Do Your Grant Reviewers See the Forest… or Just the Trees?

One of the most common mistakes grant writers make? Diving into the details of a program without making it contextual. In other words, describing the trees when the reviewer doesn’t yet have a sense of the forest.

You know your community, your beneficiaries, your theory of change—it’s second nature. But your reviewer? They’re usually coming in cold. Especially when you’re shifting from local to national funders, assuming familiarity can result in confusion and lost points.

Describe the Forest Before the Trees

The most successful grant writers help reviewers understand why the project matters before explaining how it works. Here’s how:

Set the context early with essential details.

Who are you serving? What issue are you addressing? Where is this happening, and why now? Think like a journalist: Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How Much? These aren’t filler—they’re foundational.

Help reviewers visualize your program.

Paint a picture in their mind. Use clear, concise language to explain the situation on the ground and the change your work creates. If they can’t see it, they can’t score it as well as your proposal deserves to be scored.

Avoid jargon and insider shortcuts.

Sector-specific acronyms, buzzwords, or assumed knowledge can be a major barrier. Instead, use plain language—even if it feels “too basic.” Remember, clarity is not the enemy of expertise.

Connect your needs directly to your proposed actions.

Don’t assume the reviewer will make the logical leap for you. If you’re stating a need for youth mental health support, explicitly connect it to the peer counseling program you’re proposing. Draw the line.

Get a fresh pair of eyes.

Ask someone outside your organization—someone unfamiliar with your program—to read a draft. If they don’t get it, a reviewer probably won’t either. Your mom would probably love to read your work! Ask her. You can also use a tool like Grammarly to be sure you are writing to a wide audience. We recommend your writing be at an eighth grade level (or below) unless you are writing a highly technical grant.

If your proposal opens with a tangle of program details but skips over the big picture—you’ve lost them.

Pro tip: If your reviewer can’t understand the what, why, and who by the first page, they may never get to how brilliant your solution is. Make the forest impossible to miss.

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This post was filed under: Grant Writing, Training