The project proposal phase is instrumental in capturing the essential details. Without a solid framework, team leads don’t know who is responsible for what, or individual contributors are clueless about what’s expected.
ResearchGate data shows almost 40% of projects fail because of insufficient planning. And if there’s a communication breakdown—the rise in project failure jumps to nearly 60%.
Teams know this risk, which is why you see more leads using project proposal templates before hitting the launch button. If you manage a team, a project proposal template should work as a detailed checklist for all of your stakeholders.
Project proposal templates do more than just provide the nitty-gritty details. A solid plan encourages stakeholder buy-in. It also helps you secure budget approvals while highlighting the impact of success.
To help you get your ducks in a row, we’ve collected 10 of the best project proposal templates you can use—absolutely free. But before we dig in, let’s take a look at what a project proposal is in the first place.
10 Project Proposal TemplatesIdeal proposal types: Solicited, Unsolicited, Informal, Renewal, Continuation, and Supplemental
Documenting your project proposal doesn’t always mean you only need to work with written text. In fact, visual proposals can help portray your ideas and framework more clearly.
That’s why the ClickUp Project Proposal Whiteboard Template is one of the best options to visually showcase your plan. This template uses ClickUp’s Whiteboard feature to vividly promote your proposal in a completely editable format.
Customization is king when it comes to project management, which is why ClickUp’s template is perfect for project leads wanting to tailor proposals to their specific stakeholders’ needs. The prebuilt graphs on the Whiteboard simplify the process of connecting various parts of the framework, so everyone knows who is responsible for what.
ClickUp offers collaborative features to quickly assign stakeholders to comments, link tasks in the Whiteboard view, and prevent bottlenecks with the Critical Path line so project managers know exactly what’s holding up a project.
Download This TemplateIdeal proposal types: Solicited, Unsolicited, Informal, Renewal, and Continuation
If you manage clients for a creative agency, you’re always selling your firm to your current and potential customers. Creative agencies have to highlight what sets them apart from the rest and ultimately show clients how they can do this and within what timeframe.
Did you know a Sprout Social marketing agency survey found more than 4 in 5 agencies actually customize their proposals for each individual client?
If you want to truly highlight and customize your proposal to a specific client, using the ClickUp Creative Agency Proposal Template is a great place to start. This template streamlines the pitch to your clients with customizable tags, custom fields, and a visible progress bar.
Easily create a detailed to-do list where you can assign tasks, create important subtasks, assign comments to stakeholders, and provide priority statuses to show everyone the most essential steps.
Download This TemplateIdeal proposal types: Solicited, Renewal, Continuation, and Supplemental
The ClickUp RFP Template is ideal for those working in a non—or at least—less competitive field when needing to highlight your expertise on a project proposal. This solicited type of proposal needs a template that can go above and beyond with its details so every aspect of the project is covered.
RFPs need to be meticulous and informative so that everyone involved knows their responsibilities. The ClickUp RFP template gives you the ability to work from a large checklist that was customized by expert ClickUp project managers!
Not all RFPs are the same, but there are a ton of similarities and common requests that this ClickUp template includes. Kick it off to begin your project proposal process or use it to add more specific details to your framework.
Download This TemplateIdeal proposal types: Solicited, Unsolicited, Informal, Renewal, Continuation, and Supplemental
Dev teams are notorious for needing project information quickly and the solution or project expectations even faster.
Working in a high project delivery environment makes web developers succinct with their project timelines because they’re typically working from project sprints.
Use this template to help search for bidders for your web development project. In fact, the ClickUp Request for Proposal Template was specifically designed for web development projects and for creating a clear project proposal.
The template includes a Getting Started guide with ClickUp Docs presets to ensure you add your mission statement, project overview, vision, timeline, and so much more.
Download This TemplateIdeal proposal types: Solicited, Unsolicited, Continuation, and Supplemental
Sure—there are a ton of project proposal templates and business proposal docs out there. But for businesses that specifically need a commercial proposal to give to investors, land owners, or construction firms, you must have everything thoroughly documented.
The ClickUp Commercial Proposal Template is perfect for those wanting to present their business proposals to current or potential partners and all the potential project scope issues. Additionally, having a tailored project proposal for your business gives off a much better impression.
