Proposal Writing Assistance to apply for the NED Grants Program

By Development Network, on September 7th, 2010


 

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) recently announced that it is accepting proposal applications from organizations around the world to provide grant support to them to work on projects related to human rights, an independent media, the rule of law and to advance other democratic goals.

 

We believe that this is an excellent opportunity for many NGOs (small and large) seeking support for their activities in the areas mentioned above. NED offers more than one thousand grants for projects around the world with preference to those countries facing “diverse situations, such as transitional countries where the goal is democratic consolidation, authoritarian countries where the goals are liberalization, and the protection of human rights.”

 

The areas of grant assistance are broad and previous grantee experiences show that this donor agency is extremely flexible with a highly supportive and flexible staff. It seeks funding requests every quarter of the year, prior to the meetings of the Board of Directors, so applicants need not feel deterred about meeting tight deadlines (the next deadline in NED Grant Cycle is 1 October 2010).

 

Taking into consideration these facts, we are encouraging NGOs to use this opportunity to apply for funding support from NED. But writing a proposal for a small or medium-sized organization in a developing country can be challenging despite the availability of all useful information at the donor website.

 

Here, we have undertaken some research and developed this information to help NGOs to develop a proper proposal application to submit it to NED for grant support.

 

But before, we move ahead, a very important disclaimer:

 

The information given here to write a proposal application to apply for NED Grants Program is very basic and completely unofficial. We are in no way affiliated to this agency or any of its partners or associates. Using this information does not guarantee any grant or funding from NED or any other grant-making agency. It will only provide some references and other support information only for organizations to write a good proposal. We strongly advise you to not to copy and paste the material here, but you can use it to research and build your own unique proposal for better possibilities.

 

Now, we move ahead to write the proposal for NED…

 

Understanding the National Endowment for Democracy and its Grant-making process

 

As usual, before we embark upon writing a grant proposal, we need to understand the grant-making agency. The foremost question that comes to one’s mind is:

 

Will NED support my organization?

 

The answer lies in the issue/s you are working on. Is your organization in an activist mode working and has experience in the areas of human rights, independent media, the rule of law and/or other democratic values. If the answer is yes, then you can proceed further to explore more aspects of identification between your organization and this donor agency. You can read more information about what NED does at this link.

 

We can now move the application procedure process of NED available at this link. The page provides sufficient details to achieve clarity for applicants to apply for the grant.

 

There is an FAQ, answering your basic questions and various formats available in different languages. The formats provide proposal templates and guidelines that can help you write the proposal.

 

The application form of NED comprises of three parts:

 

1. The Proposal Cover Sheet

2. The Proposal

3. The Budget

Application Procedure

 The next meeting of the NED Board of Directors for which NED is accepting proposals will be on January 14, 2011.

All grant applications must be submitted by October 1, 2010 to be considered for approval at the January Board Meeting.

The NED is no longer accepting proposals for the Board Meeting of September 14, 2010.

How are funding decisions made?
Funding decisions are made on a quarterly basis by the NED Board of Directors. In addition to evaluating how a program fits within the Endowment's overall priorities, the Board considers factors such as the urgency of a program, its relevance to specific needs and conditions in a particular country, and the democratic commitment and experience of the applicant.

What types of programs is the Endowment interested in?
The Endowment is especially interested in proposals that originate with local democratic groups. It is also interested in nonpartisan programs seeking to strengthen democratic values. Note that the Endowment does not make grants to individuals.

All proposed projects must be consistent with the Endowment's general purposes as briefly outlined in the first paragraph of About Us.

How can my organization apply for a grant from the Endowment?
To apply for a NED grant, submit a proposal cover sheet, proposal and budget to proposals@ned.org or to the appropriate regional Program contact person at the NED. The Endowment can only process incoming proposals if they are accompanied by a Proposal Cover Sheet.

Where can I find a Proposal Cover Sheet?
For your convenience, you can download a proposal cover sheet here :: PDF. It is also in the “pdf” file to the right of this text.

Where can I find NED’s proposal guidelines?
Proposal and budget guidelines are here :: PDF and in the “pdf” files to the right of this text.

What should I make sure to include in the proposal?
Please consult the attached proposal guidelines for guidance on proposal content.

Contact Information 

Email: proposals@ned.org

Postal Mail:
National Endowment for Democracy:
Attn: Grant Proposals
1025 F Street NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20004 USA

Phone/Fax:
+1 202.378.9700 / 202.378.9407

NED Core Institutes

NED’s four U.S. partners –

Solidarity Center, (SC)

Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE),

International Republican Institute  (IRI)

 National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI)

download and follow a separate set of proposal deadlines and procedures: