The Live Proposal Exercise: Putting It All Together

Purpose and Structure of the Exercise

This capstone exercise applies everything you've learned in Level 2. You'll receive a realistic RFP, organization profile, and program information. Over 90 minutes, you'll produce a complete proposal narrative—not a template or outline, but an actual, professional, competitive proposal.

This isn't a test you can fail. It's practice applying your skills in realistic conditions. You'll receive feedback on proposal quality, funder alignment, clarity, and competitiveness. The feedback helps you identify strengths to build on and areas for continued development.

Exercise Setup and Materials

What You'll Receive

• RFP: A realistic request for proposal from a named funder
• Organization profile: Overview of a nonprofit organization (you're proposing on their behalf)
• Program information: Details about the program being funded
• Research materials: Funder background, previous grants, strategic priorities
• Organization data: Program statistics, participant demographics, outcome data, budget information
• Template (optional): Outline structure if you want guidance

What You'll Produce

A complete proposal narrative (not the full RFP application with forms, but the substantive narrative section). Expected components:

• Executive summary or project overview (500-750 words)
• Need/Problem statement (400-600 words)
• Program description and theory of change (800-1000 words)
• Evaluation plan (400-500 words)
• Budget justification (300-400 words)
• Sustainability/organizational capacity (300-400 words)

Total: approximately 3000-3500 words of polished, funder-aligned narrative.

The 90-Minute Process

Minutes 1-15: RFP Analysis and Strategy

Before writing, understand the funder and requirements:

• Read the RFP carefully. Note every requirement, page limit, evaluation criterion.
• Research the funder. What are their actual priorities (from previous grants)? Who funds similar work?
• Map RFP requirements to the organization's strengths. Where is the best alignment?
• Develop positioning strategy. How will you position this program given funder priorities and competitive landscape?
• Create an outline. Section by section, what will you emphasize?

Minutes 15-30: Organization and Program Research

Become expert on the organization:

• Read the organization profile thoroughly. What's their history, mission, programs?
• Understand the program being funded. What does it do? What outcomes? What data supports it?
• Identify program differentiators. What's unique about how they do this work?
• Understand program logic. Why do they believe their approach produces results?
• Note any potential concerns. Are there gaps in data? Unproven claims? Address these strategically.

Minutes 30-70: AI-Assisted Drafting

Using your outline and research, draft the proposal. Use AI to accelerate writing:

• Provide detailed outlines/prompts to AI for each section
• Use AI to draft sections following your outline and emphasis strategy
• Integrate program data, funder research, and positioning into prompts
• Generate multiple draft versions and select best options
• Refine AI drafts based on funder alignment and authenticity

Don't spend time on perfect wording in this phase. Generate content efficiently, knowing you'll refine later.

Minutes 70-85: Strategic Review and Refinement

Review the full draft for strategy, accuracy, and funder alignment:

• Does the proposal address every RFP requirement?
• Is positioning consistent throughout? Does it emphasize what the funder values?
• Is every claim supported by data? Are facts accurate?
• Is tone appropriate? Does it reflect the organization's authentic voice?
• Are there logical gaps or unsupported claims?
• Refine sections that don't meet these criteria

Minutes 85-90: Final Polish and Verification

Final editing and compliance check:

• Grammar, spell-check, readability
• RFP compliance: all required sections present, page limits met, format correct
• Word count verification
• Data accuracy spot-check
• Tone consistency throughout

Submit completed proposal before the 90-minute mark.

Scoring Criteria and Feedback

Tips for Strong Exercise Performance

Do These Things

• Spend time on RFP analysis. Rushing into writing without fully understanding requirements leads to missing critical elements.
• Use AI strategically. AI is a tool to accelerate your strategic thinking, not replace it. Provide detailed prompts reflecting your analysis.
• Integrate data throughout. Weak proposals present data separately; strong proposals weave data naturally into narrative argument.
• Verify every claim. Before submitting, check that every factual statement is accurate based on provided materials.
• Read the proposal aloud. This catches flow problems and generic language you might miss reading silently.

Avoid These Mistakes

• Generic language: Phrases like "we are committed," "in today's environment," generic impact language
• Unsupported claims: Saying the program is "effective" without providing evidence
• RFP non-compliance: Missing required sections, exceeding page limits, wrong format
• Poor organization: Rambling sections that don't have clear structure or logical flow
• Disconnected evaluation: Evaluation plan that doesn't align with promised outcomes
• Artificial voice: Adopting generic grant writing voice instead of organization's authentic communication

After the Exercise: Feedback and Learning

Feedback You'll Receive

Your submitted proposal will be reviewed and scored across the seven criteria. You'll receive:

• Numerical score in each category
• Overall competitiveness assessment (how this proposal would likely fare against real proposals for this funder)
• Specific written feedback on strengths and areas for development
• Concrete suggestions for improvement
• Comparison to benchmark proposals (examples of strong proposals for this type of funder)

Learning from Feedback

Use feedback to understand your proposal strengths and development areas:

• If you scored high on "Funder Alignment," you're good at strategic research and positioning. Build on this.
• If you scored lower on "Authenticity and Voice," focus on developing your organizational voice and avoiding generic language.
• If you scored lower on "Evaluation Plan," study the benchmark proposals to see how strong evaluation plans look.
• Use feedback to guide continued practice. Do another exercise focusing on your development area.

The Path Forward: From Exercise to Practice

This exercise applies what you've learned. The proposals you write in your actual work will benefit from this practice. Key takeaways:

• Strategic thinking matters most. RFP analysis, funder research, and positioning strategy drive proposal quality more than perfect writing.
• AI accelerates but doesn't replace. Use AI for drafting and refinement, but bring human judgment to strategy and quality control.
• Time management is critical. In 90 minutes or in real work, efficient analysis and systematic drafting matter.
• Authenticity wins. Proposals that sound like the organization and reflect genuine experience outperform generic grant writing.
• Data is persuasive. Proposals backed by real program data are more credible than those relying on claims alone.

Continuing Your Grant Writing Development

This course provides foundation in AI-enhanced grant research and writing. Continued development comes through:

• Practice: Apply these skills to real grant proposals in your organization
• Feedback: Seek critique from experienced grant writers or colleagues
• Learning: Study successful proposals and understand what makes them work
• Reflection: After each grant outcome (funded or not), reflect on what worked and what to improve
• Specialization: As you develop expertise in specific funder types, deepen that knowledge

Grant writing is a learnable skill. The more you practice using systematic approaches and reflecting on results, the better you become. The skills you've developed in Level 2 provide a strong foundation for becoming an excellent grant writer.