CFP proposals are not easy to prepare. Applicants should allow sufficient time to plan the project, coordinate with partners and clarify their roles, write a good narrative, get all necessary letters of commitment, and complete all other requirements. Waiting until a week or two before the application deadline likely will result in weak or incomplete proposals. Moreover, the electronic submission process requires additional steps that make it even more important to start early. See CFSC’s updated Electronic Submissions Advisory at http://www.nacaa.net/cfp_help.html for more information.
Successful CFP applications have some, if not all, of the following elements:
• The project is exciting and innovative for the community, offering a creative strategy to address local food system issues that affect low-income residents.
• The initiative incorporates CFP objectives in a well-organized manner and both the project and the application clearly address program priorities.
• The project shows substantial planning and understanding of the food needs in the communities it will serve.
• The effort exhibits strong partnerships and collaborations with other entities in the community.
• Activities are reflective of and responsive to the needs of the community, with local citizens involved in developing and implementing them.
The CFP application should be an original document. The RFA requests specific information based on expressly stated legislative objectives – collaboration, community linkages, entrepreneurship, etc. Many of these topics are not typically emphasized in other program grant application requirements. It is usually obvious to reviewers when CFP applications are cut and pasted from other proposals.
Competitive applications are well written and well organized. The limited page length for the CFP narrative demands that an applicant be concise and to the point. Applications do not need to be expertly crafted by professional consultants, but need to be understandable and cogent while reflecting local enthusiasm for the project. The expert reviewers are sensitive to the limited resources and experience many non-profit groups have when it comes to fundraising. Strong applications may come from programs in which the English literacy skills of those involved is limited. Reviewers will make allowances for this, though written applications should have correct spelling and punctuation and a reasonable sentence structure, so reviewers can follow the flow of the project.
Applicants must insure that their proposal is complete in order to compete for funding. Incomplete applications may be disqualified and not reviewed. Specific instruction is included in this guide for the project narrative, budget narrative, letters of commitment and support, and addressing the application evaluation criteria. But applicants should also consult and use the Application Submission Checklist found on pages 35 and 36 of the RFA to insure they have met all CFP requirements.
Although ultimately, funding decisions are made by USDA, the Department relies heavily on the opinion of “expert reviewers,” peers from the community food security movement who read and evaluate the applications and make funding recommendations. The importance of these expert reviewers in the CFP funding process cannot be overstated.
Reviewers are involved in and knowledgeable about community food work and seek to fund the best projects rather than the best-written proposals.
Reviewers first rate every application on its merits, without any consideration of the amount requested or detailed budgets. Only after the proposals are ranked are budget details a factor. Budgets should be appropriate and activities commensurate with the funds requested. 1. Project Summary The 250-word project summary is one of the last documents an applicant should prepare, but it is the first page read by the reviewers. It sets the tone for the entire proposal. Therefore, it is very important to craft a well-written, comprehensive, and compelling summary statement that intrigues reviewers and “sells” the proposed project.
The Project Summary should be self-contained, assuming that the reader gets no additional information and that this short description stands alone. 2. Project Narrative The project narrative is the heart of the application, laying the groundwork for project need, detailing actions that will be taken by the community and collaborators to address those needs, and describing outcomes that will change the community in self-sustaining ways. But with only 10 pages allowed to answer many complex questions in the narrative, it must be carefully constructed. (Applicants should keep in mind that up to five additional pages of precious narrative space may be gained by adding information – food insecurity and/or census demographics, detailed project activities or timelines – in charts and tables.) Applicants should be succinct, yet complete, avoid redundant information, and provide an overall description that makes sense to outsiders who may know little about the local area, the organizations involved in the project, and the background leading up to it.
The following portion of the guide discusses key points to address under each component of the required narrative. a. The Community to Be Served and the Needs to Be Addressed This section should outline why the applicant and its partners selected the activities proposed in the application, the main targets or beneficiaries of the project, and the community needs and opportunities being addressed. The needs addressed should directly relate to project goals and objectives described. This section offers an opportunity to frame the overall project and to tell the story of why the project should be funded.
