Rhetoric. You might think of that term in the context of exclamations about how tired people are of all the rhetoric about X topic. . . but the term rhetoric doesn’t actually mean insincere or facetious claims or opinions. Rhetoric means the art(s) of persuasion. It’s what I earned my Ph.D. in and taught to undergraduate students for years.
When I first started my grant writing consulting business, I intended to use that rhetorical training to improve arguments in grant proposals and help small nonprofits secure funding. That’s what I did, and that’s what I now teach my Grant Writing Made Easy students to do in their own proposals. Over the last 5 years of using my rhetorical approach to grant writing and teaching it to hundreds of students, I’ve seen it result in much more successful grants.
In today’s post, I want to share a glimpse of how I approach argumentation or persuasion in grant proposals.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
- What logos, ethos, and pathos mean
- How to use research to make logical appeals
- How to use storytelling to make ethical and pathetic appeals
Logos, ethos, and pathos
Ancient Greek rhetorician Aristotle’s treatise Rhetoric is still looked to as the foundation of modern rhetoric. He claimed that successful arguments use the following three types of rhetorical appeals:
- Logical: (logos) appeals to logic or reason
- Ethical: (ethos) appeals based on the credibility or character of the speaker (writer)
- Pathetic: (pathos) appeals that draw on the emotions of the audience
Often, grant writers focus their attention solely on the logos of their proposals and leave the emotional appeals for more public forms of writing like donor appeal letters, social media posts, and promotional videos. However, when you subtly weave these three appeals throughout your proposal, you’ll leave readers with a sense of empathy, confidence, and familiarity with your work.
A logical and well-constructed argument consists of three parts: the claim, the reason, and the warrant (or assumption).
Basically, what this means is that for every claim you make, you need to support it with evidence and make sure that you understand the assumptions underlying your claim (and that these assumptions are not unreasonable).
One means to make both a logical appeal and establish your own ethos is to incorporate research that supports your proposal’s argument.
The importance of research
Even if you’ve found a grantmaker whose funding priorities align with your work, you’ll need to convince them that your specific cause and how your nonprofit approaches it is worth supporting. That’s why you should look at your entire grant application as an opportunity for persuading your reader to support your work.
Research is one of the most important elements of a strong argument. To support your case that there is a significant need for your work, you can turn to demographic statistics and government reports. Incorporating current news stories is another way to include research in your statement of need; it will demonstrate to the funder the timeliness and relevance of your work and make a strong connection between the problem/need and your proposed solution. As you’re writing the statement of need and program design, make sure that each problem you point out in the statement of need can be tied directly to your recommended intervention in the program design. Not only will this allow you to make well-supported claims, but it will also show the funder that you are a true expert in the field.
As you’re conducting research on your topic, you need to make sure that the research you choose to support your arguments are quality sources. To do that, evaluate each source based on the following criteria:
- Relevant: The source should speak directly to some aspect of your argument. Are you trying to convince a grantmaker that low literacy attainment in your state is related to inadequate reading curriculum in public schools? You need sources that assert that.
- Accurate: Make sure that your sources aren’t misinterpreting or misrepresenting information. If you have a news article that refers to the results of a research study, go find and read the research study. Don’t just take the journalist’s understanding of the study at face value. You need to know for sure what the study actually says.
- Credible: Rely on secondary research that is peer reviewed research by scholars on that topic and rely on primary research that is collected by the government or, again, scholars in the field.
- Timely: Don’t use old data or old research that is no longer widely accepted or used in the field. (Unless you’re using it as a comparison to new information to show change in statistics or ways of thinking about a topic.)
- Diverse: Use a wide range of types of sources (news articles, government data, academic research, trade publications). Also consider the diversity of perspective in your research.
How to use storytelling
One way to create both a pathetic and ethical appeal is to tell a story that appeals to your readers’ emotions and presents your nonprofit as experienced and virtuous, you’ll use one of my favorite grant writing strategies–storytelling.
There are 5 main considerations when telling a story in a grant proposal:
- Purpose: Make sure you know why you are telling a story. What are you arguing or what feeling are you trying to evoke in your readers?
- Values: Your audience’s values will affect their interpretation of the narrative you write. What will they value? Anecdotes from your participants? Your personal experience with and connection to your research?
- Point of View: Pick a perspective and verb tense and stick to them!
- Dialogue: Use quotations from your program participants to help the grantmaker see the human impact of your work. (This will require you to conduct interviews or surveys!)
- Transitions: Connect each part of the story to the next and make it easy for the reader to follow along. Try to stick to the story arc format (Exposition–>Conflict–>Rising Action–>Climax –>Falling Action–>Resolution).
Where you incorporate a story into your grant proposal is dependent upon where you need to call on the emotions of your readers, be most memorable, and show how your nonprofit has most impacted your participants/community.
Learn with us
If you’re interested in learning more about how to craft strong arguments in your own grant writing, join our comprehensive, self-paced, online course, Grant Writing Made Easy.
