Data, Data, Data: Ten Tips for Great Grant Proposals
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said, “Data! Data! Data!... I can’t make bricks without clay.” Most grant professionals I know love the act and art of telling a good story in a grant proposal. So do I. But what about the data and statistics needed to back up that story you are conveying to the funder? Where do you find accurate data? Here are ten helpful resources to create those essential data bricks.
Use the U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts and various other Census resources to paint a demographic picture of your target population.
“A competitive request for funding can’t be based on assumptions. Good data make all the difference” (Barbara Floersch, Chief of Training &; Curriculum, The Grantsmanship Center). Use these basic, great tips from the Grantsmanship Center to strengthen your proposals.
Look at local, national, and international foundations/agencies/nonprofits for great statistics and data (i.e., Mona Foundation, World Health Organization, Pidola, MacArthur Foundation).
The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) provides data and analysis of protests and political violence in the world, including a US Crisis Monitor and COVID-19 Disorder Tracker.
Use local data sources such as the University of Arizona’s Making Action Possible (MAP) project to find economy, education, health/social well-being, infrastructure, quality of place, and workforce/demographics statistics. Look for data from colleges and universities based in the location you are researching.
Compare community data to the country’s data to make an impact on the reader. Here is an example: Tucson, Arizona has a poverty rate of 23.4% compared to the United States of America poverty rate of 11.8% (United States Census Bureau QuickFacts).
Use organizations such as Feeding America, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, and Invisible People to find data about food insecurity, the housing crisis in the USA, and homelessness.
Data USA provides enormous information and ways to compare data in communities in the United States of America.
Read blog and journal articles from the Grant Professionals Association (GPA) such as this one from Dr. Janell Harvey. Use the Current, Relevant, Authoritative, Accurate and Purpose (CRAAP) method Dr. Harvey mentions to avoid dirty data.
Find some more helpful data resources from the Farley Library Research Guides.
“The most important things are the hardest to say because words diminish them” (Stephen King). How will you use data (and words) to create that image in the funder’s mind that he or she cannot forget?
