The Good News About Character Limits

I have learned to appreciate character limits.

Character limits are those bothersome restrictions on the number of characters, or words in the case of word limits, that many funders impose on proposal narratives. They seem to get shorter and shorter, causing growing frustration and even panic among grant writers.

What accounts for my change of heart?

There’s nothing we can do about this trend and accepting it is a lot less aggravating than moaning about it.

More important, funders have good reasons for assigning character limits:

• It’s equitable. Every applicant has the same amount of space to make the case for our programs.
• Character limits help us get to the point. Often we can say what we need to say in fewer words. This can improve quality—a lot.
• Funders are busy. I believe they’re happier with short descriptions of our organizations, communities and programs. A happy funder is good for business.
• Short, crisp proposals that get to the point help the reader quickly understand your programs and their impact. This can be a huge advantage when facing stiff competition.

So how do we fit our writing within the confines—or shall we say the possibilities—of a small space?

Pare down. That’s about it! You wouldn’t believe how many characters I’ve deleted since my first draft of this article.

For example

Before: This usually makes the quality a lot better. (45 characters)
After: This can improve quality, a lot. (32 characters)

Before: The program provides opportunities for the development of 21st century skills. (79 characters)
After: The program helps clients develop 21st century skills. (55 characters)

Some ideas

• Delete any repetition or other clutter you don’t need to make your case.
• Use short sentences, short words and plain language.
• Be selective about using adverbs and adjectives.
• Put away your proposal and look at it tomorrow. You’ll quickly identify more words—or phrases or even whole sentences—you don’t need after you take a break.
• Ask an uninvolved colleague to review the proposal for brevity.
• Keeping it short takes time, so plan accordingly.

It’s not that different from cleaning out closets, and we all know how great it feels to get rid of stuff we don’t need.

So, change your attitude and have fun. And thanks for reading this article!