Information provided should touch on community conditions (including socio-economic conditions, food insecurity, and/or environmental and food system problems), the context and history for the project, and the beneficiaries targeted. Extensive general community and resident information is not necessary; instead emphasize those conditions being addressed by the proposed project that make the effort compelling. The CFP is intended to primarily serve low-income constituents and communities. Evidence of this is important, but may be provided in summary form.
USDA expects CFP projects to be community-based. This suggests “of the community” or “by the community” rather than “for the community” or “to the community.” Reviewers are looking for more of a bottom-up versus a top-down planning and implementation approach, in which priorities are driven by residents or stakeholders rather than just by the applicant organization and its partners. This is the place to describe how collaborative efforts – meetings, interviews, community-based needs assessments, and/or other input strategies – were used in planning the initiative. b. The Organizations Involved in the Project In this section, applicants should list all key participating organizations and give a short description of their roles in the project. Reviewers will be assessing the overall relationship – past and current – between the partners, and the degree to which each will be involved in the initiative. Although participation by several organizations is expected, it is not the number that counts as much as the role(s) each will play. If a collaboration (e.g., a network, alliance, coalition, or council) is formed to sponsor and/or manage the project, then describe this entity, its role, and the participants involved.
Applicants need to show that partners are qualified and appropriate and possess the appropriate experience, resources, and relationship to make the project successful. To save space, avoid lengthy descriptions here; less than a page or so total should be enough to provide the summary information for this point. A helpful strategy is to rely on letters of commitment from each organization or key player to provide specific details about their roles. Letters from the key organizations involved in the project, acknowledging their support and providing specific information about their contribution to the project, must be provided in an appendix to the application. Similarly, a letter of commitment from the applicant itself is a means to provide information about the organization and any key personnel to be involved with the project. (see section G.4. on commitment letters below). c. Project Goals and Intended Outcomes List the goals and intended outcomes of the project. Outcomes should describe specific changes or results that will occur as a consequence of the project and that will constitute “success” for the initiative. These may include benefits resulting from program activities such as changes in participants’ skills, behaviors, or quality of life, and positive changes in conditions in the community served or reductions in negative conditions. “Outcomes should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timely; describe what will be accomplished, and who and how many people, e.g., residents, participants, will benefit” (page 14 of the RFA). (For guidance on writing outcome-focused proposals, see pages 37-41 in the spring 2009 version of this guide on the CFSC website: http://www.nacaa.net/cfp_help.html#cfp_guide )
Goals and objectives are often written in very general terms. Goals reflect the overall vision or long- term impacts that are hoped for and sometimes specify the overall results desired. Objectives describe more specific steps to get to the goals. Goals and objectives can convey similar information as outcomes. However, outcomes are constructed in more succinct, specific, and quantifiable language that is meant to carefully define the results of the initiative. Outcomes measure changes that occur as a result of the project. d. Activities to Achieve the Goals USDA looks for specific details about how the project objectives or milestones will be implemented. Do not assume that reviewers understand the steps that will be taken to achieve each component. An appropriate level of detail helps clarify that the applicant and its partners have thought out what it will take to accomplish their proposed objectives or milestones.
Applicants should provide a general description of the implementation for each objective or milestone, summarizing and emphasizing critical elements for success, along with characteristics that make it clear why they are important. Then, outline specific steps that will be taken for each objective, including numbers of expected participants in each activity and a timeline for completion of each step. (Again, this may be included as a separate chart or table to save space in the narrative.) e. Relationship to Program Objectives The CFP program has multiple objectives, as listed on page 6 of the RFA. How the project will meet some of these objectives should be clearly described. Emphasize how project outcomes relate to the CFP priorities. This explanation does not need to be exclusively about changes in respect to individuals, but can also address broader changes to the community, the environment, the food system, or to related policies that will influence or benefit the targeted constituencies. A concise, flowing explanation of why this is a good project from a CFP perspective is more valuable than providing lots of technical explanations. f. Evaluation CFP proposals should contain a strong evaluation component. Innovative evaluation strategies are especially encouraged. Evaluations should focus on “logic models” and the measurement of success in meeting the legislative goals and objectives of the CFP. The CFP encourages both process evaluations (developing and monitoring indicators of progress towards the objectives) and outcome evaluations (to determine whether the objectives were met).