6 Professionals on How to Make Your Grant Proposal Resonate

From 1976 to 1987, Milton Rogovin traveled to ten countries to document the lives of miners and their families. In 1986, Sebastião Salgado published his book, Other Americas, featuring stories from the villages of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Guatemala. In 1991, Donna Ferrato published Living with the Enemy, a landmark book on domestic violence, a subject that had until then remained hidden and un-photographed. 

These three bodies of work, though vastly different, have one thing in common: they were funded by the W. Eugene Smith Fund Grant. For photographers, grants (both small and large) offer ongoing support in the form of funding, mentorship opportunities, exhibitions, and/or publications. Some of the most important projects of the last forty years might not exist without that support. Since its founding in 1979, the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund alone has provided more than $1.3 million in funding for photographers. 

Catching the attention of grant jurors is easier said than done, but it all starts with an unforgettable proposal–an idea that can’t be ignored. “The thing I look for always is a very strong and very unique idea,” Scott Thode, the President of the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund, tells us. “If it is about a subject that hasn't been seen, all the better.” In this three-part series on grant writing, we’ll cover the essential steps to take–and common mistakes to avoid–when crafting a proposal original enough to leave a lasting impression.