Project or Program Timeline

by Cynthia M. Adams, CEO, GrantStation.com

Despite its tedium, the timeline is yet another section of the grant proposal to sell your project to the grantmaker. Laying out the sequence of events in a timeline will provide the reader with a visual cue to better understand the process necessary for your objectives to be met. Once someone thoroughly comprehends this process, you are halfway to getting approval for your request.

The timeline is simply a way for the reader to see the relationship between what needs to happen, when it needs to happen, why it has to happen in a particular sequence, and who needs to make it happen.

If your project is fairly simple, you’ll want to add detail to the timeline to demonstrate that even though it is a small request for a straightforward project, you have considered which elements need to be attended to and in what order.

If the project is complicated, the timeline can communicate benchmarks and reflect the goals and objectives to be achieved.

In addition, the timeline can be used outside of the proposal process to communicate with clients, board members, collaborative partners, and...