writing a Need Statement for a Grant Proposal

Here are a few guidelines for writing an effective statement of need.

Write for a General Audience

You should keep the reviewer in mind as your target audience. But aim to make your statement understandable to anyone who may be interested in the issue. To that end, avoid using jargon or “insider” language in your statement — spell out unfamiliar terms or acronyms.

Assume the Reviewer Isn’t Familiar With Your Situation

No matter how much experience the reviewer may have with issues like yours, assume they don’t. Explain your story in detail, outlining the causes and conditions that have led to the problem you want to solve.

Appeal to the Heart — But Rely on the Facts

A needs statement needs to reflect a tricky balance between emotions and intellect. While you should make a case that resounds on a personal level, let rationality drive your efforts. Avoid over-editorializing or sentimentalizing the issue — just explain how your solution will work. 

The statement of need is the inspirational core of your entire grant proposal and the project it serves. Search for examples of need statements that have worked for other organizations and use them to create your own compelling mission statement and plan. Are you interested in getting some help with this? We have a tool Upwork that we use as a company and gives you the opportunity to hire a grant writing expert to help you with this.

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Grant Writing Academy

Writing a Strong Need Statement for Your Grant Proposal

Master the art of crafting a compelling need statement for your grant proposal.

The heart of every grant proposal lies in its need statement. It’s the section that makes the reader understand why your project or program is essential.

A compelling need statement can mean the difference between a grant’s acceptance or rejection.

So, how can one ensure that the need statement stands out and hits all the right notes?

Read on to master the art of writing a strong need statement.

A need statement is a clear, concise, and well-structured section in a grant proposal that describes the problem or issue your project seeks to address.

It provides context for the reader, painting a picture of the current situation and detailing why there's a pressing need for your proposed solution.

It's not just about stating the problem but also showing the gravity of the issue and the difference your project can make.

1. The Components of a Robust Need Statement:

Clarity and Specificity: The issue should be well-defined and presented clearly. Avoid generalities or vague statements.

Evidence-Based: Support your claims with credible data and research. This can include statistics, studies, or expert testimonials.

Relatability: Even with the use of hard data, there should be an emotional or human element. Stories or anecdotes can make your statement resonate more.

Alignment with Grantor's Objectives: Ensure that the need you describe aligns well with the grantor's goals and objectives.

2. Crafting Your Need Statement: Step-by-Step Guide

Begin with Research: Start by gathering all the relevant data that can highlight the severity of the problem. Look for recent studies, statistics, or testimonials that can support your claims.

Describe the Problem: Clearly outline the issue you're addressing. This could be anything from a lack of access to clean water in a community to the need for improved mental health resources in schools. Be specific in your description.

Show the Impact: Detail the broader implications of the issue. How does it affect individuals, families, the community, or even society at large? Use both quantitative and qualitative data to showcase the problem's ripple effects.

Personalize the Issue: Include personal stories or anecdotes that can make the problem more relatable. This humanizes the data and gives it a face.

Position Your Solution: Briefly hint at how your proposed project or program can address this need. This is just a teaser for what's to come in the proposal.

Reiterate Alignment with the Grantor: Ensure that the problem and your solution align with the goals and values of the grantor. They should see a clear connection between your proposal and their mission.

3. Common Mistakes to Avoid:

Overloading with Data: While it's crucial to back up your claims with data, overloading your statement with too many numbers can be overwhelming. Strike a balance.

Being Too Vague: Avoid general statements. If you're discussing a health issue, for instance, don't just say "health is a concern." Specify what aspect of health and why.

Overly Emotional Appeals: While personal stories can be impactful, they should be used judiciously. Relying too heavily on emotion without the data to back up your claims can appear manipulative.

Not Tailoring to the Grantor: Different grantors have different priorities. Tailor your need statement according to the specific grantor you're addressing.

4. The Role of Language and Tone:

Using persuasive language is vital. Your words should inspire urgency and a desire to act. The tone should be serious and professional, yet compassionate. Remember, you're not just stating facts; you're making a case for why the grantor should invest in your solution.

5. Conclusion:

A well-written need statement is more than just a description of a problem. It's a compelling narrative that underscores the significance of the issue and highlights the potential of your proposed solution. By combining clear, evidence-based data with relatable anecdotes and aligning with the grantor's objectives, you'll significantly enhance your proposal's chances of success.

Further Reading:

For those keen on diving deeper into the art and science of grant writing, the book " Advanced Grant Writing" is a must-have resource. Not only does it provide more in-depth strategies for crafting powerful need statements, but it also covers every facet of the grant writing process.

From identifying potential grantors to crafting compelling narratives and ensuring all proposal components are cohesive, this book will guide you every step of the way. Don't miss out on unlocking the secrets of successful grant proposals.

Purchase " Advanced Grant Writing" today.

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How to Begin Developing a Statement of Need

by Funding For Good | May 3, 2023 | Development/Fundraising , Grant Writing

Nearly all grant applications require a statement of need. This is for good reason!

A statement of need communicates key information to donors about your organization and its work. After reading your statement of need, donors should come away feeling certain that their contributions will be supporting critical yet unmet public or community needs. Reading between the lines, donors should also be confident that your organization fully understands these needs and is prepared to meet them.

It’s a lot to accomplish in a few paragraphs within a larger grant proposal!

So let’s walk through the basics of writing a statement of need that will leave donors feeling confident that your organization is the perfect group to receive their precious dollars.

What is a Statement of Need?

 A statement of need for a grant describes the specific public or community needs an organization or project will address. An effective needs statement conveys urgency, demonstrates how critical needs are currently unmet or underserved, and reveals the real-world impact of unmet needs. It also points to how these needs can realistically be met with targeted investment. Finally, the quality and nuance of a statement of need demonstrate that the applicant organization is best positioned to do the work proposed.

In many cases, a statement of need may not be that long, especially for foundation grants. You may only have 2-4 paragraphs to convey all the above.

Your statement of need also sets up the rest of your grant proposal, which is why it’s so important to get right.

The Building Blocks of a Strong Statement of Need

 The good news is that, if you’ve undertaken a comprehensive program planning process or organizational strategic planning process , you already have the main elements for your statement of need. 

There are five core building blocks in a statement of need:

• What  is the need or problem?
• Who  has the need or problem?
• Why  is this a need or problem?
• What  will happen if the need or problem is not addressed?
• How  do you know this information?

 If other organizations are addressing the same problem, your needs statement should also identify gaps in what they’re doing. Explain how your  program or project  will fill those gaps. However, be cautious not to be critical. As you investigate the need for specific programs within your community, it is imperative to avoid duplication of services. Where services may overlap, consider  strategic collaborations .

How to Write a Statement of Need for a Grant

 The first step in writing a statement of need is to gather all the information above. You’ll need answers to the five building-block questions, along with information about other organizations addressing the same need (if there are any).

The importance of data

At Funding for Good, we like to start with a rough draft that gathers all our information in one place. Don’t think about wordsmithing or editing yet. Instead, focus on content. A statement of need should be grounded in data. Do you have data to back up the need for the work you’re proposing?

Data can come in many forms. For example:

• Census or other government data
• Community meetings
• Stakeholder interviews
• Original analyses of existing datasets
• Reports your organization or others have published
• Case studies
• Policy details and analysis
• Requests for services your organization receives

In writing a first draft of your needs statement, you may realize you don’t have enough data to make a compelling case. If so, then you will need to stop and gather more. If you simply cannot find any way to document the need you’re proposing to address, then it’s time to take a step back and reassess your organization’s programming and plans.

Finding solid data can sound like a high bar. But if there is a need, there will be a way to document it. For example, if you’re totally stuck, then go out and talk to the people or communities your program is designed to benefit.

At Funding for Good, our team has written thousands of statements of need. Not once have we been unable to craft a strong statement of need. Why? Because we dug deeper and kept asking questions.

But until you have the right information, your needs statement won’t make a clear and compelling case for your grant proposal.

Writing your statement of need

Once you’ve documented the need your organization is proposing to address, then it’s time to paint a picture for your donor. You want donors to read your proposal and walk away thinking:

“Wow, this is such important and valuable work that addresses such a clear need. We must fund it!”

To achieve this, you’ll need to use your data to tell a compelling story. When crafting your statement, be sure to:

• Start by describing the broad need and then narrow down with data to reveal the causes and consequences of that need—and how it can be addressed.  
• Demonstrate that you fully understand the problem at all levels.
• Use adjectives that paint a picture, such as inadequate, outdated, tiny, underserved, etc.
• Include an example of what the impact of the unaddressed need looks like. A case study or client story can make statistics even more compelling.
• Strike a balance between “need” and “hopelessness.” You want to demonstrate that the need is urgent and pressing, but also that there is hope for change (with the right investments).
• Consider including charts or graphs. This can make dense data much easier to understand.
• Be honest about entrenched and difficult-to-address needs. It doesn’t mean your organization shouldn’t try. But since your need statement sets up your grant proposal, you want to be sure donors walk away with realistic expectations about what can be accomplished during the proposed grant period.

Remember, Your Organization is the Expert

Writing a statement of need can feel daunting, but when approached methodically it doesn’t have to be. Before writing a single word, start by gathering your data. It’s not only the core of your needs statement, but it can help you get past that daunting blank page.

Once you have your data, then it’s all about telling a story that will move donors. Remember, your organization is the expert here. You know your community needs and how to address them. Be sure to let that experience, compassion, and expertise shine through.

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How to write a compelling needs statement for a grant proposal

Richard leggatt.

15 minute read

Imagine you’ve got a new grant proposal to write. And it really matters to you. Now, imagine taking your seat in the cinema or curling up in an armchair with a new novel.

You may feel these things don’t immediately have much in common. But you’re so much more likely to find yourself pulled into any kind of story if the opening scene is a real powerhouse. At the very least, it has to somehow hook your interest from the beginning.

Remember this when you are sitting down to apply for funding for what you see as a vital, deserving project.

It can be tempting to dive straight in with a description of what you want to do. But the reader won’t be interested in any of that if you don’t first describe what’s happening at the moment and why that’s a problem.

So, you need to kick off your proposal with a compelling statement about the current situation and how it will persist and develop – that is, unless you can do something to fix things. This statement can provide the framework for everything that follows and is possibly the single most important element of any funding proposal.

But how can you paint that picture of the status quo as vividly as possible? Read on to find out.

'Problem statement’ or ‘needs statement’?

Before we go any further, we need to iron out a slight terminology wrinkle: are we talking here about writing needs statements (or ‘statement of need’) or problem statements? Well, we’re talking about either or both. They’re essentially one and the same thing.

There is a useful pole star to follow when you’re choosing between the two possible section titles – assuming you have the choice. Just ask yourself the following question: are there obvious and direct human beneficiaries to your proposed project? If the answer is yes, then it’s a needs statement you’ll be writing. If not – for example, if it’s about an environmental issue that needs tackling – then it’s a problem statement.

For the purposes of this piece and for the sake of simplicity, I’ll be sticking to the term ‘needs statement’. But everything we’re talking about here applies either way.

