May 25, 2017
To assemble a grant proposal, you need tools to organize the process, communicate with colleagues, and package and submit the proposal.
The tools listed below are worth adding to your toolkit. They range from necessary to important to a couple that are rarely needed but good to have on hand. Several of the tools have free options, so regardless of your budget, you should be able to access everything you need to prepare and submit a proposal.
Tier 1: The "Must Haves"
The tools under this first tier are pretty much non-negotiable for preparing proposals. The tools cover word processing, online storage, document sharing/collaboration, and PDF creation and editing.
Adobe Acrobat ($14.99 USD/mo. billed annually at $179.88 USD/year)
Being able to create and edit PDFs (aka Portable Document Format) is essential for proposal writers and managers. With Adobe Pro, you can convert file types such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to PDFs, combine multiple file types into a single PDF, and edit PDFs (including scanned documents). While there is a subscription cost associated with Adobe Acrobat, it's worth the investment. Word documents often become unstable over time. Unless the funder explicitly asks for an application to be submitted as a Word document, you should always submit your proposals as PDFs. Not only are PDFs more stable than Word documents, but they also look more polished.
One of the major advantages of submitting a proposal as a PDF is that you don't need to worry about track changes appearing in the submitted copy. Forgetting to remove track changes from a document is easy to do. Making it a habit to submit all grant proposals as PDFs adds an extra layer of protection and ensures you don't share more than you intend.
Other useful features of Adobe Pro include the ability to convert PDFs into other file types, such as Word. This feature can be helpful when you are collaborating with others and receive an organizational chart as a PDF that you need to update. Wth Adobe Pro, you'll be able to convert the PDF into a Word document, make your edits, and then convert it back to a PDF for inclusion in the proposal. If the application requires signatures, you can add them using Adobe's document signing tool.
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC offers the added benefit of being cloud-based, allowing you to access your documents across devices.
Microsoft Office (Microsoft for Nonprofit plans; Office 365 Home, $99.99 USD/annually for 5 PCs or Macs, 5 tablets, and 5 phones)
Most large nonprofit organizations will provide employees with a computer with Microsoft Office already installed. If your nonprofit does not use Microsoft products, you should consider applying for Microsoft's software donation program. The program allows nonprofits worldwide to apply for free access to Microsoft Office, including full versions of Word and Excel. In addition, the donated software includes SharePoint sites, 1T of storage per user, and the ability to hold unlimited HD video and web conferencing. If your organization does not qualify for the donated software program, or if your organization wants the option to use Microsoft tools and features not included in the free package, you can explore one of the paid nonprofit plans. Microsoft offers a range of packages priced from $2 USD/mo. per user to $10 USD/mo. per user.
Why use Microsoft Office over free alternatives like Google Docs? While Google offers similar features for creating and storing documents, Microsoft is the standard software used across government agencies, small and large businesses, and nonprofits. When you're working on a proposal and collaborating with other nonprofits and external consultants, you want everything to be as seamless as possible. One way to minimize potential technology issues is to use software that most people are familiar with and comfortable using. While similar, Google Docs and Microsoft Word are different. There will be a learning curve for anyone moving from Word to Google Docs. Every proposal is going to have its curveballs. By choosing Microsoft products, you'll eliminate a potential source of problems.
Perhaps the most important reason to use Microsoft Word is that most donors require grant applications to be submitted as Word documents. In fact, if you submit a grant proposal to a U.S. government agency, the agency may even specify which version of Word is permissible.
If you use Microsoft at work, you'll want it on your home computer, too. Most of us work from home during the evenings and weekends. This is especially true during grant-writing. Purchasing Office 365 Home will allow you to work from home more easily. It will give you access to the latest Office products and reduce the potential for last-minute problems when you're making final edits and submitting a grant proposal over the weekend.
Collaborative Work Spaces: Microsoft SharePoint or other Shared Workspace
To make proposal development a collaborative process, it's important to store the proposal so that it can be accessed by all team members. For proposal teams that include telecommuters or external partners, a Cloud-based system is the way to go.
SharePoint is included in Microsoft's nonprofit bundle. If your organization isn't using Microsoft Office 365, access to SharePoint is a reason to consider getting it. SharePoint is an online workspace that provides a central place to store documents, communicate with team members, and create proposal planning tools such as a proposal calendar and task list. It's also possible to create and edit Word and Excel documents from within SharePoint.
SharePoint works best for internal teams where everyone already has access to the organization's intranet. To give SharePoint access to individuals outside of your organization, you will need to assign them a temporary user account. You can limit account permissions to the proposal site only (i.e., not your entire intranet) or to a single document.
If your organization already uses SharePoint, it's a solid choice for team collaboration and document sharing. The one caveat to SharePoint is that it is not the most intuitive platform to use. If you do decide to use it, it's advisable to learn about its main features before the proposal process begins.
