“Tell a story” is a common recommendation and theme across our Proposal Development Resource.
Experts like Yun-Ling Wong from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Pierre Chartrand, formerly of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and Pamela Collins from the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health say that you should tell a story in your grant proposal to engage the reader about what you’re doing, why you’re doing it and what the impact will be if the project works. Make them want to read more, say the experts. The story you write should lay out a step by step process of the what, why and how of your project.
But how do you write a story?
Alex Bruton from the Innographer, also a professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary and Graham Snead from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave a very well received workshop in Calgary in June 2013 on “compelling storytelling.” The video is posted below.
Alex’s website, www.theinnographer.com, has a fantastic tool to help you write the story of your project – he calls it “pitching your passion.”