Planning your needs statement

Writing a statement of need is no different to any other business writing challenge in that it’s crucial to plan properly first. Think through and establish as clearly as possible what you want to achieve. Even more importantly, think about what your reader – the funder – will want to see when reading your needs statement.

You need to put yourself in the funder’s shoes, and the easiest way of doing that is to familiarise yourself with their website and all of their strategy documents first. Check under ‘guidelines’, ‘themes’, ‘programmes’, ‘priorities’ or ‘strategy’ on their website to make sure you have a clear understanding of what their particular goals and drivers look like. Of course, you should have already done this when deciding whether to apply. But it’s important to refresh your memory at this point.

An easy way to ensure you’re considering the funder’s aims when you dive into writing your needs statement is to have their programme objectives in front of you as you write. Jot them down on a sticky note (real or virtual) and keep them in your eyeline.

The natural tendency is to include as many points as you can think of about the problem your project will be tackling. But it’s better to approach the task with the aim of marrying two things together: your beneficiaries’ needs and the funder’s needs.

So, let’s imagine the need you want to express is for a housing solution to help address local rates of homelessness. But you happen to know that the funder you have in your sights directs most of their funding towards tackling domestic violence as well as helping to provide housing. In that situation, it would probably make sense to re-centre the focus of your needs statement on homelessness arising from domestic abuse. You can then also cite examples accordingly.

Remember: the ideal shape for a needs statement blends together the needs of your beneficiaries with the needs of your readers.

What to include

There is no single, mandatory list of ingredients for a needs statement, but these pointers will help you ensure you’re including the vital, compelling elements.

Use evidence to do the work for you

Obviously, your main objective is to outline the problem or need. And you have to make sure you can do this in a way that moves your potential funder and makes them want to take action. But the harsh (if obvious) reality is that it isn’t enough just to express your own opinion on the degree of need or extent of the problem. You need to be able to support that opinion with carefully selected evidence.

You can do this in two ways. First, establish the broader picture by including recent trends and future projections. Centre this kind of evidence on striking quantitative data. If you are referencing data from other people’s research – which you almost certainly will be – make sure you cite your sources. Second, back up this big-picture view by zooming in on one or two individual human stories. Use carefully selected quotes and case studies to do this.

The big-picture data will help to give your proposal a strong, scientific dimension, and the individual stories will engage the reader on a more human level. If you can, give equal weight to both kinds of evidence.

Describe what will happen without more funding now

Later in your proposal, you’ll want to talk about the positive developments your project will bring. But in your needs statement it’s more important to highlight how things will get worse without the funder’s support. Doing this can be even more compelling. It also more clearly makes the case that the current position is truly a problem.

You’ll find it easier to be more direct and include a stronger element of urgency in this way as well. For example: ‘Current projections indicate that in the next year a further 5,000 households in this location will slide into fuel poverty without increased support.’ This framing tells the funder that allowing current problems to continue will lead to the need for even more funding. The message you want to send is that next year is no good .

Avoid focusing on your own needs

It’s important to avoid focusing on your organisation’s needs. For example, don’t be tempted to mention your finances at this point. But you should make sure the project you’re proposing is clearly aligned with your organisation’s mission.

A strong statement of need will focus on the wider context in which you will be operating (if you manage to secure the funding you’re asking for). So, do say things like, ‘This is a sector that desperately needs more targeted support in several key areas.’ Don’t say things like, ‘Our organisation needs to achieve several key results in the next two years.’

Highlight secondary impacts

When you are painting a picture of need and the difference your proposed project will make, don’t stop at the immediate, primary differences. Funders always like to hear about longer-term solutions that can bring about a domino effect of positive change.

So, say you want to portray how a certain group of people are in need of a particular educational intervention, like a numeracy support programme. In this case, don’t make do with only describing the immediate educational benefits this would bring. Scale up the positive effect by helping the reader to see what knock-on effects your project will also be likely to have. For example, describe the new skills the beneficiaries would acquire in the job market as a result – which would, in turn, improve their employment prospects.

You can then use this chain of benefits to shape how you initially describe the need you’ll be addressing. Make it a clear case of cause and effect: ‘Young adults are missing out on employment opportunities and are finding it hard to manage their financial affairs as a direct result of poor numeracy skills. Helping this group to improve those skills will therefore act as a key to unlock their ability to find jobs and cope with the rising cost of living.’

Use the right amount of jargon

You’ll also need to find the sweet spot between technical, ‘sector-speak’ jargon and plain English. Some people feel you should avoid jargon at all costs, but you do want to sound as well-informed and familiar with the technical landscape as possible. Jargon (or technical language) is also useful in its place – you are speaking the reader’s specialist language.

As with everything else, it’s about finding the right balance. Use technical terms where they are appropriate and helpful: this will help to reinforce your credibility in the field. But between the occasional technical terms, try to lean more towards plain English that everyone can effortlessly understand. Here are a few golden rules to keep in mind:

• Try to keep your average sentence length to around 17 words – some longer, some shorter.
• A short, punchy sentence is a good way to emphasise a point.
• Make sure that each sentence only conveys one main idea.
• Try to favour short words over long ones.
• As much as possible, aim to use active verbs, as they are always more engaging for the reader.

On the last point, you may find it especially challenging to use the active voice when you’re covering technical content. But doing so will make the technical content easier to absorb. Try and at least make the active voice your default setting.

What’s the best structure?

So, we’ve seen you’ll need a blend of:

• beneficiary needs and funder needs
• high-level evidence and local stories
• ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ improvements
• technical language and plain English.

But what is the best structure?

Well, there is no prescribed formula that you have to stick to. But a good order of elements is as follows:

Start with a reflection of the current position. Make it clear why this can’t continue (in other words, why it’s a problem). Always try to make sure your kick-off sentence is a strong one and will stick in the reader’s mind.

Next , make sure you can support this opening statement of the current situation with some evidence. It often works best to flag the big picture with quantitative trends and projections and follow that with local case studies to illustrate the degree of the problem in more human terms.

Then you can move towards describing what will happen in the future if nothing changes (and no more funding becomes available). This adds a sense of urgency to your proposal. From there it should be a natural step to describe briefly what changes need to happen to avoid the worst future scenario.

This should then lead easily into the next section of your proposal, where you’ll give an account of what you propose to do about it and why you are well placed to deliver those things.

Example of a needs statement

Now we’ve covered the elements that an effective needs (or problem) statement should include, let’s look at an example that illustrates this.

There will be no hope of avoiding the worst impacts of climate change without healthy, growing tropical rainforests. A growing proportion of global deforestation is taking place as a result of land clearances to produce so-called ‘soft’ commodities such as cattle, soy, palm, coffee and cocoa. Much of this deforestation is carried out illegally and recklessly by large public companies with the backing of global banks and other investors.

These soft commodities are important staples of modern life. They have always been important to local populations in tropical regions, feeding communities and providing smallholder farmers with livelihoods to sustain their families. Tropical commodities are a major and growing economic sector with industrial scales of production and global supply chains. Palm oil, for example, is present in almost 50% of products found in British supermarkets. But vulnerable smallholders continue to comprise the vast bulk of production for most of these commodities.

The scale of this problem is huge. Tropical deforestation amounted to 12 million hectares in 2019. Roughly a third of this damage – affecting an area approximately the size of Greece – took place in areas of mature rainforest that are especially important for biodiversity and carbon storage. Over two-thirds of this loss was driven by agriculture, of which commercial agriculture and, in particular, commodity production accounted for approximately 40%. This forest loss was responsible for nearly a tenth of worldwide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the year.

More than a billion people depend on forests for their food, water, culture and livelihoods. Indigenous communities are particularly dependent, as are women and children, who suffer the most from deforestation.

Leni is a 43-year-old mother of two, living in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province – an area her community has inhabited for centuries. A little over ten years ago, lush forests with evergreen fruit-bearing trees surrounded Leni’s home. But now, she and her family have little land to farm and no forest in which to forage after the land was cleared to make way for an oil palm plantation. Leni puts it like this: ‘Before, our lives were simple – not rich, but enough. Since oil palm came, there is more suffering. I can’t feed my family. I have a baby. I must put food on the table every day. How do I do that when my husband and I are not working?’

Without a change of direction, the problem is set to get worse. At current rates of acceleration, consumption practices will come at a huge environmental cost. We will see increased deforestation and loss of biodiversity as well as local pollution and GHG emissions as the agricultural frontier expands.

More than half of Earth’s rainforests have already been lost due to the human demand for wood and arable land. Rainforests that once grew over 14% of the land on Earth now cover only about 6%. And if current deforestation rates continue, these critical habitats could disappear from the planet completely within the next hundred years.

In the last 40 years, the Amazon has had approximately 17% of its total area deforested, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). Scientists have warned that further deforestation could push the Amazon rainforest beyond a tipping point where the moisture and carbon balance of much of the Amazon biome would become broken. According to some studies, this tipping point would be reached when 20–25% of the forested area is lost to deforestation.

Every year we see more evidence that meeting global climate goals will require radical changes in tropical commodity supply chains. But multiple sources of research show the threats to production in these supply chains are still not reflected in investors’ analysis of financial performance.

As long as investor awareness of these risks remains low, short-term investment decisions will persist. Deforestation will continue, moving us closer to a climate crisis tipping point. Ultimately, investors need to believe they will make more money in the long term by investing in sustainable agriculture and land use now. We therefore need to expose investors to the growing evidence base to help redirect their investment strategies.

Our organisation is in a unique position to achieve this and we propose tackling this problem with the three strands of work outlined below.

How long should a needs statement be?

People often ask, ‘What’s the ideal or expected length for a needs statement?’ There really is no single answer to this question, or at least no ideal number of words or paragraphs.

A useful rule of thumb is to aim for around 20% of the total document if you are producing a proposal from scratch (rather than completing an application form). So, if you’re writing a five-page proposal, then the first page would be a reasonable length for your statement of need.

But, if you’re filling out a prescriptive application form, there’s a whole spectrum of word limits that the funder could impose. Sometimes you may have to articulate the need in just a few sentences, if space is tight.

The funder could even ask for a single sentence expression of need. But don’t panic – this is also perfectly possible! In that case, still kick off with the current position, then find a concise way of expressing why the situation will become a worse problem in the future without more funding. For example:

Research shows growing deforestation from production of ‘soft’ commodities like soy and palm is pushing climate change to climate crisis, while investors seem blind to the long-term environmental catastrophe this short-term focus is fuelling.

Try to resist the urge to write a monster sentence in order to accommodate a lot of detail: you’ll lose the impact of the sentence the longer it gets. Do your best to keep to the usual 35-word limit and use the punchiest points you can.

You may not have room to cite lots of compelling quantitative data or showcase local quotes and case studies. However, it’s still worth including a phrase like ‘recent evidence shows …’. You may have room to expand on this later in the proposal or in a longer, second-stage application. It might at least prompt the funder to come back to you to ask what specific evidence you are referring to – so make sure you do have some in mind!

Prioritise your needs statement

At this point you should be clear on the essential components of a strong problem statement or statement of need. It really is worth taking extra care over how you start your proposal (or answer the ‘need’ question in an application form). Clearly understanding the need from the start will make the funder want to read on and learn more about the project you’re proposing as a solution. But, if you lose them at the start, they may never get that far.

