ENG 301: Writing for the Professions

Dr. Keith Miller

Proposal Assignment

You did such an extraordinarily wonderful job in "ENG 301 Writing for the Professions" that, upon graduating from ASU, you created a splendid name for yourself in your profession.

After five years you decide you want to create something new, bright, and shiny--either your own company or your own non-profit organization.

You decide what you want this business or non-profit to be: its purpose, function, size, policies, shape, description, jobs, and location. Your new company or non-profit cannot be tiny. It must be large enough to make the enterprise worth doing. You cannot create Fred's Rocket Enterprises for the purpose of giving vacationers two weeks on Mars. Instead you must create a plausible enterprise.

Of course, you do have a tiny problem. Impossible events have occurred. Your sweet, wealthy Uncle Magillicuddy lost his mind and, upon his death, you learned that he unthinkably omitted your name from his will. (Either that or he somehow misspelled your name so badly that if came out looking like your cousin's name instead.) And your formerly loving, now divorcing spouse has hired a ferocious legal tiger who is clawing away your worldly possessions. Your tiny problem? Money. You need it. If you are creating either a business or a nonprofit, you need money to buy or lease a building, to make your payroll, to buy equipment and supplies, and to meet all expenses. If you are creating a business, you also must turn a profit.

Given your disastrous family situation and decrepit financial state (having lost your car, you are now scrimping for bus fare), you have no choice but to raise funds from backers. To do so, you must write a proposal. Thus, this assignment.

Your audience is clear. You will send your proposal to potential donors, partners, shareholders, sympathizers, and stakeholders. You need to explain exactly what your enterprise will do, why it is needed, and how it will work.

Specifically you need to explain goals, purposes, scope, types and numbers of employees, location, building(s), expected operations and achievements. You also need to estimate costs for everything. Plus you need to project your development over your first year, second year, and third year. You need to write a proposal good enough to attract financial investors or donors.