Objective Work Plan

Current as of:

Objective Work Plan (OWP) Guidance

The Objective Work Plan (OWP) form is required with all ANA grant applications. The OWP form and its instructions are available in the application package on https://www.grants.gov/ and on the Grants.gov Forms page . Applicants may use the OWP form found on the Grant Application package in the Grants.gov Workspace or the MS Word version from the ANA website.  Click here to download the Word version of the OWP form (DOCX)

In the event that an applicant has requested and been granted an exception to apply in paper format, please use MS Word Version from the ANA Website.

The OWP organizes and presents project elements to highlight connections and support monitoring of project progress and achievement.  The alignment of objectives and outcomes serves to highlight the relationship between the two elements.  Identification of key activities provides a blueprint for implementation and benchmarks to mark progress.

A maximum of three objectives may be proposed throughout the entire project period.  In multi-year projects, some objectives may continue for multiple years.  A separate OWP form should be completed for each objective for each year of the project. 

Each section of the OWP should be completed according to the following instructions:

  1.  Project Title:  Identify the project title.  The same title appears in box 15 of the SF-424 form and will be used throughout the entire project period.  
  2.  Project Goal:  Identify the goal of the project as stated in the project narrative.  The project goal is a statement describing what role the project will play in enhancing the current community condition.
  3. Objectives:  Include the objective as stated in the project narrative.  Each objective must include the following elements:  specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART).  Each form should have only one objective.  
  4. Outcomes:  Outcomes describe the most significant change the objective will produce.  Include the primary outcome for each objective as stated in the project narrative Outputs:  Outputs are the direct, tangible results of activities.  This is often expressed as a target number of activities completed and/or people served.  Example outputs include the following: 
    • Documents produced, curricula or education materials developed, research, ordinances or laws developed;
    • Number of classes taught, meetings held, or materials produced and distributed; 
    • Program participation rates; or 
    • Hours of each type of service provided. 
  5. Key Activities:  Activities are key project activities needed to successfully achieve each output.  It is likely that more than one activity will be needed in order to produce an output.  A maximum of 25 activities should be listed for each year of an objective.
  6. Project Staff:  List all staff positions directly working on an activity. Please do not list the names of staff
  7. Begin Date:  Identify realistic dates within the budget period when work on each activity will begin.  Use absolute dates.  September 30, 2020, should be written 9/30/2020.
  8. End Date:  Enter the date within the budget period when work the activity will be completed.  If an activity will continue into the next budget period, please indicate the last day of the current budget period for the activity.  Use absolute dates.  September 30, 2020, should be written 9/30/2020.

For electronic submission of your application, please review the guidance below on how to fill out the OWP on Grants.gov .

  1. Fill out the SF-424 with the official title of your project, which will then transfer to the OWP “title” field.  The “title” field is not editable as it pulls directly from the SF-424.
  2. All open fields are required with the exception of the “other support” field.  An error message will pop up for all other blank fields included in the form.
  3. Use complete dates, including the month/day/year (for example: 00/00/0000).  There is a calendar option as well; you can use the calendar option to choose a date from a pop up window.  If inputting future years, the manual entry is usually the faster option for entering the begin and end dates.
  4. Please also ensure that the begin and end dates are not the same date.
  5. Add only one activity at a time.  If many activities are added without completing all of the fields associated with each activity, there will be multiple pop ups due to incomplete fields.
  6. The OWP should be organized by project objective.  For example, if your project has 3 objectives for 3 years, you should organize your OWP listing all of the years of the project under each objectives, then start on objective 2, and complete the form with objective 3 (if applicable).