The statement of need is the most powerful weapon you have in your armoury when writing a proposal. It’s worth making sure it’s razor sharp.

Good luck and may you nail that next proposal.  

  Want to equip your team of fundraisers with the skills to write grant proposals that win over funders? Take a look at our Grant proposal writing course or get in touch to talk about your needs.  

Image credit: Ody_Stocker / Shutterstock

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Richard is a proposal writer and fundraising expert with over 20 years’ experience in the charity sector. He's also one of our specialist business-writing trainers. His fundraising career has seen him engage with individual donors, government funding agencies and international foundations. This experience honed his ability to communicate specific messages to a wide range of audiences – a skill which has helped him lead teams to win multiple seven-figure bids. He shares his experience and insights in the training room and here on the Emphasis Knowledge Hub.

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• Writing Tips

5 Tips for Writing a Needs Statement for a Grant Proposal

• 5-minute read
• 1st November 2021

When you apply for a grant to fund a community project, you have to include a needs statement. The needs statement is arguably the most important part of the grant writing process because it defines the problem that you are seeking to address.

Donors will award funding when they are convinced that a project will address a real and urgent gap in current provision. So how can you make your needs statement as compelling as possible? Follow our tips below to maximize your chances of getting that grant.

• Focus on one core concern .
• Show how your project ties in with the funder’s objectives .
• Support your claims with quantitative and qualitative data .
• Demonstrate the urgency of the need .
• Proofread your needs statement before sending it.

Read on to explore these tips in more detail:

1. Focus on the Main Problem

You should clearly identify the main issue that you hope to address. Community projects usually bring multiple benefits, but it is important that your needs statement highlights the core concern.

For example, if you were applying for funding to offer English lessons to refugees, your needs statement should focus on the barriers to integration that are caused by the inability to speak English. There will certainly be other issues that the provision of English lessons will affect, e.g., loneliness and lack of knowledge about benefits and services, but these only need to be briefly mentioned.

Be sure to avoid the common mistake of defining the problem as the absence of your project (a form of circular reasoning ). In the above example, this would mean stating that the issue you will address is the shortage of English classes for refugees. This does not make a very convincing case because you have not explained why limited access to English lessons is a problem.

2. Link Your Project with the Funder’s Objectives

Your needs statement should clearly show how your project aligns with the aims of the funder. When a representative of the institution you are applying to reads your needs statement, they should be convinced that by financing your cause, they will be furthering their own interests.

So, if you were approaching an institution that prioritizes improving employment rates, you would focus on how providing English lessons to refugees will help them find employment. 

If you struggle to make a connection between your community project and the objectives of the potential donor, then you should probably seek funding from a different source.

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3. Use Both Hard Statistics and Human Stories

You need to provide as much evidence as possible to support your application for funding. For example, you could cite other projects that are similar to yours that have made a difference in their communities.

It can also be helpful to use comparative data . For instance, research may demonstrate that refugees with more access to English lessons have a greater chance of gaining employment. Make sure that any figures you quote are as up to date as possible, come from reputable sources, and relate to communities similar to yours.

It is important to build a logical argument by quoting relevant statistics, trends, and expert opinions. But you should also engage your readers’ emotions with real-life testimonies. Vivid descriptions of the difficulties faced by individuals can reach people in a way that statistics alone can’t.

When you include personal stories, remember to respect the dignity of the people involved. We suggest not giving the real names of contributors unless they have given you permission to do so. In addition, be sensitive to the community when you describe its challenges. While you want to convey the reality of the difficulties a community faces, you should avoid defining a group of people by those problems.

4. Emphasize the Urgency of the Need

Your application will have the best chance of success if you can persuade the donor that the need must be addressed as a matter of urgency. So as you write, be sure to answer the question “What will happen if this project doesn’t go ahead straight away?”

Institutions may have to demonstrate to their trustees, shareholders, etc., that funds have been distributed in the most effective way. If you don’t convince them that prompt action is critical, they are likely to direct their funds elsewhere.

5. Make Sure Your Needs Statement is Error Free          

No matter how keen you are to get your project off the ground, it is always worth proofreading your writing before you send off your grant proposal.

Typos and grammatical errors will make your organization look unprofessional. Moreover, as well as spotting mistakes, a good proofreader will highlight any unclear sentences and help you to communicate as effectively as possible. Our team of expert proofreaders is available around the clock, and we can return your document within 24 hours. If you haven’t tried us out yet, you can even submit 500 words for free.

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Four things every needs statement should have (and one thing it shouldn’t)

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I’m your coffee-loving grant writing guru and founder of Upstream Consulting.

Melissa here.

The needs statement is arguably one of the most important parts of a grant proposal. This section will either inspire your reviewer to fund you or pass you over for another program that addresses a greater need.

Of course, a proposal’s success isn’t based entirely on the needs statement. But if you can’t convey why your program or service is needed, you’re probably not going to be funded.

Here are four things every needs statement should have:

Your needs statement (and every other section of your proposal!) should be relevant to the funder and to your own organization. Here are three specific areas you should focus on:

The funder’s mission and priorities. The need you highlight in your proposal should be clearly relevant to the funder’s mission and priority areas. If a funder’s mission is to prevent child abuse, your needs statement should focus on the prevalence of child abuse and its contributing factors in your community.

It’s also important to consider a funder’s priorities, which are typically narrower in focus than their mission statement. Perhaps a funder’s priority area is preventing child abuse by raising awareness of the issue among school teachers. In this case, your needs statement should also include information highlighting the lack of training opportunities on child abuse for local teachers.

The funder’s geographic scope and focus. The community you discuss in your needs statement should be within the funder’s geographic scope and, ideally, focus area. If it’s not, you’ve probably chosen a grant that isn’t the right fit for your organization. If you’re not sure how to pick the best grants for your organization, check out 8 questions to ask yourself before you apply for a grant .

Your own organization’s mission. Your needs statement should be directly related to your organization’s mission. For example, if your mission is to improve dental health outcomes, then your needs statements should always be focused on dental health. This may sound obvious, but when money gets tight, some organizations begin to mission creep in an attempt to find more money. Trust me, the person reviewing your application will see right through this!

Your needs statement must also have data that proves your community has a need. Competition for grant funding is fierce, so showing your community has the GREATEST need (with quality data!) is one of the best ways to stand out.

Most of the data in your needs statement will be secondary data (collected from an external agency, like the U.S. Census Bureau ), but you’ll also want to include some primary data (collected from your agency). Examples of primary data include the number of clients served, participants’ demographics, survey results, or community needs assessments.

Whether it’s primary or secondary, your data should meet the following criteria:

Recent. The data you use should be the most recent data available. Your funder is going to want to know what the problems are in your community right now , not five or ten years ago. If the most recent data available is a little dated (three or more years), you may want to make a note in your narrative so your reviewer knows you’ve used recent data. You can add a brief note in parentheses, or clarify in a sentence (e.g., “Based on the most recent data available,…”).

Comparative. Data that only focuses on your own community at a single point in time lacks context and leaves potential funders unclear on the severity of your community’s need. Use data to compare your community’s needs to other communities, or to your own community’s historical data (or both). Here’s an example of a statement that uses comparative data:

Students in the Onslow School District have the lowest math proficiency scores in Florida. In 2017, only 43% of Onslow students were considered math proficient, compared to the state’s average of 82%. While math proficiency across the state has been on the rise since 2010, proficiency in the Onslow School District declined by 25% during the same time (FL Department of Education, 2018).

A note of caution: Always make sure you’re comparing the same data (i.e., apples to apples). The best way to ensure you’re comparing similar data is to pull data for all communities and time periods from the same source and dataset.

Reputable. Any data you use in your needs statement should come from a reputable source. These sources are typically national or international nonprofits or government agencies, such as the Annie E. Casey Foundation or the Department of Education .

Cited. Always be sure to cite any data you use in your grant proposals. This shows your proposal reviewer that you’ve done quality research and that the data you’ve presented are credible.

EMOTION (but just a bit)

Your needs statement doesn’t have to be full of data alone. You can also use emotion by including personal stories or quotes from participants your organization has helped. Just be sure to use your emotion sparingly. Emotion should be a nice complement to your needs statement data, not the entirety of your application.

Think about the most compelling appeals you’ve read or seen (think Sarah McLachlan’s SPCA commercial or UNICEF’s Save a Child campaign ). Every successful needs statement, whether it’s in video or written form, contains urgency. Urgency is what solidifies the importance of the issue in a funder’s mind and compels someone to give.

In a grant proposal, one of the most common ways to convey urgency is to state what will happen if the need isn’t addressed now. For example, if you’re proposing to implement an afterschool program in an underserved neighborhood to prevent gang violence, it’s reasonable to state that, without your program, youth will continue to spend their afterschool hours unattended, which will increase their risk of gang involvement (with data to back you up, of course!).

Okay, now you know what should be in a needs statement. Here’s the one major thing that shouldn’t be in a needs statement:

CIRCULAR REASONING

Circular reasoning is a type of non-sensical, logical fallacy. In a grant proposal, circular reasoning is when an organization focuses their need statement on the community’s lack of the proposed program, service, building, etc.

For example, if an organization wanted to build a free dental clinic and their need statement focused only on the fact that the community didn’t have a free dental clinic, that would be circular reasoning. Of course, they would want to mention the lack of free dental care. But most of their needs statement should focus on the percentage of uninsured in the community, poverty rates, prevalence of cavities, or visits to the emergency room for dental issues.

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What do you think should be in (or not in) a needs statement? Comment below and let us know!

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How to Write a Needs Statement for Your Grant Proposal

What need will you address and how?

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Joanne Fritz is an expert on nonprofit organizations and philanthropy. She has over 30 years of experience in nonprofits.

When you begin writing your grant proposal, your first goal should be to answer that all-important question: What is the need that my organization will address with this project? It can be helpful to start with your needs statement when you address that.

Winning Grants Step by Step  by Tori O'Neal-McElrath provides a wonderful outline for preparing an effective needs statement. The author says that   the statement should convince the funder that your project meets a critical societal need.

What Does a Needs Statement Include?

An excellent needs statement grabs your funder's interest using both facts— quantitative data —and stories—qualitative data. The need you address must clearly relate to your nonprofit's mission and purpose. It should focus on the people you serve, not your organization's needs, and it should be well supported by evidence such as statistics, expert views, and trends.

It must directly connect to and support your organization's ability to respond to that need, and it must be easy to understand. Use the KISS principle: keep it sweet and simple.

Your needs statement should avoid circular reasoning, a common error in grant proposals. The Foundation Center defines circular reasoning as claiming that the absence of your solution is the actual problem. Then your solution is offered as a way to solve the problem. For example, "The problem is that we have no senior center in our community and building a senior center will address the problem."

How to Write the Needs Statement

Winning Grants provides these suggestions for writing your needs statement.

Use statistics that support your argument as well as comparative statistics and research. Citing a community that did something similar to your proposal and its beneficial results makes a strong case for your proposed actions. Document all your data. If you collect information from the Internet, be sure the websites you reference are reputable and that the links are current.

