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Follow these 5 easy steps to increase your chances of success in your NOFA application. Learn how to understand the funding requirements, create a strong proposal, and evaluate your application like a reviewer. Don't forget to ask for a second opinion!
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5 EASY STEPS That Can Help Lead To NOFA Success Presented By: Barbara S. Dorf, Director Office of Departmental Grants Management and Oversight U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development August 2002
Step 1: Start Your Application By Taking the Time to Read the General Section and the Program Section of the SuperNOFA Understand the purpose of the funding Identify the threshold factors that you will have to meet for your application to be reviewed
Understand the program requirements Is there a required match-what is the % or amount? Do you have to work in partnership with particular groups or organizations? Are there specific required activities? Are there specific required program beneficiaries? Are there specific HUD policy priority areas that you can meet as part of meeting the needs of your community and which could earn you higher points in the rating factors? Step 1: Start Your Application By Taking the Time to Read the General Section and the Program Section of the SuperNOFA (continued)
Step 2: Make an Outline of the Requirements • As you read the NOFA take a highlighter and note the must have items • Take another highlighter and note the key elements in each rating factor • Underline items that indicate that: ”You will receive higher rating points if you…”
Step 3: Make an Outline of Your Proposal • Make sure it covers all the items that you have identified as pertinent to your getting through the threshold review and then the scoring review • Make your write-up short, to the point, following the items that you have in your outline • Step back and evaluate your proposal against the requirements, rating factors and other highlighted items
Step 4: Become the Other Person • Place yourself as the reviewer of your proposal who knows nothing about you, your experience, your community. Ask yourself these questions: • Have you met the threshold requirements? • Did you respond to the Factors for Award? • Does your proposal lay out a convincing argument in favor of your capacity to do the work?
Step 4: Become the Other Person (continued) • Have you provided a timeline? • Have you provided documentation of need? • Does your proposal outline the specific activities and tasks you will perform and your budget for accomplishing the work? • Have you provided letters for matching or leveraged funds? • Have you described how your program fits with other activities going on in the community?
Step 4: Become the Other Person (continued) • If you knew nothing about your community, would you understand: • How to accomplish the work • How you were going to meet specific program requirements • The timeframe for accomplishing the requirements • The experience and capacity needed to perform the work
Step 4: Become the Other Person (continued) • If you were rating your application against the criteria in the NOFA, what score would you give your application? ….Be honest!
Step 5: Ask Another Person to Review and Rate Your Application • What was their overall impression of the quality of your application? • What score were you given? • Did they express uncertainty or confusion on certain elements?
Step 5: Ask Another Person to Review and Rate Your Application (continued) • Can they tell you in 10 sentences or less: • Your ability to do the work • The extent of the need for these funds in your community and what the need is • What you are going to do with the money if you get funded • Who are your partners and how are you leveraging the funding received from HUD • How your program of activities fits or furthers other activities going on in your community • When and what results can be expected to be achieved by giving you the funds
Step 5: Ask Another Person to Review and Rate Your Application (continued) • Can they trace the elements in your response to the criteria in the rating factor? • What did they identify as the strengths and weaknesses in your proposal? “Take their comments to heart and review what you are proposing”
