A grant/funding proposal or application is a document or set of documents that is submitted to an organization with the explicit intent of securing funding for a research project. Before you begin writing your proposal, you need to know what kind of research you will be doing and why. You may have a topic or experiment in mind, but taking the time to define what your ultimate purpose is can be essential to convincing others to fund that project. Writing successful grant applications is a long process that begins with an idea. Before you start writing- Identify your needs and focus by answering the following questions: 1. What are you passionate about? (In terms of research, that is) 2. What is the problem (or need) and why is it important? 3.How is existing knowledge or practice inadequate? 4. What will it contribute and who will benefit from it?