Quote authorities on your topic. Include names of the sources so the information can be verified. Use stories but anchor the stories in hard facts. And make it urgent. Help the funder understand why funding is critical now .

Resource Associates, a grants consultancy, adds these caveats for grant writers working on needs statements.

Make double sure that the needs you address are aligned to the funder's goals. Sort out the main problem you will address and don't get sidelined by small, contributing problems. 

Make sure your data is the most recent. Use up-to-date census numbers to provide a snapshot of your community and paint a picture that speaks to the heart of your story and the people you're trying to help. Use the data to support that human story.

GrantWriterTeam Blog

How to Write an Effective Needs Statements for Grant Proposals

All nonprofits are created to serve the needs of a target audience.

Funding organizations want to know what these needs are in grant applications. The money a funding source will allocate for projects and services will be determined by how effectively nonprofits can convey these needs in the grant proposal process and how they will use the requested funds to meet the need. 

All grant applications must always include a needs statement. The purpose of a needs statement in a grant proposal is to present both facts and stories to support the needs for a project or program. How well the applicant addresses those needs will determine the success of the proposal.

Prior to writing a needs statement, the grant writer should understand what the problem is and its nature, reasons and causes. The needs statement should define why this problem is both important to the applicant and of interest to the funding source. Compelling needs make for compelling projects worthy of funding. 

According to Libby Hikind, CEO and founder of GrantWriterTeam.com, "A grant writer works with the organization to determine the needs of the target audience and research the current data to support the need within the application. The need may be supported through newspaper articles, data sources, surveys, maps, literature, published research and or interviews."

An effective needs statement must grab the attention of the funding source and communicate the urgency of the problem in terms of human interest anchored by hard facts. To do so, a needs statement should

• clearly relate to the mission and purpose of the applicant;
• describe the problem and the people who would be served;
• and be supported by evidence including statistics, expert views, and current events.

Libby Hikind explained, "The grant writer should review their draft needs statement with the organization's Board.  While the grant writer may be happy painting the dimmest picture of the target community to increase the chances of being awarded the grant, the Board may not want the application to be as severe.  There is a fine line between stating the urgency and defining a population in the grimmest of terms.  Be careful what you write and how you write it!"

About the Author : Staff Writer for Grant Writing Institute

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PRDV009: Writing Grant Proposals

Developing your statement of need.

Read this overview of grant proposals. Focus particularly on the advice for developing your statement of need.

Has your community identified a health problem and a strategy for addressing it, but reached a roadblock to action because of inadequate funding? A grant can provide much-needed funding and enhance the community's capacity for change.

Whether you have never contemplated writing a grant proposal and feel intimidated about how to begin, or you have written grant proposals in the past but feel a bit rusty and want to enhance your capacity, this is the tool for you! This discussion primarily covers how to apply for grants available through the public sector, but many of the strategies can be applied to foundation grant proposals as well.

What is a Grant?

A grant is a sum of money given to an agency or individual to address a problem or need in the community. The written document that one prepares as a means of requesting or applying for this money (funding) is a grant proposal .

Grants are not synonymous with contracts . Organizations or individuals can use grants to accomplish their stated purposes, objectives, within their own policies and guidelines. Contracts are legally binding, and represent an arrangement in which contracting agencies (federal or state government, for example) buy services from organizations or individuals in order to fulfill obligations or responsibilities.

Grant funding is available via both the public and private sectors. In the public sector, money is raised via taxes and other government revenue and then allocated through legislation to address social issues.

For example, in 1996, the U.S. Congress established an abstinence education program as part of welfare reform legislation. Congress pledged $50 million annually for five years to state administrative agencies, which were then given autonomy to determine programmatic priorities and award community-level funding to entities such as community organizations, local health departments, and faith-based organizations.

In the private sector , businesses (e.g., corporations and foundations) and even individuals choose which social issues to address and offer grant awards based on their special interests or research priorities.

Why is it Worthwhile to Write a Grant Proposal?

There may be many reasons as to why you want or need to write a grant proposal:

• You want to start a new project (for example, you have identified a need in your community, and documented that no support services or related programs exist to address the need).
• You want to expand an existing project and costs cannot be covered in your current budget (for example, you have a program that serves families living at 150% of the Federal Poverty Level, but you want to expand it to serve families living at 200% of the Federal Poverty Level, thereby increasing enrollment numbers and the need for staffing, supplies, etc.).
• You know of a granting agency that makes awards to pay for the program or initiative that you envision for the need or problem that you have identified.
• You know that you meet the eligibility standards for awards available via grants (for example, some grant awards are limited to educational institutions).
• You are able to commit the time, energy, and other resources needed for the grant-writing process.
• You have been invited to apply for a grant award.

But there are still a couple of things you might want to consider before you get started.

Where Can You Find Calls for Proposals, Requests for Proposals, Requests for Applications, Notices of Funding Availability, or Program Announcements?

An important note: While all of the suggestions below for finding potential grant sources are still good ones, there have been some changes since this section was originally written. A great deal more information is now available online, and many public funders actually require electronic, rather than paper, submission of grant proposals.

The first place to look, generally, is online, using Google to search for something like "grant for [the area in which you are looking for funding]". An advantage here, in addition to speed and the fact that you are likely to find several potential funders, is that the websites you find will usually contain a great deal of background information about the funder, names of contact people, clear guidelines for eligibility and proposal writing, and a large amount of other useful information. Searching for grants and submitting proposals online is now probably the best – and preferred – way of finding possible grants.

• The Federal Register is a legal newspaper published daily by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. It is a great resource for listings of RFPs, RFAs, and Program Announcements.
• State Contracts Registers . While sometimes a little more difficult to locate online, state contracts registers include RFAs for contracts available with government agencies. In a search engine, try entering: "[state name] contracts register". If that search does not yield results, you may need to access funding opportunities more indirectly by going to state government agency home pages.
• The Foundation Center provides an online directory of grantmakers, philanthropic news, and other information relevant to finding resources for community programs. The online directory of grants available requires a $9.99 one-month subscription fee for access to thousands of grant opportunities for researchers, students, artists, and other individuals.
• Websites for individual government agencies and foundations.
• Special regional centers with walk-in libraries such as Associated Grantmakers, with offices in major U.S. cities.
• Notices in a specialized newsletter within your field.

And, if the aforementioned resources still don't yield what you are looking for, you can always ask around. Talk with colleagues locally and nationally and with other people you know who have grant writing experience.

What is a Typical Proposal Timeline?

A grant proposal is often a labor-intensive undertaking that requires a commitment of resources devoted to producing a document as long as 15–50 pages or more in a relatively short period of time. When a Request for Proposals is released by an agency, the deadline for proposal submission is often as little as one month away. So be prepared to work hard on the development of a grant proposal, keeping in mind that the hard work is finite – only a few weeks – for potentially multiple years of funding to address your identified problem or need.

Who Can Write a Grant Proposal?

You can! Do not be intimidated by Request for Proposal (RFP) rules and instructions. Simply read the RFP carefully. You might want to make a plan to stay organized. Highlight key or essential elements (such as the deadline for submission, mailing address, number of copies to be submitted, etc.) as you read through the RFP. You might also find a one-page checklist of all required items within an RFP. If you are intimidated by the writing element, solicit the help of a colleague or someone collaborating in your effort to secure funding. You can also contact the agency soliciting grant proposals and request some samples of previously funded proposals.

You do not need an English degree to put together an effective proposal. While grammar, spelling, and cohesion are certainly important elements of a well-written proposal, substantive elements (such as identifying the need for funding for your topic or population of interest) are ones in which you can be creative in how you present the information. In fact, innovative or creative approaches can enhance a grant proposal's likelihood of success!

At the same time, because readers often have to wade through a large number of proposals, a well-written one often can receive more attention and even a higher rating. If there are no good writers within your organization, find someone who is willing to edit your proposal and turn it into elegant prose. Readers will thank you, and you may well be rewarded for your extra effort.

What are the Standard Components of a Grant Proposal?

While some Requests for Proposals may include unique requirements that you must read carefully and follow, many grant proposals follow a similar structure. The most common eight elements are listed below.

The discussion that follows will give you guidelines, one element at a time.

• Cover letter, title page, and abstract

Statement of the Problem or Needs Statement

• Project Description (goals and objectives and methods or activities)
• Evaluation Plan
• Budget Request and Budget Justification
• Applicant Qualifications

Future Funding Plans or Plans for Sustainability

Cover letter, title page, and abstract.

Instructions for the cover letter and title page will be included with the RFP. The cover letter should be on agency stationery and signed by the appropriate organizational official.

The cover letter – usually limited to one page – should:

• Describe the agency's interest and capacity to successfully implement the proposed project
• Have an upbeat tone that makes it stand out in a positive way
• Summarize the project
• Designate a contact person for any questions about the project

Once again, a well-written letter is likely to get you extra points in the reader's mind. Make absolutely certain that all your spelling and grammar are correct. There is often an assumption on the part of the reader or the agency – and it is often true – that if you do not take care in writing your cover letter and proposal, you will not take care running your program, either.

Typical Title Page Contents Include:

• Project title
• Name of the agency submitting the grant
• Agency address
• Name of the prospective funder
• Beginning and ending project dates
• The total amount requested

Some RFPs may require a letter of intent that precedes the submission of a grant proposal. These can be challenging to write, as they are basically an abstract of the proposal. Therefore, it is helpful to have a clear purpose, identified need, and some idea as to your strategy for addressing that need ahead of time. You should really have those things in mind anyway as you conduct research for RFPs so you can identify which agency missions and grant opportunities match your interests.

An abstract is related to, but different from, the letter of intent. The abstract includes a summary of the statement of the problem/need, overarching goals of the proposed project (but not the detailed objectives), a summary of the methods that will be used to implement and evaluate the project, and a final paragraph describing your group's or agency's capacity (expertise and resources) for carrying out the proposed project. An RFP may include a limitation on the number of pages that an abstract can be, but a good rule of thumb is no more than two pages.

The needs statement may be one of the most powerful components of your grant proposal. This is where you really grab the reviewer's attention and make your case for the need for funding. So, do your homework before writing this section. Know your community (e.g., demographic and socioeconomic characteristics within the population), the extent of the problem, and whether or not any previous or existing efforts have targeted the same problem.

Your problem or needs statement should accomplish the following:

• Document the problem you want to address (use text, statistics, and graphs/charts)
• Describe the causes of the problem or the circumstances creating the need
• Identify approaches or solutions attempted to date , based on a review of the literature when possible

Use existing data sources when possible to document the problem. For instance, you might consider using census data for your county, or other existing sources for your area that provide indicators of the behaviors or outcomes you are addressing. If you locate existing county-level data, it is also good to research comparable data at the state and local levels, because your argument that the current situation in your area is a problem will be more effective if you present it in relative terms.

For example, instead of stating, "Only 10% of sexually active adolescents in Troubled County report using a condom in the past three months", re-framing the information in relation to state and national data can have a bigger impact: "Only 10% of sexually active adolescents in Troubled County report using a condom in the past three months, while the rate is 15% at the state level and 25% at the national level".

