Using the Rubric or Evaluation Criteria
The evaluation criteria or rubric helps you and your readers judge your draft. Have others score the proposal just as they would if they were judges. Use their scores to help strengthen sections that need strengthening. Use the criteria to guide your writing, and if you can be objective, score your own proposal when the draft is complete.
In your schedule, be sure to build in enough time for review and revision of at least one draft of the proposal. Ideally, your team will read and judge two drafts before you submit the final. Give them at least three or four days with a draft — adequate time to review, digest, and provide feedback.
Once you receive all your scores, add them and divide by the number of readers to come up with an average. If you scored below 90 on a 100-point proposal, rework the sections in which you scored low. Ask your readers questions if you need more guidance during the revision process.
Many grant programs award competitive priority points for certain factors about the agency or its population. Usually, 5 points are available, over and above the score received on the proposal. They are awarded for such things as a high incidence of poverty among the population the organization serves, for being located in a designated economic-enterprise zone, or for some other criteria over which you have little or no control.
Even if you know you'll receive the priority points, do not add them to your evaluation scores. While the additional points can sometimes push you from “almost” to “funded,” they don't strengthen your proposal or answer questions of grant judges.
Many federal grant programs are now awarding a competitive advantage to novice applicants. If your organization has never received a federal grant award, check the box on the cover sheet that indicates whether the organization is novice. While the proposal is not awarded additional points for being novice, it is given special consideration by the reviewers.