This is especially true for commercial businesses that use simple Google Doc project proposal templates that might not include anything beyond a company logo and mission statement. It’s time to upgrade to ClickUp.
Download This TemplateIdeal proposal types: Solicited, Unsolicited, Informal, and Renewal
Project narratives can be lengthy documents that include all of your thoughts, ideas, and proposals—together in one place. They help by organizing the overall project timeline and asking the essential who, what, where, when, why, and how questions.
The ClickUp Project Narrative Template works as a primary component of your project while overviewing the summary, goals, objectives, project timeline, stakeholders, and more.
Having the ability to customize your project narrative is critical to creating a solid business proposal. This project proposal template keeps you from getting too technical in your language to describe the project without short-selling the information or project scope.
Download This TemplateIdeal proposal types: Unsolicited, Informal, Renewal, Continuation, and Supplemental
If you’re looking for a free and very simple Microsoft Word project proposal template to plug and play for your next proposed project, this is it. The Microsoft Service Proposal Template helps you break out your business proposal pitch into separate sections.
Additionally, this one page proposal template allows you to showcase the business objectives, project deliverables, and overall approach to your project’s pricing and schedule. Its preformatted tables allow you to provide exact and relevant details to your project—all in one Word document.
You can use this template as a short-gap solution for contract negotiations or renewing an old project.
Download This TemplateIdeal proposal types: Unsolicited, Informal, and Continuation
Microsoft Word isn’t known to be the premium platform for well-designed project templates, but the Template.net Project Proposal Template takes it up a notch. This free project proposal template allows you to present your project to stakeholders without having them look at a bland Word Doc.
However, its customization, beyond text editing, is pretty limited. The template provides a set breakdown of an executive summary, problem, solution, and objects. At the same time, the template doesn’t leave a lot of room for creativity.
You can add different sections and program them on most devices, which makes it a very simple solution to planning for your proposed project.
Download This TemplateIdeal proposal types: Solicited, Unsolicited, and Supplemental
For scholars, teachers, and students, this academic project proposal is helpful to propose upcoming research projects with a simplistic, but professional breakdown. The detailed Template.net University Final Project Proposal Template includes a section to provide institutions with more information about you or your team.
It also has sections to help you provide a timeline for the project details, pricing for the research, and the terms and conditions of the project. If you’re wanting a tailored template for your academic project proposal, this is it.
Download This TemplateIdeal proposal types: Informal, Renewal, Continuation, and Supplemental
Wanting to propose your website project to a business or provide details about your process via a requested proposal? The Template.net Website Project Proposal Template might be a good fit for you.
In this project proposal template, you get a simplistic breakdown to highlight:
Web devs can certainly agree on one thing—projects can easily go off course in a hurry. That’s why it’s helpful to include all of your project details and potential project scope issues directly in your project proposal.
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Summarize this article for me pleaseProject managers and leads typically work with six different types of project proposals, which document their own unique project goals. Before adopting a new project proposal outline, it’s a good idea to get familiar with the six types of proposals first:
Much like it sounds, this type of project proposal occurs when someone solicits or requests a proposal from you. The goal is to get your expert advice or guidance on a specific project framework. This often comes through an RFP or Request for Proposal and does not compete with other proposals (i.e. contending businesses or agencies).
On the other hand, unsolicited proposals are typically sent without receiving a specific request or RFP. This format’s goal is to highlight why your framework is superior, which is why unsolicited proposals are frequently used in bids from contractors.
Informal proposals are requested from clients or businesses that aren’t necessarily looking for an RFP, but a more conversational approach to pitch a project. The goal of this format is more flexible because it requires less specificity.
Renewal project proposals are sent to current clients in an attempt to continue, extend, or level up services with your proposed framework. Typically, the goal of this proposal is to highlight previous results or production to influence more buy-in.
Instead of convincing clients or businesses of your plan, a continuation project proposal communicates or reminds stakeholders about the start or current progress of the project. The goal is to keep stakeholders informed and up-to-date—rather than persuading them to accept the proposal.
A supplemental project proposal works like a continuation proposal. However, this type of proposal doesn’t just provide an update, it asks for additional resources—whether it’s labor or monetary funding. The goal is to convince stakeholders there is more needed to complete the original plan.
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