How Do Nonprofit Proposal Writers Learn Their Jobs? Results of a Nationwide Survey and Interviews
Sarah K. Gunning
What the paper says
This article responds to the need for studies on the proposal-writing process within nonprofit organizations. The few empirical studies within the technical communication field and nonprofit studies have focused on job satisfaction and compensation rather than the writing process. Based on a nationwide survey ( n = 580) and interviews ( n = 18) of members of several professional organizations for proposal writers, this study describes the differences between academic and nonprofit proposal writers, writers’ experiences learning their job duties, and how long it takes to feel confident in their position. The study also reports three areas of study that writers said are important to their job: research methods, project management, and personnel management. The author provides suggestions to professors of proposal-writing coursework and recommends that they pair with local professional organizations to develop strong connections with the profession.
Evidence weight
Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40
| F · citation impact | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
| M · momentum | 0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07 |
| V · venue signal | 0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03 |
| R · text relevance † | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.