From AussieInnovation Wiki

What follows is a section by section breakdown of what a submission should include, as well as brief explanation of what should go in each section.

Note that this is just our template to help people get started ... please feel free to use whatever structure you are confident presenting.

It borrows heavily from the WA's Department of Local Government and Regional Development guide and the SouthAustralia.biz grant application. Click through to the SouthAustralia.biz website for more painstaking detail. Just keep in mind that these guides are geared towards grant applications which are little different to these submissions. Grant applications generally have to justify granting the applicant money, and are hence more budget-orientated.

You might want to also look at non-profit guides.

These submissions do not have to raise money; they have to raise awareness. While all of them will go up on the Review website after they are completed, writing a good submission can make the different between being flicked over, and having an impact on how Australia fosters creativity.

Insert title here

Make it catchy. Make it relevant

Summary

This should be a concise wrap up of your proposal. It shouldn’t exceed 100 words. This is placed at the start of the submission, but is written at the end of the process to ensure that you make the strongest case possible.

Don’t hold anything back, if people aren’t grabbed by this part then there is a good chance they won’t read further.

The Problem

Here you outline the current situation and why it needs to be addressed.

It should be clear that there is room for improvement and taking action will have measurable benefits.

If there is no need or demand for what you are proposing then you had better reconsider your concept or think laterally about which groups are involved, how they will benefit and the problems addressed. Chances are, if you are serious about a proposal, it will be addressing a serious problem.

Some general tips:

• Make sure you highlight the problem
• Talk about ways the situation could be improved
• Make it motivational. This is a call for change.
• Supporting statements from other affected organisations can help here, just make sure you don’t put your organisation above the needs of the community affected/ the other organisations that support your request
• You can also touch on your qualifications here, and the experience you have with the problem, as well as why you are in a position to offer solutions

Objectives

This is the counterpoint to “The Problem”. Here you state exactly what you intend your proposal to do in the most concrete terms possible.

In short, which solution are you suggesting and what do you want to achieve? What is your objective with this proposal?

Justification of needs (Optional)

This is where you back up everything you said in The Problem with statistics, supporting research papers, links to similar calls to action, or the benefits reaped from similar projects elsewhere.

You may not need this section, but definitely add it if a lot of outside links and references started to clog up the motivational feel of “The Problem”. That section needs to present a compelling case, but if you have a wealth of information present it, or reference it, here.

My Organisation (Optional)

If the placement and experience of your organisation adds to the strength of the proposal, it might help to share that with the panel, as well as the strengths of the key personal who helped to compile the submission.

• Do not be afraid to celebrate your successes (or difficulties), but the main function for this section is to leave the panel with the understanding that what you have said comes out of solid research and reliable experience.

Outcomes

This is where you list the likely benefits from your proposal. The "Objective" section says what you'd like to happen, this says what your experience/research says the results will be. (Of course, you can post a submission even if you don't have concrete information on this, someone else in the community might be able to help).

This includes the direct benefits from your basic objective as well as any knock-on effects that you can reasonably expect. This could include revenue likely to be generated by the project for related companies, the projected number of new jobs, secondary advantages of the new infrastructure required, or likely cost savings.

If you want to earn extra points, you can outline how you will measure these outcomes and how long will it take to show the predicted impact.

Finally, what will be the likely cost of your proposal, versus its benefits? Again, not every submission will need this, but if you are arguing for tax concessions and your company has done the maths, it can make for a very convincing argument.

Project Timeline (Optional)

This is where you breakdown how the project would unfold.

Plan for Financial Sustainability (Optional)

If your proposal is for an ongoing project, this shows how it can become self-sustaining, the risks involved and the business model that is likely to keep it going.

We recommend you work on the proposal in the wiki format (hit "edit" above and copy and paste the text into a word processor so you can get it to the state you're happy with) so that you can post it to our New Submissions section for suggestions, collaborative polish and a sanity check. Trust us when we say a typo in just the rong place can be really embarrassing.

When you are ready to go, you can download the Microsoft Word version of the submission template here.