What makes most proposals fail?
Question submitted by: Kennedy Mutale, Decisive Minds, Zambia
There are many reasons proposals fail, and not all of them live within the proposal document itself. Organisational readiness, donor intelligence, and internal systems all play a role. But among all the factors outside the proposal, the most critical is the relationship. A proposal is the formalisation of a relationship, not its beginning. Organisations that have cultivated a donor, engaged them, understood their priorities and ensured they know who you are, consistently outperform those that respond cold. Before a word is written, one question must be answered: do we have a relationship with this donor?
Assuming that the foundation is in place, here is where proposals most commonly fail from within:
Failure to demonstrate contextual understanding.
A strong proposal shows the donor you deeply understand the operating environment – who the active partners are, what interventions are underway, what gaps remain, and critically, how your organisation is uniquely positioned to address those gaps. Donors want partners who understand the full landscape and can confidently articulate where they fit within it.
Organisational capacity is absent or invisible.
Some organisations genuinely lack the systems and track record donors require. But equally common is the organisation that has the capacity but fails to demonstrate it in the proposal, assuming its reputation will speak for itself. Every proposal must explicitly make the organisational case. Reputation may open a door, but the proposal must walk through it.
Misalignment with donor priorities.
This goes beyond reading the call for proposals. It means understanding the donor’s wider strategy and what they are genuinely trying to achieve, and ensuring your work connects in substance, not just in language. Responding to every open call, regardless of fit, dilutes positioning and significantly reduces success rates.
Activity-focused rather than impact-focused.
Proposals built around long lists of activities, disconnected from meaningful change, lose readers quickly. Donors invest in outcomes, not busyness. Activities are the vehicle, not the destination.
Finally, a strong proposal is not a collection of sections filled in one by one. It is a single, coherent, interconnected document, like a carefully woven basket where every strand strengthens the others. Context informs the problem. The problem justifies the approach. The approach connects to outcomes. Pull any strand out of place, and the whole thing weakens. That is the standard to which every proposal should be held.
(This answer was provided by Lucy Njue, a Kenyan fundraising and sustainability strategist, and Founder and Executive Director of Realtime Insights)
