Grant Writing Consultation Form: Fields That Matter

Overview

A strong grant-writing form should answer:

It should not force the buyer to upload a complete proposal.

• Who is applying?
• What kind of funding?
• Is an opportunity already identified?
• What stage is the organization in?
• What is the deadline?
• What help is needed?

Field 1: Organization and contact

Collect:

Useful roles include:

• organization;
• contact;
• role;
• email;
• phone optional.
• executive director;
• development;
• grants manager;
• founder/CEO;
• principal investigator;
• finance;
• program director;
• research lead.

Field 2: Organization type

Use:

• nonprofit;
• small business/startup;
• university/research;
• school/education;
• public entity;
• healthcare/community;
• other.

Field 3: Funding type

Use:

• foundation;
• corporate;
• federal;
• state/local;
• SBIR/STTR;
• research;
• capital;
• not sure.

Field 4: Opportunity identified?

Use:

If known, ask for the opportunity name/number as plain text.

• yes, exact opportunity known;
• several possibilities;
• need research;
• not sure.

Field 5: Application stage

Use:

• not started;
• concept only;
• project pitch/pre-proposal;
• outline;
• partial draft;
• full draft needs review;
• resubmission;
• reviewer feedback received.

Field 6: Deadline

Make the date prominent.

Also ask whether it is:

• official funder deadline;
• internal deadline;
• board deadline;
• target future cycle.

Field 7: Amount sought

Use a range where useful.

The amount can affect complexity, budget detail and engagement fit.

Field 8: Service needed

Use:

• readiness;
• research;
• strategy;
• full writing;
• proposal review;
• budget support;
• resubmission;
• SBIR/STTR;
• not sure.

Field 9: Registration readiness

For federal work, optionally ask whether the organization already has the required registrations/accounts.

Do not ask for login credentials.

Field 10: Safe notes

Prompt:

Tell us about the funding goal, opportunity and deadline. Detailed proposal files, budgets, registrations and supporting documents can be exchanged through the approved project workflow after fit is confirmed.

Do not collect passwords or portal credentials

Never ask a prospect to paste:

into an ordinary public form.

• Grants.gov password;
• SAM.gov password;
• agency portal password;
• bank information;

Confirmation message

Use:

Thanks. We received your grant-writing enquiry. Our team will review your organization type, funding goal, stage and deadline and contact you about the appropriate consultation or proposal next step.

Avoid:

We will get your grant funded.

Collect enough to assess fit, not enough to recreate the application

A strong intake helps the writer understand the organization and deadline while keeping detailed grant work downstream.

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Questions businesses ask