When working with a grant writer, do you find yourself spending a significant amount of drafting new language for them to use for the grant application process? If yes, you might benefit from a boilerplate document.
What is a boilerplate document? 🧐
A boilerplate document includes standardized language that can be reused more than once in a new context without any substantial changes to the original. Amazing, right? 🙌
A boilerplate document creates more efficiency in your time working together as the document includes founder-approved language that can be used in grant applications and recycled every time. Having agreed-upon language reduces the amount of time the grant writer and grant reviewer takes to communicate back and forth, and as a result, streamlines the grant writing process. A win-win for all! 🥳
How to create a boilerplate document:
Identify the most common grant prompts. Typically, grants require basic organizational information (mission, vision, etc), a community need statement, a program description, and an evaluation plan.
Find your best, award-winning content. Begin copying and pasting your best content into a Word document that aligns with common grant prompts. We recommend keeping the majority of your template general - so use a general operating grant to start.
Organize your template. Using your new template, organize the document in order that the questions appear in a grant proposal. The idea is that you can use this template to complete a grant application if they were side-by-side. Tired of looking for your EIN? Put that right at the beginning, where grantors usually first ask for it.
Wondering about your beautifully written program-specific content? If you use a cloud-based file organizer like Google or Teams, we recommend linking these special grants in your boilerplate document. That way, they are easily accessible but don't clutter the boilerplate.
Don't have the time to create a boilerplate document? No worries! We can create one for you. Learn more.