The Internet is an efficient way to research existing state and federal data for you to compare with your local level data, allowing you to:

• Locate census data (data collected every ten years, most recently in 2000, from over 115 million housing units across the U.S., including geographic, demographic, and socioeconomic information) from the U.S. Census Bureau
• Research numerous state and national statistics about women, infants, children, adolescents, and children with special health care needs at the Title V Information System website of the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration.
• Access the full range of Federal Government statistical information available to the public, with links to 70 federal data sources at FedStats .

If you cannot locate existing local data for your needs or problem statement, you may need to conduct qualitative research (telephone interviews, focus groups, or self-administered surveys).

For example, your community may have experienced a lot of growth in population and housing developments in the past five years. With that growth, traffic flow near schools would increase and become more dangerous. In this situation, you might have an intuitive awareness of a need for more cross walks for students or pedestrians, but you do not have a concrete source of data to substantiate this need. Therefore, you can interview school administrators, parents, subdivision residents, and students as a means of documenting the problem.

Finally, as you research the approaches or solutions that have been implemented to date, think about whether your grant proposal will be building upon existing efforts, introducing a unique strategy, or some combination of both. Some reviewers may be searching for that fresh, innovative approach to a problem that has been well documented but not yet addressed effectively.

There is no right or wrong way to present the information within the standard grant proposal sections as long as it is in a logical order that is easy to read. Just remember that your grant proposal is your first opportunity to effectively communicate the need for funding for your special interest or population to a specific foundation or other agency, so make it count. You want to keep the reviewer interested enough to read on and learn more about your important ideas.

If the addition of tables or graphs will make your needs statement more persuasive, definitely include them. Here are some things to consider as you prepare graphic illustrations of your data:

Tips for Presenting Data

• Use comparative statistics whenever possible (e.g., county vs. state vs. federal, or multiple age groups or ethnicities).
• When determining which type of chart or graph to make, do not use a pie chart if you have more than three or four categories of data.
• Use line graphs to show a long-term trend in data.
• Use bar charts to depict differences, especially when you are comparing only two categories of data (e.g., only two race/ethnicity categories, male versus female, county versus state)
• Include a chart title that accurately yet succinctly describes the image, and include the year(s) from which the data came.
• Always clearly label the y (vertical) and x (horizontal) axes of your charts, and identify the units of measure (e.g., rate versus count).
• Provide a legend to explain data categories, data ranges or intervals, color-coding, etc.

Figure 1: Example Pie Chart

Figure 2: Example Bar Chart

Project Description

Once you have captured the attention of the reviewers by clearly and effectively documenting the need for funding, you get to present the details of how you plan to implement your program. This section of your proposal should guide the reviewer step by step through all activities needed to accomplish your goal(s) in a way that will continue to engage the reviewer's interest and excitement. Furthermore, you will refer to it time and time again over the course of program implementation. Even if program staff changes over time, the project description should provide a road map for anyone to understand and follow.

The project description includes three main pieces of information:

• Goals and objectives
• Methods or activities for addressing the identified problem or need
• A timeline chart for the completion of each activity

Goals and Objectives

Goals and Objectives are a very important piece of your grant proposal. Goals are broad statements with a long-term, ideal outcome in mind. Most proposals do not have more than three goals.

Example Goal: Eliminate disparity among Medicaid enrollees' and privately insured consumers' use of prenatal care in Fertile County.

For each goal, you might develop numerous, corresponding objectives. Objectives are specific statements that will indicate to the reviewer exactly how you plan to achieve your goals. The best objectives have several characteristics in common.

Well-written objectives are:

• Specific . That is, they tell how much (e.g., 40%) of what is to be achieved (e.g., what behavior of whom or what outcome) by when (e.g., by 2014).
• Measurable. Information concerning the objective can be collected, detected, or obtained from records (at least potentially).
• Achievable . Not only are the objectives themselves possible, it is likely that your organization will be able to pull them off.
• Relevant to the mission . Your organization has a clear understanding of how these objectives fit in with the overall vision and mission of the group.
• Timed . Your organization has developed a timeline (a portion of which is made clear in the objectives) by which they will be achieved.
• Challenging . They stretch the group to set its aims on significant improvements that are important to members of the community.

Do not be discouraged if you find it difficult to write objectives that meet each and every one of the criteria listed above. Like most things in life, writing objectives becomes easier the more you practice!

Building on the example goal of eliminating disparity among Medicaid enrollees' and privately insured consumers' use of prenatal care in Fertile County, below are two examples of how a related objective might be written.

Insufficient Example Objective: "Survey Medicaid enrollees and privately insured clients about why they do or do not access prenatal care services early in pregnancy".

The example above is insufficient because:

• It is not measurable or specific
• It is not timed

Better Sample Objective: "By June 2014, survey 50 postpartum Medicaid enrollees and 50 privately insured clients prior to discharge from the hospital regarding why they did or did not access prenatal care services in the first trimester of pregnancy".

Let's break down the sample above and determine why it is a better objective:

• It is specific  – 50 postpartum Medicaid enrollees and 50 privately insured clients will be surveyed prior to discharge from the hospital.
• It is measurable – information can be collected because it will be collected in person (unless patients do not give their consent to participate).
• It is achievable  – 100 women is probably a realistic number of people to interview.
• It is relevant – relevant to the mission within the sample goal of eliminating disparities in use of prenatal care
• It is timed  – all surveys will be completed by June 2014.

Once you feel comfortable drafting objectives, you should determine whether or not they are "process" versus "outcome" objectives.

A process objective measures the accomplishment of tasks completed as part of the implementation of a program.

Example Process Objective: "By June 2014, distribute 500 copies of the patient education pamphlet, 'Heart Disease Prevention' to men between the ages of 30 and 50 in Coronary County".

An outcome objective measures long term results or impact of a program. Using the same scenario in the process objective example above, an outcome objective might be:

Example Outcome Objective: "By June 2014, decrease the number of men between the ages of 30 and 50 with high blood pressure in Coronary County by 5% from the 2010 rate of 40%".

You will have a sense of clarity and specificity after drafting your proposal objectives. The next step in the proposal writing process will be to break down each objective into a series of activities needed to achieve it. The methods section describes in detail how you propose to carry out your goals and objectives over the course of a project.

Let's continue using the Coronary County example. You have a process objective for distributing 500 copies of the patient education pamphlet, "Heart Disease Prevention" to men between the ages of 30 and 50 in Coronary County. In the Methods section, you need to show reviewers that you have carefully considered the steps necessary for planning and implementing this objective.

Activities and other details to discuss might include:

• Will you be using an existing pamphlet? If yes, briefly describe it, the credibility of the organization that developed it, and include a copy in your appendices.
• Do you need to develop the pamphlet? If yes, discuss who will be involved. An advisory board? Special committee? Consultants? Include their CVs in the appendices.
• Will the pamphlet be translated for bi-lingual distribution?
• How will you print, copy, and market the pamphlet (if applicable)?
• How will you reach your target population? Via physicians' offices? If yes, include a discussion about how you plan to solicit and involve local physicians in your effort. If no, describe all venues for distribution (Libraries? Grocery stores? Health clubs? Barbershops?).
• How will you document how many pamphlets have been distributed, and which staff will be responsible for that?

When writing the methods section, be sure to:

• Keep the sequential order of tasks in mind.
• Make sure that the activities described are cohesive so reviewers see that you know how all pieces of the puzzle fit into the "big picture".
• Include a flow chart of the sequence of events – if applicable to your situation – in addition to a time line chart, which is usually required.

A commonly used tool is the timeline chart ( GANTT chart ). This chart is used to present a detailed list of all activities and their projected date of completion. Activities are usually listed in sequential order.

Figure 3: Example Time Line Chart

 You may be applying for only a one-year grant, in which case your timeline columns could be representative of quarterly progress versus years, as shown in the column headers in Figure 3 above.

Tips for Filling in a Timeline Chart

• Try to anticipate every activity an objective might entail and estimate at which point in the program's time frame the activity will be completed
• Understand that the timeline is meant to be used for planning purposes and may be revised over time. For example, some activities will be dependent upon the completion of prior activities. One cannot train staff members until the staff is hired; if the hiring process takes four months versus two, the training timeline will also need to be adjusted.
• It is fine to show multiple items with the same completion date
• Remember that all activities in the timeline will shape your budget request

The purpose of the evaluation plan is to show how you will measure the completion or success of process and outcome objectives. Be sure that your plan includes details about how information will be collected and analyzed. Also, describe how and when evaluation findings will be shared with the funder.

How and why is a program evaluation plan useful in a grant proposal?

From your perspective :

• The evaluation plan may help you clarify objectives so they are measurable
• Evaluation helps you continually refine or revise program approaches in future years of funding
• Evaluation data provide information about the relative costs and effort for tasks so activity and budget adjustments can be made in future years of funding
• Evaluation plans are usually required and will be worth a specified number of points in the rating system when the proposal is reviewed

From the funder's perspective :

• The funder will be able to clearly see whether or not objectives have been met
• The funder will be able to determine whether funds were used appropriately
• The funder will be able to assess whether or not the program's benefits (e.g., outcomes) justify the cost of implementation

There are two main types of evaluation: process and outcome . Your project will dictate which type of evaluation you use. Most likely, you will use a combination of both approaches depending on the types of objectives you draft. Process evaluation assesses the implementation of a program, emphasizing activities to be completed (for example, "distribute 500 copies of a flyer"). Outcome evaluation assesses the short or long-term impact of a program.

Example Process Evaluation: "By June 2004, distribute 500 copies of the patient education pamphlet, "Heart Disease Prevention" to men between the ages of 30 and 50 in Coronary County".

This objective might be evaluated as

• Not accomplished
• Partially accomplished (e.g., only 200 copies were distributed)
• Accomplished
• Exceeded (maybe 600 copies were distributed)

Documentation of this objective should be straightforward, but it is surprising how difficult it can be to get health care facilities and staff to adopt a new data collection form or task and assure that those who interact with patients are recording data consistently and correctly. So, as part of your evaluation plan, you would need to design a system that would yield appropriate documentation of the distribution of the pamphlets. Remember, too, that the system needs to be "user friendly" so staff will use and follow it.

Now, let's look at how you might evaluate an Outcome Objective.

Example Outcome Evaluation: "By June 2006, decrease the number of men between the ages of 30 and 50 in Coronary County with high blood pressure by 5% from the 2003 rate of 40%".

The most important thing to remember about outcome measures with this structure is that you should already have baseline data – current statistics that describe the percentage of men between the ages of 30–50 with high blood pressure living in Coronary County. This is important for two reasons:

• The fact that you are including the objective in your proposal means that you should have data to back up the need to address it. The data would be most appropriately described in the Statement of Problem or Need.
• When you evaluate the impact of your program, you will re-measure (or research statistics in an existing surveillance system) the percentage of men between the ages of 30–50 with high blood pressure living in Coronary County, in order to compare pre- and post-program high blood pressure statistics.

