By Tara Paxton
Everyone loves a great story. I am a binge reader. Sometimes, I become so engrossed in what I’m reading, hours can pass without realizing it. That only happens when I’m reading a really good story. The kind that hooks me on the first sentence, keeping my attention as the story unravels and reaches its conclusion, usually solving a problem or resulting in a happy ending. The main characters feel familiar, making me admire the heroes or dislike the villains. I love stories that transport me to places and times where I’ve never been, imagining exotic places and landscapes where the plot of the story takes place. This is what a great grant proposal should do for its reader.
Robert McKee, a renowned professor on storytelling, has been quoted as saying:
“Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world.”
Grant proposals start with ideas that tell a story. Storytelling is a powerful strategy in the grant writing field – a blending of creative writing, literary structure and facts. Grant proposals are more than compliance checklists, budgets, and rigid scoring criteria. While those elements are essential, they are not what ultimately persuade a reviewer to award grant funding. Just like in any great story, a grant story should identify the protagonist and antagonist, set the scene and interject foreshadowing to lead the reader to how the main problems can be solved. The grant reviewer should connect to the story emotionally and feel like they can help solve the relatable problems identified in the proposal. The story should resonate with the reader as they have the power to influence the outcome and make happy endings happen.
What’s the story?
Storytelling is a powerful tool in grant writing, helping organizations connect with funders on an emotional level and influence funding decisions. Federal, state, and foundation grant reviewers read dozens of applications. The ones that stand out do more than list needs and activities. They tell a clear, credible story about a problem, the people affected, and how an investment will create measurable change. Grant reviewers are human. Even when scoring against objective criteria, they are influenced by clarity, coherence, and relevance. Compelling narratives can make proposals more engaging and align them with funders’ values. By sharing personal stories and outcomes, organizations highlight the tangible impact of their work and turn requests for funding into persuasive appeals.
Storytelling helps by:
- Making complex problems understandable
- Connecting data to real-world impacts
- Demonstrating readiness, competence, and vision
- Showing why this project matters now
A strong grant narrative answers not just what you want to do, but why it matters and why you are the right entity to do it. It persuades the grant reviewer to want to help solve these problems by awarding the grant funding to your agency.
Every effective grant application follows a narrative arc, just like in storytelling:
- Context – Where are we now?
- Problem – What is broken or missing?
- Characters – Who is affected?
- Solution – What will change?
- Outcome – What does success look like?
While grant writing is often treated as a technical exercise including compliance, metrics, and documentation, it is much more than that. Beneath every strong grant outline lies a familiar structure: the same narrative architecture found in literature. When viewed through a literary lens, grant applications reveal themselves not as bureaucratic forms, but as carefully constrained creatively crafted stories. Of course, grants must be rooted in facts and projected outcomes. Fanciful or outrageous claims should be avoided to stay grounded in facts and achievable outcomes. Grant storytelling is not embellishment. It is disciplined narrative clarity.
By recognizing the literary structure already embedded in grant outlines, writers can move beyond compliance and into persuasion writing. With the right information and story, grant writers can craft applications that are not only technically sound, but narratively compelling.
“Using a story gets to the broader vision of the project. Your goal should be helping people imagine what it will look like and show their place in it,” said Pete Saunder, Calumet City planner.
Mapping the structure: Storytelling elements and grant proposal components
Most grant Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs) require a sequence of sections that directly parallel classical plot development. A successful grant proposal mirrors the fundamental structure of a compelling story. Each stage of a narrative finds its counterpart in the proposal’s organization, making the application more engaging and persuasive for reviewers. The following table illustrates these parallels:
| Parts of a story | Parts of a grant proposal |
| Exposition – Background information establishes the setting and describes the situation. | Introduction, Community Description, Maps & and Need |
| Rising Action – Characters face or attempt to solve a problem, resulting in internal or external conflict. | Project Description & Problem Statement |
| Climax – The story reaches a crucial moment as tension peaks. | Goals, Objectives, & Strategies |
| Falling Action – The consequences of the climax unfold, tensions ease, and the story moves toward resolution. | Budget & Project Outcomes |
| Resolution – The central problem is solved, providing a sense of completion. | Evaluation & Sustainability |
By intentionally aligning grant proposal sections with classic story components, writers can craft applications that are both clear and compelling, transforming technical requirements into a persuasive narrative arc that provide emotional connections that result in positive outcomes for grant proposals.
Tell your story
Turning grant writing into a storytelling exercise can make an otherwise formal process more engaging and dynamic. The next time you apply for a grant, try viewing your needs as elements of a story: who are the main characters, what is the setting, who plays the hero and the villain, how will you tackle the challenges, what resources will you require, and in what ways will your community benefit once the problem is resolved? Storytelling will make your next grant writing experience more engaging and rewarding; especially if you win the grant award that will solve problems and result in a happy ending for your community.
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Planning and the Art of Storytelling. Even among the wonders of big data, a well-told tale still remains an essential tool. By Jay Walljasper Planning June 2018. Retrieved from: https://www.planning.org/planning/2018/jun/artofstorytelling/