If you don't have access to SharePoint, you can use Google Docs to store, share, and collaborate on proposal documents. An advantage of Google Docs over SharePoint is that it is free. Additionally, you don't need a Google account to access and collaborate on a document. The downside of Google Docs is that not everyone is familiar with it, so there will be, just like with SharePoint, a bit of a learning curve. If you know in advance that you'll be using Google Docs as your shared workspace, give proposal team members a heads-up so they can begin familiarizing themselves with how it works.
If you intend to use external, Cloud-based storage option like Google Docs, check with your organization's IT staff first to make sure it is allowable under your organization's security policies.
Tier 2: The "Good to Haves"
The tools in this second tier are ones useful to have, but not essential. Some of the tools, such as the Web-based communication system Skype, will be most useful if you are working with a proposal team that includes telecommuters.
The online note-taking tools Evernote and OneNote are helpful, but they're not essential if you have other systems in place (including SharePoint) to store proposal-related documents.
Digital Notebooks: Evernote/OneNote
When you begin working on a grant proposal, it's usually necessary to complete some level of background research. You may need to research a geographic area, identify organizations conducting projects in a particular community, or learn about organizations/companies working in technical areas relevant to the proposal. If you don't know the donor well, you may also need to research the donor's interests and funding history to write a proposal tailored to them. Your research may involve writing and/or saving Word documents, PDFs, and webpages. In the digital age, digital content requires electronic storage options. A useful storage option is a digital notebook system that lets you collect ideas and documents and share them with other team members.
Two digital notebook options are Evernote or Microsoft OneNote. Evernote and OneNote are more similar than they are different. Both are digital notebooks that allow you to save notes, webpages, photos, and documents, as well as voice recordings. Both allow syncing of notes across multiple devices. They both allow note sharing. They do the same things, just a little differently.
OneNote is part of Microsoft Office. If you have Microsoft Office at work, OneNote is on your computer and ready to use.
If you choose Evernote, you will need to set up an account and either download the desktop application or use the Web-based version. As a third-party offering, before you store any work-related materials in a personal Evernote account, you should confirm that it is permitted under your organization's IT security policies. The issue with using third-party applications is that if something were to happen to you--let's say you're out sick--no one at your organization would be able to access your work-related files.
Which one is better? Since the functionality is very similar, it comes down to user preference. Because of its notebook design, Evernote may feel more intuitive than OneNote. On the other hand, OneNote seamlessly integrates with Outlook and other Microsoft products. If you are already using Outlook and OneDrive, OneNote will bring a new level of functionality to your work within the Microsoft environment. Another advantage of OneNote is that it's included with your Microsoft Office license. Evernote offers a free basic account. However, to access all features, you'll need the premium version, which costs $69.99/year.
Web Conferencing: Microsoft Teams or Google Hangouts
If your organization has many telecommuters, regularly works with external consultants or partners, or you frequently travel for work, you'll want to use Microsoft Teams or a similar service, such as Google Hangouts.
If your organization uses Microsoft Office 365, which includes Teams, you can use it for work-related audio and video calls and chats. If you don't have access to Microsoft products, you can find similar features, including group video calls and screen sharing, in Google Hangouts. Like Teams, with Google Hangouts, you can call other Google Hangout users for free and call landlines and mobile phones at reasonable rates.
Sometimes, the easiest way to bring people together and reduce the risk of technology mishaps is to set up a conference call over a landline. If your organization does not have a conference call service through a traditional carrier such as AT&T, FreeConferenceCall.com is worth exploring. After signing up for an account, you receive a unique conference line number and pin to use for conference calls. In addition to standard audio calls, FreeConferenceCalls.com also offers video conferences and online meetings. Most of the service's features are free, but some, such as reserving an 800-number, are premium offerings that require a subscription.
FreeConferenceCalls.com can be used internationally and offers local dial-in numbers for 58 countries. One of the best things about FreeConferenceCalls.com is that it allows every individual in your organization to set up their own dedicated conference line, avoiding the need to share conference lines and the worry that colleagues may dial in to your conference call if you go over time.
Tier 3: The "Nice to Haves"
Even in today's increasingly digital world, occasionally you have to deal with paper. Fortunately, when you need to scan and send a document by email or fax, you can turn to your smartphone.
An inexpensive option for scanning documents is to use your phone. While you can use your phone's camera to take photos of documents, you'll get higher-quality results with a dedicated app like TurboScan. TurboScan costs about $3 and works with iPhones and Android devices. From the app, you can email the scanned document as an image file or a PDF. The app will also store a copy of the document for you. Since a phone app is a third-party application, it's best to use it sparingly for business purposes. However, in a pinch, or if your office cannot afford to purchase a scanner, an app like TurboScan can get the job done. To learn more about TurboScan's features, Engadget has a short article that explains what it does.
Fax options
Even less likely to be used these days than a scanner is a fax machine. Should you need to fax documents when you are outside the office, or if your office does not have a fax machine, using your phone to fax a document is the solution. There are several apps to choose from. For suggestions on which app to choose, this article on geckoandfly.com is a nice roundup of what's available for iPhones, Android, and Windows phones. In terms of cost, faxing from your phone isn't free, but it's very affordable. You can fax a document for less than $1.