Let's assume that you assess the percentage of 30–50-year-old men with high blood pressure before you implement your program, then three years later. You find a 4% decrease after three years. Can you automatically attribute that decrease to your program? If only it were that easy! Other factors such as competing programs may have been solely responsible for the percentage change or may have indirectly enhanced the impact of your program.

For example, let's say a different community-based organization in Coronary County received a grant in the same year that you did. The other program targeted men ages 20–40 with education about the importance of daily cardiovascular exercise. 50% of the men exposed to that intervention adopted a regimen of 20 minutes of cardiovascular exercise three times per week. Those same men are part of your evaluation sample three years after you implement your program.

One purpose of your evaluation would be to determine whether or not the percentage of men ages 30–50 with high blood pressure decreased because you educated men about ways to prevent heart disease, or because half of the men who participated in another program adopted a regular exercise regimen.

Evaluations can be complex, time-intensive aspects of a program. Unless you can afford to budget for an evaluation consultant, design the evaluation plan within the strengths and limitations of program and staff resources.

Once you have drafted the detailed information for your goals and objectives, methods, and evaluation plan, you will have the foundation for your budget request. You will now need to assign corresponding dollar amounts to staff positions and activities.

Common budget line items for the Budget Request include (details for each are provided below):

Staff salaries

Fringe benefits

Indirect costs

In-kind items

• Rent and utilities
• Equipment and supplies

Staff salaries are listed in a budget as FTEs, or "Full-Time Equivalents". A person working a 40-hour week will be listed at 1.00 FTE, and the actual amount for salary requested in the budget will be 100% of the proposed salary for that position. A person working 20 hours a week will be listed at .5 FTE, and the actual amount for salary requested in the budget will be 50% of the proposed salary for that position.

Fringe benefits may include half an employee's social security and Medicare payments (public agencies are exempt) and voluntary benefits such as medical, dental, disability, life insurance, and retirement plans. These are generally calculated as a percentage of staff salaries.

Otherwise known as overhead, indirect costs are defined as an attempt to compensate the organization for the cost of housing a project. Indirect costs may or may not be provided by your funding agency. They are often allocated as a fixed percentage of your direct costs.

An in-kind line item will not add any costs to the project because it is paid for or absorbed by the agency applying for the grant. In-kind services might include paying for rent (perhaps a separate grant within the agency already covers this, so the agency can afford to not request rent as a line item of the budget in the new grant proposal). Or, perhaps clerical/administrative staff are shared across multiple grants in-house, so a proportion of an administrative staff person's time will be listed as "in-kind" in the budget line items.

In the Budget Justification , be sure to clearly describe the need for each line item total requested. In one or two sentences per budget line item, show the reviewer exactly how you arrived at the total for an item.

Example Budget Justification for a travel line item of $2,115: The Project Director will present project findings at a total of three national conferences in year two of the project. Airfare will average $400 per trip; hotels will average $100 per night, and the per diem (allowance for meals) will be $35. For three trips averaging three days and two nights each, the total request for travel is $2,115 [$1,200 airfare, $315 food, and $600 hotel].

Some tips to consider when making your budget:

• Make sure that your budget does not exceed the maximum amount stated in the request for proposal (RFP)
• Make sure that the numbers in the proposal narrative and budget justification text match those in the line-item budget
• If you are required to submit budget projections for multiple years, remember to include a cost of living raise in staff salaries and allow for inflation among supplies, utilities, etc.
• If you are inexperienced with a proposed activity (such as conducting focus groups), talk with someone who has done this to gain insight as to how much to budget for. You may learn about costs that you did not anticipate. It is better to discover those before you submit your grant proposal than after you are working within a set budget that could require that you reduce the total number of activities or exclude some altogether.

For example, say you have proposed to conduct three focus groups with low-income parents of children with special health care needs (ages 0–3) in your county over the next 6 months. Here are some things you might need to consider as you calculate your budget request:

• How will you solicit participation in the focus groups? What printing, outreach, or marketing costs will you incur?
• How many parents will participate in each focus group?
• Will parents need assistance with transportation to the focus group site?
• Will you offer an incentive (e.g., money or on-site child care during the sessions) for focus group participation?
• Will you serve food/beverages during the focus group session?
• Will you moderate focus groups, or pay a professional social researcher?
• Will you need a bilingual moderator? If yes, will this be an additional expense or do you have existing staff resources?
• Who will record/transcribe the focus groups? Will you need to pay for this service?

Of course, this list is not exhaustive, but you can see how one proposed activity has many planning and implementation details tied to it. And each detail potentially increases the amount of money that you need to request in your line-item budget.

Use this section of your proposal to convince the reviewers why you should be funded rather than someone else. You may be requesting funding for a problem or need that is already well documented. While reviewers may need no convincing that the issue is important, timely, etc., they have a limited amount of funds to award. What makes your qualifications and your approach or strategy better than the competitor's?

You should include the following information in this section of the proposal:

• Describe your agency's (or your) mission, history, and existing experience.
• Emphasize agency strengths and current contributions to the field or community in the topic area for which you are requesting funding.
• Highlight links to community collaborators and other resources. Obtain letters of support (or letters of participation) for the proposal appendices from the same collaborators you mention in this section.

Federal or state agencies often want to see a long-term plan for the self-sustainability of a project. The reasons for this vary. Maybe funding at the federal or state level will only be available for a couple of years. Maybe funding for a special interest will only be available until elections bring in new legislators with different fiscal and policy priorities. Some programs require a match of funding from the beginning. For example, for every four dollars awarded, a grantee (you) may be required to contribute matching funds of two dollars. Funders will want to know how grantees' matching funds will be provided and sustained.

Some initiatives will need to be in place for years to come if they are to have a long-term impact on outcomes such as health status indicators.

For example, you cannot expect to get 25% of smokers to quit smoking within a two-year grant cycle, but perhaps after a decade of persistent programming, smoking rates will drop substantially. Therefore, if a foundation or other agency can only afford to fund this particular issue for two years, it may want to know how you plan to continue tobacco use prevention efforts in your community over the long term.

While you cannot guarantee that your proposed program will be self-sustainable, it is important to make your best case for sustainability and describe a plan.

Some things to consider:

• Will you be able to charge a fee for services provided?
• Can you market and sell any materials developed via the proposed funding?
• Will you institute membership dues (when applicable)?
• Can you develop new grants or contracts for funding?

If the answers to these questions are "yes", discuss the strategy and timeline for establishing the revenue-generating component of the project. As a rule of thumb, most projects rely entirely on the funding source in year one, as this is the year that planning and implementation activities are accomplished. But by year two, you may be able to include some revenue-generating activities in your timeline.

Appendices are supplemental materials that do not belong in the body of the proposal, but nevertheless are important pieces of information, such as:

• A marketing or dissemination plan schematic
• A project staffing flow chart
• A timeline chart of proposed activities (you might include this in the body of the proposal instead of or in addition to here)
• An evaluation instrument (e.g., a survey that will be used)
• Any existing educational or printed materials to be used
• Biosketches or curriculum vitae of key project personnel, including Advisory Board members and any consultants already identified
• Letters of support and/or participation

One-page letters of support/participation should be submitted on official letterhead from each agency that you have proposed as a collaborator. Letters should be signed by an Executive Director or Chief Executive Officer of the collaborating or supporting agency. You may want to draft the letters for each collaborator (in fact, they may request that you do this), but make sure that each letter is unique to your working relationship and shared interests. Highlight the significance of the proposed collaborative relationship in the context of proposal goals and objectives. Also, summarize your and your collaborating agency's capacity and strengths for addressing the problem or need identified in the proposal.

How Do You Prepare a Winning Grant Proposal?

In these times of shrinking state budgets, the number of grant proposals submitted far outweigh the number of grants available. Organizational and community leaders seeking funding for special interests or populations must therefore prepare grant proposals that are superior to their competitors'. Still, you should keep in mind that even if you and/or your collaborators prepare the best proposal possible, it might not be accepted. Do not be discouraged. One source notes that 50% of proposals funded are resubmissions that were denied the first time.

So, once you have identified a need or problem within your community, done your homework and documented the problem, and presented a credible and persuasive strategy for addressing the need or problem, what else can you do to ensure that your grant proposal is "top-notch"? Listed below are some things to consider as you complete the final, comprehensive review of your draft proposal.

Star Proposals: What Features Shine in the Eyes of the Reviewers?

• Following all directions .
• Well-organized proposal sections that are integrated and easy to comprehend, such as a clear table of contents, nice layout, and graphics.
• Well researched and documented statement of the problem . Provide narrative and statistical detail, and reinforce the message with graphs or charts to persuade the reviewer.
• Statement of the problem or need in a way that explicitly addresses the funder's priorities .
• Creative or innovative strategies for addressing the need or problem .
• Feasible goals and objectives (e.g., "Decrease by 2% the number of adolescents ages 15–17 who report cigarette smoking over two years" as opposed to, "Decrease by 50% the number of adolescents ages 15–17 who report cigarette smoking over two years").
• Measurable objectives (e.g., "Implement a five-minute provider-patient education protocol for heart disease prevention for primary care visits among men ages 30–50 in Coronary County from January 2004 – January 2005" as opposed to, "Educate men in Coronary County about the risk of heart disease").
• A sound evaluation plan . Have you shown that you have the capacity to access primary data [data that you collect via interviews, surveys, or focus groups] or secondary data [existing data such as census data]? Have you clearly indicated whether or not you will be evaluating implementation versus short- versus long-term outcomes, or all three? Have you allocated a proportion of the budget line items for evaluation?

Snoozers and Losers: Why Grant Reviewers Need a Lot of Coffee

• Not following directions. Pay attention to funder criteria regarding margins, text spacing, and single- versus double-sided pages, bound versus stapled, etc.
• Spelling and grammatical errors. Spell check is a great tool, but it shouldn't be a substitute for checking your work yourself and having someone else read through it to make sure that not only are all words correctly spelled and correctly used, (e.g., there versus their), but that your writing is concise, with clear transitions and good organization. Once again, if there is no one in your organization who can write or edit well enough to make sure that the proposal is grammatical and well-organized, find someone who can to help you. It is important enough to take some pains to get it right.
• No previous experience with work in the area of the identified need/problem
• Lack of community involvement in the planning process
• Overall lack of focus – maybe the proposed intervention is too broad for the issue at hand
• Inappropriate strategy given the problem or target population
• Unrealistic timeline for accomplishing proposed activities
• Weak evaluation plan
• Unrealistic budget, or one that does not clearly justify how the requested funding will be spent
• Lack of potential for the program to become self-sustainable (when applicable)
• Poor organization throughout the proposal. Make sure that all sections are cohesive and complementary.

A grant is a sum of money given to an agency or individual to address a problem or need in the community. The written document that one prepares as a means of requesting or applying for this money (funding) is a grant proposal.

A grant proposal is a labor-intensive undertaking that requires a commitment of resources devoted to producing a long document in a relatively short period of time.

Read RFP rules and instructions carefully. Make a plan to stay organized, noting essential pieces of information (such as the deadline for submission, mailing address, number of copies to be submitted, etc.).

