Research for Ethnographic Project Proposal

What methods do grant writers in a non-profit organization use most commonly to write a grant proposal?

It is essential for the group to receive new funding via a grant proposal.The incentive for groups to allocate funding is that the federal government gives large tax breaks to foundations for donating money to nonprofit. Therefore, how does the group know how to write an effective proposal with the proper content? Is there a designated format? What considerations must the group consider about the specific grant they are going after?

Who gives grants?
-private donors or organizations/foundations.

Considerations for acquiring the grant.
There are two different ways of going after grants.
1)Loan it to different organizations. (ex. Bill Gates or a wealthy individual offers a certain sum of money to a certain number of non-profit organizations.)
2) Look for grants that are already being offered (Group members look within their program's criteria to see if their organization qualifies for grant.)

Foundations issue different types of grants.
1) pre-allocated (specific places) money must be used for certain things in your non-profit organization.
2) open-ended. organization can use the money once they get it for whatever purpose they deem fit.

Size of grants:
Small-5, 50,000.
Large-50,000-150,000.

Argument in grant needs to be informative and highly persuasive.
informative because the company that is giving the grant, will want to know what kind of organization they are loaning money to.