Start a draft from a template

A template gives you a draft to work on before you have chosen a grant. It opens in the writing workspace with each part of the template as a section and a prompt under each. Starting one needs grant editing access, and Client (view only) members do not see the button.

Choose a template

1. Open Applications and choose Start from a template. When your organization has no drafts yet, the list of templates is also on the page itself, and for a new organization Start a draft on the Dashboard opens it.
2. Choose Start draft beside the template you want. The new draft opens in the writing workspace.

There are seven templates: Grant Proposal (the full structure, ending with an attachments checklist), Grant Proposal Executive Summary, Statement of Need, Grant Proposal Cover Letter, Grant Letter of Intent (LOI), Grant Evaluation Plan and SMART Goals & Objectives Worksheet. The list shows how many parts each one has. They are the same templates the GrantCue blog offers as downloads.

What the draft contains

The draft takes the template's title. Each part becomes a section holding the template's own guidance, mostly in square brackets, such as what to cover and how long it should be. Replace each prompt with your own text. On Essentials and higher, Draft from the other sections on an executive summary skips paragraphs that are only a bracketed prompt or a [ ] checklist line, so it works from what you wrote.

Otherwise a template draft works like any other draft: sections save as you type, and the writing tools, the Content library and the Word and PDF downloads are the same. See Applications and the writing workspace.

Link it to a grant

A notice above the editor says which template the draft came from. The draft has no grant yet, so it has no funder deadline, funder requirements or submission record. When you know the funder, open Link to grant in that notice, choose one of your saved grants that has no draft yet, and choose Link to grant. If you have no saved grant to choose, the notice links to Discover instead.

If your organization has not answered its setup questions, admins also see Match grants to this draft above the editor. Answer the questions brings you back to the draft afterward.

Choosing the same template again within 30 minutes opens the draft you already started instead of making a second one. After that, Start draft makes a new draft each time.