If you are intimidated by the writing element or do not want to manage it alone, solicit the help of a colleague or someone collaborating in your effort to secure funding. If you write as part of a team, assign tasks and sections of the proposal.

Common elements in a grant proposal:

• Statement of the Problem / Needs Statement
• Project Description (goals and objectives and methods/activities)
• Future Funding Plans / Plans for Sustainability

Appendices, which often include:

• A timeline chart of proposed activities
• Letters of Support / Participation

Features of a strong proposal that enhance the likelihood of funding:

• Well organized proposal sections
• Well researched and documented statement of the problem
• Creative or innovative strategies for addressing the need/problem
• Feasible goals and objectives
• Measurable objectives
• A sound evaluation plan

Four common grant proposal documents (free samples included)

• Melissa Pulis (she/her)
• July 13, 2023

Nonprofit work means paperwork. While Candid is working to reduce that burden broadly, here is one specific way we are trying to help: by providing sample grant proposal documents . 

There are four major documents that you may need to create if your nonprofit is looking for funding. Each has a different purpose and elements you’ll need to make your case to funders.  

In this blog, we share the major types of grant proposal documents, their components, and free sample resources to show you what a successful version of each one looks like. 

Letters of inquiry (LOI)

If you’re new to fundraising and grant writing, you may have not heard the term letter of inquiry , or LOI. Honestly, when you do, it’s good news. 

A letter of inquiry or LOI is something a funder may ask for in lieu of a full grant proposal. Instead of a giant stack of papers, you just need to write a few pages to create a LOI that will get the funder excited to support your cause or project.  

Sometimes, this can be the first step in a funder’s broader grant proposal process. In this case, you may be asked to complete a LOI to show whether you meet the grant criteria, so time is not wasted on a full proposal. Other times, it serves as the entire proposal. 

Here’s what a letter of inquiry should include: 

• An introduction that summarizes the letter.  
• A brief description of your organization and why this particular project is important.  
• A statement of need that convinces the reader your project meets the specific needs of those you serve. 
• A methodology that explains how you’ll do it. 
• Other funding sources that are being approached. 
• Finally, a summary of what was just said and a brief thank you to the funder for considering your organization.  

The biggest challenge is you only get a couple pages to make your case. In our LOI sample documents , you will see examples of how you can summarize projects in a compelling and concise way. 

Cover letters

This is the most important part of your grant proposal: the cover letter . Think of a cover letter as a compelling introduction to the contents of your full proposal. It’s your first chance to connect your project with the funder’s philanthropic mission.  

At minimum, your cover letter should include: 

• An introduction to your project. 
• The dollar amount of funding you need.  
• How your project and organization will further the foundation’s mission. 
• A list that outlines the proposal’s contents. 
• Contact details in case the funder wants additional information. 
• A signature from your organization’s executive director. 

Additionally, if your organization has branded letterhead, consider using it for added polish. 

In our sample documents, you’ll find three different examples of cover letters that include these aspects. 

Proposal budgets 

Proposal budgets may seem a bit dull, but many funders say it’s the first part of a grant proposal that they read. Your budget should show your credibility and impact with numbers.  

A proposal budget should include: 

• Grants and other funding contributions. 
• Earned income from events, products, and fees. 
• Direct costs, like staff time, consultants, supplies, equipment, and evaluation (such as conducting surveys or collecting feedback). 
• Indirect costs—or the invisible costs, like rent, utilities, office supplies, marketing, and administrative staff. 

Make sure your budget adds up (it’s a big red flag when it doesn’t). Not only should the math be correct, but it should also match the request for funding you’re making in the proposal.  

To see this in practice, review our proposal budget sample documents.  

Full grant proposals

Here’s the big one. Writing a full grant proposal can be a little intimidating.   

Before you begin, make sure to read and re-read the instructions from the funder. You don’t want to miss some simple but important proposal requirements, like using a specific font. 

Here are the key elements of a proposal: 

• Executive summary. This is where you’ll give a snapshot of the problem, your solution for addressing it, why your organization can help, and the amount of funding you’ll need to do so. 
• Needs statement. Next is a needs statement that shows why your project is needed and aligned with funders’ focus areas. 
• Project description. In this section, you’ll share your project’s goals and objectives, detailed activities, and information about your organization. 
• Proposal budget. Finally, a budget that shows in numbers how you’ll address the problem. 

Reading examples of full grant proposal documents can be a helpful way to get started. You can also check out our free live and on-demand trainings .  

Need more help? Our team of online librarians is here to provide resources and support. You can reach out to them by emailing [email protected] or via chat during business hours.  

• Tips & Training
• International
• Candid’s tools
• Fundraising, giving, and donations
• Nonprofit and charity work

About the author

Melissa is an experienced information professional who leads Candid’s Online Librarian program and oversees content creation for Candid Learning’s Knowledge Base Articles. She is passionate about librarianship, providing equitable access to information, and teaching people how to navigate online resources.

In addition to her experience leading the Online Librarian program, Melissa has extensive nonprofit experience having worked in development for both small and large Cleveland-area nonprofits and as a grants manager for a private foundation. Melissa has a Master of Library and Information Science from Kent State University.

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Adelene Hampton says:

Thank you. I want to improve education, mathematically in the state of Louisiana. Your cupport has been most helpful and appreciated.

Gary Van Dyke says:

need grant for medical expenses

Geoffrey says:

Insightful well arranged tips on proposal writing. Want to learn more and examples

Jesus Loera says:

Good evening friends, I am Jesus Loera. Lately I have become interested in grant writing but haven't a clue where to start. I am a life long resident of Brownsville Texas. We are stuffed up against the Mexican border. Not extremely prosperous, sad to say. I work for a Community College in need of funding, I am a member of a Unitarian Church with only 6 members and I recently joined the local Freemasons. All these organizations in desperate need of finical help. I am willing to help as much as possible, but in need of some coaching.

Kate, Digital Communications Manager, Candid says:

Candid does not suggest specific funders or approach them on your behalf. But we can point you to resources that should help you in your funding search. You can check out our Knowledge Base for information on getting grants and finding donors .

Christian Wilson says:

We need additional funding in the amount of $20,000 to feed 700 people during the weekend when there are no services provided. The local funders have been tapped out and tell us that they cannot assist us. Can you advise me of other alternative funding that might be available so that we can continue to feed these families?

Leslie England says:

Greetings! We are a 501c3 trying to get a grant to buy a building for a homeless shelter in our area. We have no idea how to find grants or apply for them. Where do you begin?

Jean niyungeko Fessi says:

the information is so helpful, thanks for being resourceful.

Bruce says:

I also maintain both a paper and electronic file of key documents usually required like IRS letter, BOD list, 1page overview of organization including Mission statement, most recent 990, annual budget including income and expenses. All this helps especially with online applications!

Lorent Damaseke Mvula says:

Thanks for the knowledge and skills I have learned on grant proposals, this really sharpens my knowledge.

RMM- ED says:

Thank you for posting this!

This is super helpful, thank you!

Cindy Dashnaw Jackson says:

This is an incredible resource and a generous action, Melissa. I hope many nonprofits see this article!

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Home » Business » Free Need Statement for Grant Proposal Examples (PDF)

Free Need Statement for Grant Proposal Examples (PDF)

When you want to secure funding, you have to write a need statement for grant proposal example and it is a very critical task. The main aim of the needs statement is to persuade the potential funder that there is an important requirement or demand in a community that your project will look for to address.

Furthermore, there are important elements that must be included in the needs statement. It is recommended to put it at the beginning of your grant proposal. These will assist you in winning over your potential funder.

Table of Contents

How to write and format an effective needs statement?

Here are the tips to follow while writing and formatting your needs statement;

Give plenty of proof

You write your needs statement to convince your funder. It is advisable to write an effective needs statement in case you have conducted thorough research on the problem area you want to solve. You can use facts from experts to present a logically convincing argument in the field, comparative statistics, emerging trends. You should ensure that you are using recent and updated information. You may also like the projected income statement template .

Moreover, giving data from years back will reduce your chances since it will not provide the current picture of the condition in your community. Take advantage of your data to specify your funder the importance of the problem.

Write in simple language

You should present your needs statement in a simple language. Don’t use ambiguous words and scientific jargons may be the funder will find difficult to grasp. By using simple language, you make sure that your potential funder can digest your statement and understands that their help is needed.

Explain on the sense of urgency

Make sure to bring out to the funder while writing your needs statement that that the need is urgent. To fill in the gap in the community, prompt action is needed. In this way, the funder will be compelled to release the grant suddenly. Thus, without any further delays, your organization can commence the project.

Offer real-life examples

A vivid picture of the situation will bring by documenting the kind of struggles the people in the society face to the funder. For instance, in the community, you may want to solve a water problem. Humanity will touch by describing the real-life stories like long distances people have to travel, the poor quality of water they drink, the water-borne diseases they are exposed to the funder. Consequently, to address the situation, they are moved to offer their resources.

Pinpoint the main problem

Every community faces many issues. Therefore, take these issues the community faces that your organization wants to solve. You can also specify the challenges in implementing your program. Everything will be cleared on the funder’s mind that what their grant money will do when he goes through the needs statement.

To the funder’s goals, connect your project

It’s important that you know the funder’s goals or purpose while seeking a grant. The funder may include a corporation, trust or foundation, government department, and more. When you align the problems, then whatever the project you want to launch, it makes sure that funder’s interests and makes them keep in line with their vision. You should also check the budget proposal template .

Free Grant Proposal Needs Statement Example

Educational need statement template, guidelines for preparing research needs statements, conclusion:.

In conclusion, you should take plenty of time to draft your need statement for grant proposal example. Since needs statement can make or break the chances of securing a grant so you have to put out a persuasive statement that will be the key to your success.

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I am Ryan Duffy and legal writer. I received a bachelor of business administration (BBA) degree from London Business School. I have 8+ years of writing experience in the different template fields and working with ExcelTMP.com for 7 years. I work with a team of writers and business and legal professionals to provide you with the best templates.

P&G and UC bridge gap between industry, academia

Fostering partnerships and innovation between students and business experts.

Industry and academic experts have more effectively engaged with one another over the years, recognizing the value of knowledge exchange to solve the toughest challenges.

The Procter & Gamble (P&G) Digital Accelerator (formerly the UC Simulation Center) is an example of closing the gap between what industry practitioners need and what academic experts provide.

The P&G Digital Accelerator, located within the University of Cincinnati's 1819 Innovation Hub , emerges as a nexus of partnership, where the intellectual talent of students and faculty intersects with the expertise of P&G professionals.

In 2008, UC and P&G partnered to support undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctorates and faculty. The Digital Accelerator engages students to collaborate on research activities with P&G technical staff.

Establishment of this new identity helps raise awareness for the P&G/UC partnership and increase visibility within P&G. This includes the innovation capabilities of both parties among prospective employees, students and innovation thought leaders.

Alison Main Vice president, corporate research and development and sponsor of the P&G Digital Accelerator

Alison Main, vice president, corporate research and development and sponsor of the P&G Digital Accelerator since 2020, provides essential guidance and facilitation for the program's seamless operation. Additionally, she has been instrumental in spearheading the rebranding efforts of the space, emphasizing the value that the UC partnership brings.

