Grant Writing Best Practices

Maryland Philanthropy Network is pleased to provide nonprofit professionals with both the Grant Proposal and Budget Format and related Guide to MPN’s Grant Format free of charge, among other free resources. See the left sidebar for our various grant writing resource attachments under "FILES."

The primary purpose of the Grant Proposal and Budget Format and related Guide to MPN’s Grant Format is to provide free education on how to write a high-quality proposal. These resources were developed by a Grant Format Revision Task Force (2013-2014) comprised of Maryland Philanthropy Network members, AFP-Maryland, Maryland Nonprofits, and nonprofit professionals. The resources were co-designed using interviews with grantmakers and small-staffed nonprofit organizations and considered the efficient practices of Project Streamline (now part of the Principles of PEAK Grantmaking).

But what happened to the Common Grant?

Trends in grant practice and web-based applications led Maryland Philanthropy Network to discontinue the Common Grant and Reporting Formats in 2014.

The Grant Proposal and Budget Format we now offer as a resource above is not a "common grant" application or a single proposal for a community of funders. If a foundation requests that you use the "Maryland Philanthropy Network Common Grant Format," please refer to the Grant Proposal and Budget Format linked in the left sidebar.