5. Grant Writing Glossary
Writing clear and concise goals, objectives, and outcomes is essential to communicating the impact and effectiveness of your project to funders. Ultimately, this can make your application more competitive and will aid the grant reviewer in comparing your application against others that might be less explicit about their project’s direction and focus. For this reason, we have included goals and objectives in the Statement of Interest form.
What’s the Difference between Goals, Objectives, and Outcomes?
Goals, objectives, and outcomes serve as a roadmap that guides the reader through the logic of your program. They also provide greater context to the activities and timeframe you have chosen for your project, and provide links between activities and deliverables. Below is a brief overview of goals, objectives, and outcomes in addition to other commonly-used terms:
- Goals: Goals are broad statements that provide the foundation for your approach to a particular problem. They set the context of how you are going to address the problems outlined in your rationale. For example: “The main goal of ‘Project Greenspace’ is to increase environmental practices in suburban homeowners through environmental workshops.”
- Objectives: Objectives provide a tangible link between your main goal, and what your program will achieve through your activities and measurable outcomes. Objectives are more specific, and are usually tied to a particular activity or series of activities (depending on the complexity of your program). For example: “We will increase uptake of cost effective energy efficient technologies amongst 25 homeowners.”
- Outputs: Outputs are the direct result of project activities. Outputs are usually numeric, and might give details regarding the number of classes taught, booklets printed and given to stakeholders, participation rates, or meetings held. Outputs are often referred to interchangeably with “deliverables.” For example: “20 environmental workshops were held.”
- Outcomes: Simply put, an outcome is a change or benefit that participants of your project will experience as a result of your activities. Outcomes are usually considered medium-term benefits that have a direct effect on the knowledge, behavior, or practices of the participants involved in your project. For example: “95% of homeowners will implement energy efficient technologies in their homes.”
- Impacts: Impacts are positive changes made as a result of your program at the organizational, community, or systems-level. Impacts can be difficult to measure, might extend beyond the lifespan of your project, and require careful planning and an evaluation plan. For example: “Two years after ‘Project Greenspace’ we expect a 10% increase in uptake of energy efficient technologies in the local community.”
It is important to note that funders will often use some of these terms interchangeably, or might have a different interpretation of what each term will achieve in terms of your project. For instance, a funder might use “objectives” and “outcomes” interchangeably as their meanings are relatively similar.
Letters of Support
When asking partners, community groups and government officials to endorse your organization and program in a letter of support, it is standard practice to provide a customizable letter. Refer to this sample as a springboard for crafting your own persuasive support letter templates.
Recommended Links
- Grant Writing Tips & Resources from the Region of Peel
- Five Writing Style Secrets to Get You Funded from the Grant Training Center
- Four Ways to Please the Reviewers of Your Government Grant Proposal from The Balance
- Grant Writing 102: Tips from Successful Grantwriters from GuideStar
- Writing a Grant Application from the Funding Centre
- Six Tips for a Solid Grant Budget from Imagine Canada