Project Plan — Activities & Timeline

📝 The structure — fill in YOUR words

Break the project into phases. For each phase:

  PHASE NAME (Month X – Month Y)
  - Activity 1: what happens, who does it, how often
  - Activity 2: ...
  Milestone: how you know the phase worked

Typical phases: Startup → Implementation → Evaluation → Closeout.
Put it in a simple table if the funder allows — reviewers love tables.

✅ A good example

"Phase 1 — Startup (Months 1-2): Hire coordinator, finalize curriculum with school partners, enroll first 75 teens. Milestone: staff hired and 75 teens registered. Phase 2 — Implementation (Months 3-10): Daily programming 3-6pm, weekly tutoring, monthly family nights. Milestone: 80% attendance rate sustained..."

🚫 Common mistakes

• Activities with no owner — 'workshops will be held' by whom?
• A timeline that starts the day after the award — build in 4-6 weeks of startup.
• Forgetting evaluation activities in the timeline — data collection is work too.

💡 Tips

• Name real partners in the activities — it proves the plan is more than a wish.
• Add a month of buffer before the funder's deadline in YOUR internal timeline.