“Establishment of this new identity helps raise awareness for the P&G/UC partnership and increase visibility within P&G. This includes the innovation capabilities of both parties among prospective employees, students and innovation thought leaders,” Main said. “I've been very honored to work more closely with Ryan Hays on how we create more value both for the university and P&G. This endeavor not only tackles contemporary business challenges but also serves as a testament to the strategic foresight of envisioning future partnerships.”

Main is building on the capability of the Digital Accelerator to develop ways to enroll more UC departments and faculty to expand the horizons of working between traditional mentorship roles and delving deeper into the fabric of academia-industry interaction. Originally focusing on students from the UC College of Engineering, expanded disciplines include biology, business, chemistry and math students and a relationship with UC Digital Futures .

Main is inspired by the collaboration and its mutual benefit.

“From the perspective of P&G, the connection with UC offers expertise, insight and diverse perspectives," she said. "This wealth of knowledge emanates not only from the brilliant faculty but also from the innovative minds of students.”

Feedback Main has received about the Digital Accelerator has been positive. P&G provides the university with real world business applications and problem statements for students to solve.

“The breadth of the benefit travels both ways, and we each bring our best to the relationship, and we receive a special kind of gift by being able to work together,” Main said. “In return the students get access to mentors who invest in them not solely for a specific project but also in their personal development, career guidance and interview tips.”

Over the course of 15 years, P&G has hired 28 UC students, and more than 480 students have been part of the program since its inception in 2008.

A deep understanding of consumer insights, combined with innovative products, is what propelled P&G to become a household name. Currently, an exciting project is underway as four UC students partner on a project through the Digital Accelerator.

“They are collaborating to develop smart devices for P&G that are used in the homes of enrolled consumer study participants," Main said. "These devices are designed to collect insights on habits and daily behaviors by detecting things like the timing and amount of product used. Beyond custom smart device development, the students are exploring how to leverage off-the-shelf and custom products to be more cost effective and easier to produce to meet our needs. A key objective of the program is to foster interdisciplinary learning and engagement among the various engineering disciplines, encouraging a collaborative and innovative approach to technology advancement.”

Main imparts how the experience of the partnership and access to top-tier student and faculty has been nothing short of mind-opening.  

“It's been fantastic. The exchange of collective wisdom enriches both parties with new ideas to think differently about the challenges of innovating in the consumer goods industry,” Main said.

Featured image at top: P&G Digital Accelerator space. Photo/Greg Glevicky

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• Press Releases

Department of Homeland Security Unveils Artificial Intelligence Roadmap, Announces Pilot Projects to Maximize Benefits of Technology, Advance Homeland Security Mission

DHS Will Launch Three Pilot Projects to Test AI Technology to Enhance Immigration Officer Training, Help Communities Build Resilience and Reduce Burden for Applying for Disaster Relief Grants, and Improve Efficiency of Law Enforcement Investigations 

WASHINGTON – Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas and Chief Information Officer and Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer Eric Hysen announced the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) first “Artificial Intelligence Roadmap.” The roadmap details DHS’s 2024 plans, including to test uses of the technologies that deliver meaningful benefits to the American public and advance homeland security, while ensuring that individuals’ privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties are protected.

As part of the roadmap, DHS announced three innovative pilot projects that will deploy AI in specific mission areas. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) will test AI to enhance investigative processes focused on detecting fentanyl and increasing efficiency of investigations related to combatting child sexual exploitation. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will deploy AI to help communities plan for and develop hazard mitigation plans to build resilience and minimize risks. And, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will use AI to improve immigration officer training.

“The unprecedented speed and potential of AI’s development and adoption presents both enormous opportunities to advance our mission and risks we must mitigate,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas . “The DHS AI roadmap and pilots will guide our efforts this year to strengthen our national security, improve our operations, and provide more efficient services to the American people, while upholding our commitment to protect civil rights, civil liberties, and privacy. What we learn from the pilot projects will be beneficial in shaping how the Department can effectively and responsibly use AI across the homeland security enterprise moving forward.”

The roadmap lays out DHS’s initiatives in AI, describes the potential of AI technologies across the Department, and offers clearer visibility into the Department’s approach to AI, while underscoring the Department’s commitment to responsible utilization.

The AI roadmap outlines three lines of effort DHS is using to guide its work:

• Responsibly leverage AI to advance Homeland Security missions while protecting individuals’ privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties – DHS is committed to ensuring that its use of AI fully respects privacy, civil liberties, and civil rights, is rigorously tested to avoid bias, disparate impact, privacy harms, and other risks, and that it is understandable to the people we serve.  
• Promote Nationwide AI Safety and Security – Advances in AI will revolutionize the delivery of essential goods and services upon which Americans rely. AI can create tremendous efficiencies and benefits for citizens, but it can also present new and novel risks. To protect U.S. cyber networks and critical infrastructure, DHS will help govern the safe and responsible development and use of AI.   
• Continue to lead in AI through strong cohesive partnerships – DHS will foster strong relationships with private sector, academia, State, Local, Territorial, and Tribal governments, international partners, non-government organizations, research institutions, and thought leaders to accelerate the development and deployment of AI solutions tailored to the unique challenges faced by the DHS. In line with the DHS’s commitment to transparency and visibility into the Department’s vision for AI and to ensuring responsible use, DHS will continue to share information and engage with communities, advocates, and partners to demonstrate responsible AI use.  

DHS’s three new pilot programs will allow the Department to assess the efficacy of AI in improving its mission capabilities. Each pilot team is partnering with privacy, cybersecurity, and civil rights and civil liberties experts throughout their development and evaluation process. This work will inform Department-wide policies on AI governance. DHS offices and agencies submitted dozens of proposals for consideration to the Chief AI Officer, who selected three pilots that would best support evaluating the effectiveness of Large Language Models (LLM) and Generative AI technology at DHS. 

The new pilot programs announced today will:

• Transform Security Investigative Processes, Unlock Data-Driven Insights, and Improve Mission Outcomes – HSI’s pilot project will strengthen their investigative processes by introducing a LLM-based system designed to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of summaries investigators rely upon. The LLM-based system will leverage open-source technologies to allow investigators to more quickly summarize and search for contextually relevant information within investigative reports. The pilot could lead to increases in detection of fentanyl-related networks, aid in identification of perpetrators and victims of child exploitation crimes, and surface key patterns and trends that could further HSI’s vital work.   
• Bolster Planning Assistance for Resilient Communities – FEMA will launch a GenAI pilot to create efficiencies for the hazard mitigation planning process for local governments, including underserved communities. Hazard mitigation plans are not only a foundational step that communities can take to build their resilience but can be lengthy to produce and challenging for communities that lack resources to do so. The pilot will specifically support State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial governments’ understanding of how to craft a plan that identifies risks and mitigation strategies as well as generate draft plan elements—from publicly-available, well-researched sources — that governments could customize to meet their needs. This pilot could lead to more communities having the ability to submit grant applications for funding to become more resilient and reduce disaster risks.  
• Enhance Immigration Officer Training through Generative AI – United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is developing an interactive application that uses GenAI to improve the way the agency trains immigration officer personnel. USCIS will generate dynamic, personalized training materials that adapt to officers’ specific needs and ensure the best possible knowledge and training on a wide range of current policies and laws relevant to their jobs. The goal is to help enhance trainees’ understanding and retention of crucial information, increase the accuracy of their decision making process, and limit the need for retraining over time.

The roadmap and announcement of pilot programs are the latest in the Department’s ongoing AI initiatives.

In February, Secretary Mayorkas and CIO Hysen announced the Department’s first-ever hiring sprint to recruit 50 AI technology experts to help build teams that will help better leverage AI responsibly across strategic areas of the homeland security enterprise. These include efforts to counter fentanyl, combat child sexual exploitation and abuse, deliver immigration services, secure travel, fortify our critical infrastructure, and enhance our cybersecurity. DHS has received a strong response to date and is in the process of reviewing. interviewing, and hiring AI technologists to support mission-enhancing initiatives. The Department continues to accept applications on dhs.gov/AI .

Last year, DHS established the Department’s first AI Task Force and named CIO Hysen its first Chief AI Officer. Informed by the Task Force’s work over the past 11 months, DHS has identified areas where AI can enhance the effectiveness of the Department’s efforts — helping pave the way for this roadmap and these new projects. The Task Force’s focus is on DHS’s entire mission space. For instance, it is working to enhance the integrity of our supply chains and the broader trade environment by helping deploy AI to improve cargo screening, the identification of imported goods produced with forced labor, and risk management. The Task Force is also charged with using AI to better detect fentanyl shipments, identify and interdict the flow of precursor chemicals around the world, and disrupt key nodes in criminal networks.

The Department’s latest efforts follow President Biden’s Executive Order (EO) “ Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence ,” signed in October2023. The EO directed DHS to promote the adoption of AI safety standards globally, protect U.S. networks and critical infrastructure, reduce the risks that AI can be used to create weapons of mass destruction, combat AI-related intellectual property theft, and help the United States attract and retain skilled talent, among other missions. The President has directed DHS to establish an AI Safety and Security Advisory Board to support the responsible development of AI. This Board will bring together preeminent industry experts from AI hardware and software companies, leading research labs, critical infrastructure entities, and the U.S. government. This Board will issue recommendations and best practices for an array of AI use cases to ensure AI deployments are secure and resilient.

To read the DHS AI Roadmap, visit the DHS Artificial Intelligence Roadmap webpage .

To learn more about how DHS uses AI technologies to protect the homeland, visit  Artificial Intelligence at DHS .

• Secretary of Homeland Security
• Science and Technology
• Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
• Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)
• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

• PlayStation

The ‘PS5 Pro Enhanced’ label could mean constant 60fps and ray-tracing

A new leak hints at the benchmarks sony is targeting to grant ps5 pro-optimized status..

By Wes Davis , a weekend editor who covers the latest in tech and entertainment. He has written news, reviews, and more as a tech journalist since 2020.

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Sony will use a new “PS5 Pro Enhanced” label to tell players which games take advantage of the console’s new abilities, according to documents seen by InsiderGaming yesterday. The outlet writes that to get the label, a game would have to offer a PS5 Pro graphics mode, which includes PSSR for 4K upscaling, constant 60fps framerate, and added or improved ray-tracing . It would reportedly also indicate higher resolution for both fixed and variable refresh rate games.

The site says that the internally-named “Trinity Enhanced” label would be akin to the “PS4 Pro Enhanced” label from the last PlayStation generation (or the “X|S” label that denotes games with improvements like better load times or higher framerates) . It also told players when a game was given graphical upgrades specific to the then-new system, but not necessarily what the mix of improvements is.

• Sony’s PS5 Pro is up to three times faster, may arrive holiday 2024

Rumors have suggested that the PS5 Pro will launch at the end of 2024 , putting it about a year out from its release of a smaller PS5 this past November . Compared to the vanilla PS5, it may offer as much as 4x the ray-tracing performance, a 10-percent-higher-clocked version of the original console’s CPU, 28 percent faster memory, and up to a 45 percent rendering performance improvement.

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