This handbook presents funding strategies and procedures and techniques that help in the preparation of a competent proposal. It summarizes ideas about proposal development, offering specific information to help proposal writers, provides examples from successful proposals, and presents tips to enhance successful funding. The text focuses on programs available through the United States Department of Education, but the ideas should help those writing proposals for other agencies. This handbook explains how grants are awarded; how to write a proposal that gets noticed and gives compelling reasons why a grant should be funded, and how to implement and operate a grant award. These ideas are presented in three parts: (1) exploring the grants world; (2) writing grant proposals; and (3) implementing, operating, and terminating a project. The guide discusses how to explore grant possibilities in education, how to use the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations, how to use the Internet to access funding resources, how to write a proposal, understanding site visits and audits, how to close out a project, and numerous other suggestions. The appendices include a list of abbreviations, state points of contact, and a glossary of terms. (Contains 18 references.) (RJM)