One of the most important things you can do to improve the quality of your proposals is to spend time preparing a comprehensive proposal template. Having a proposal template ready at the beginning of the proposal process will help ensure that your final proposal complies with the proposal guidelines in terms of font style and size, spacing, headers, table and text box formats, and page numbering. A template can also make the proposal development process more efficient because if the template is adhered to, you’ll have fewer formatting issues to resolve in the final days of the proposal process.

The proposal template is not the same thing as the proposal outline. We’ll cover the steps for creating the outline in the next lesson. The proposal template provides the framework for the proposal and includes defining style settings for headings, setting margins, and preparing header and footer text. It may involve creating the cover page, although often the cover page is prepared closer to the submission date. The idea behind creating the template is that it removes the guesswork about how to present different types of information in the proposal. Everything from the colors to use, the thickness of the lines in tables, and the spacing between a header and the body text can be established before writing begins. The font style and size, spacing, and margins are particularly important to establish from the start of the writing process because these settings directly affect the proposal’s length.

While you can develop a template using Word’s template feature (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-a-template-86a1d089-5ae2-4d53-9042-1191bce57deb), it’s often easiest to create the proposal template from scratch in the standard .docx format. This is because, first, different proposals have different requirements, and second, because many people are unfamiliar with the differences between a standard Word document and a Word template, reducing the benefits of creating a template using the .dotx file format.

Steps for Creating a Template

To create your template, you’ll need a copy of the solicitation. If you have prepared a compliance matrix for the proposal, have that on hand as another way to confirm the proposal’s formatting requirements.

Document Format

Most proposals are submitted as PDFs, which means you don’t necessarily have to create the template in Word. If you prefer using Google Docs to write your proposal drafts, you can do that. However, some donors require proposals to be submitted as Word files, so it’s important to review the proposal guidelines carefully to make sure that Google Docs will work for you. If you will ultimately need to submit a proposal in Word, you’ll want to use Word from the start. While Google Docs can convert your Google Doc to a Word document, the conversion process doesn’t produce an exact replica of the document in Word. Following the conversion, you may see formatting issues that need to be addressed. For example, a document that appears to be within page limits in Google Docs may no longer be compliant following the conversion to Word because of differences in how spacing is handled.

Features

Your proposal template should address the following, at a minimum:

- Margins (the standard is 1” margins on all sides)

- Paper size (for U.S. donors, this will be standard letter size)

- Style settings for headings and body text (i.e., font style and size, spacing — if you set it up correctly, you can auto-generate the table of contents for the proposal)

- Table of contents (you can choose one of Word’s standard formats for the table of contents or create your own)

- Page numbers (most proposals require sequential page numbering, but sometimes the annex section can be numbered separately, e.g., Annex 1 - p.1, Annex 1 -p. 2, etc.)

To have a complete template, it’s also good to add the following:

- Formatting examples for text boxes and tables

- Header and footer text

- Color palette for graphics, headings, and subheadings

- Layout of the cover page

Style Decisions

For some sections of a proposal, you will almost always have the freedom to present them as you wish. The abbreviation page is one of those sections. It’s easiest to create a table for the abbreviations list. Before submitting the proposal, you can hide the table’s borders to give it a cleaner look. Or you can skip the table and rely on the tab function to organize the page. There’s no right or wrong method, but you do need an approach.

Another page that is often (but not always) based on the applicant’s style preferences is the cover page. Depending on the donor, you may be able to add an image to the cover along with the logos of the lead organization and any partners. However, you can also keep it simple and design a basic, black-and-white cover that lists the required information and nothing more. You obviously need to follow any donor guidelines around the cover, but usually, you’ll find some room to express your organization’s branding preferences on this page.

While donors do occasionally dictate or limit what can go in the headers and footers, often this is another area where the applicant can make some style choices. For example, you can add a colored bar beneath the header text or above the footer text. You may want to list the organization applying and the opportunity name in the header or footer. Or you can choose the minimalist route and insert page numbers only in the footer.

As long as you follow the donor’s guidelines, you may have room to express stylistic preferences in these places and others. To make the proposal process as seamless as possible, consider these style preferences during template preparation to avoid potential formatting issues after proposal writing begins.

Lesson Summary