Need a mentoring program proposal template that actually gets approved? This guide walks you through a proven structure, backed by data, with a free mentoring program proposal template you can download at the end.
If you know your organisation needs a mentoring program, the next step is clear: you need a proposal that gets it off the ground.
A mentoring program proposal isn’t just a plan; it’s your business case. It outlines the problem, positions mentoring as a strategic solution, and shows why now is the right time to invest. It’s how you secure leadership buy-in, budget approval, and internal support.
This guide provides a step-by-step structure to help you write a compelling proposal. One that speaks directly to executive priorities and aligns with your agency or department’s strategic goals.
Use our customisable framework to build your case, launch with confidence, and demonstrate measurable outcomes.
A mentoring program is not about ticking a development box. It’s about responding to a clear organisational challenge and using mentoring as a strategic lever to address it. That’s where your proposal needs to begin.
For example, if your agency is struggling with early-career retention, mentoring offers targeted support that helps new employees connect, develop, and stay.
According to the 2023 AHRI Turnover & Retention Report, 19% of Australian organisations cited “too few learning and development opportunities” as a reason employees leave.
Or perhaps you’re facing succession risks. Many teams are seeing an increase in retirements and not enough emerging leaders ready to step up.
The Australian Institute of Management found in their 2022 survey that 27% of organisations had no formal succession plan - and over half said leadership capability was a barrier to growth.
This is where mentoring can make a measurable impact. It connects institutional knowledge with emerging talent, builds internal capability, and fosters knowledge transfer in a way that traditional training cannot.
By clearly articulating the organisational challenge and supporting it with data, you show why mentoring is not just a nice-to-have; it’s a timely, strategic solution with long-term value.
📌 Tip: Keep this section tightly focused on the problem your mentoring program will address. Avoid generic benefits - lead with the specific need.
RELATED: Why Organisations Need Mentoring: 8 Benefits to Your Company
To secure support, you’ll need clearly defined objectives — and they must tie directly to organisational goals.
Use the SMART framework (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) to give your proposal credibility and focus. Here’s how that might look in practice:
|
Business Challenge |
Mentoring Objective (SMART Format) |
Strategic Alignment |
|
High turnover of early-career staff |
Reduce turnover by 20% within 12 months via onboarding mentoring |
Talent retention & cost reduction |
|
Weak leadership pipeline |
Prepare 30 mid-level staff for leadership roles in 6 months |
Succession planning & capability building |
|
DEI & cultural representation gaps |
Boost promotion of diverse talent by 15% over 18 months via targeted mentoring |
Inclusion, equity, and representation goals |
|
Low engagement in remote teams |
Improve engagement scores by 10 points in remote teams through peer mentoring |
Culture & employee experience improvement |
These goals act as a bridge between a people initiative and your organisation’s strategic direction. That’s what leadership needs to see.
RELATED: 10 Mentoring Goals in the Workplace + How to Achieve Them
Once the objectives are clear, you need to outline how the mentoring program will work — in a way that is realistic, structured, and scalable.
If you’re starting fresh, pilot one format before expanding.
The duration should align with your SMART goals and with the availability of staff.
Brancher supports all three approaches and allows customisation by department, goal, or skillset.
RELATED: Choosing the Right Mentoring Matching Approach: Admin-Driven, User-Driven, or Hybrid?
Set the tone early - because if you leave it open-ended, it won’t happen.
When people know what’s expected, they show up prepared and the impact multiplies. Your mentoring program design should match your business goals and be easy for participants to follow. No bloat. No ambiguity. Just a clean, strategic structure that shows you’ve thought it through.
RELATED: How to Match Mentors and Mentees Using Matching Software
Programs that lack role clarity often stall within months. This section of your proposal should define:
Let’s be clear: HR or L&D should lead; but they shouldn’t do everything. Their role is to set the strategy, coordinate logistics, and report on impact. You could also bring in an external vendor if:
Pro tip: If you’re pitching an enterprise-wide or cross-functional program, consider nominating a program sponsor at the exec level. It adds visibility and authority.
This isn’t just about participation- it’s about ownership. When each party knows their role, the program runs like a machine.
Don’t assume mentoring comes naturally. (Spoiler: it doesn’t.) Here’s what your proposal should include to set people up for success:
Bonus: A mentoring platform like Brancher comes with all of this; built-in, automated, and ready to scale. With Brancher, your program comes pre-loaded with mentoring agreements, session prompts, training modules, and a feedback loop; saving you weeks of admin.
You’re not running a social club. You’re delivering a strategic program with defined roles, measurable outcomes, and the right scaffolding to make it work. Your exec team needs to see that - and this section shows them you’ve got it locked down.
RELATED: What is a Mentoring Agreement? 5 Things to Include
This is where your mentoring program proposal stops being a concept and starts becoming a plan. You’ve defined the what and the why; now you show how and when it all comes to life.
Your exec team doesn’t want guesses. They want a structured, phased rollout with dates, responsibilities, and built-in feedback loops. If it’s not clear who’s doing what (or when) they’ll assume it won’t happen. Here’s the rollout structure you want to follow:
|
Phase |
Timeline |
Key Actions |
Owner |
Dependencies |
|
Planning & Buy-In |
Weeks 1–4 |
Design program, secure sponsor, set KPIs, initiate mentoring platform procurement & IT approval |
HR / L&D |
Exec approval, tools, budget, procurement, IT/security sign-off |
|
Recruitment & Prep |
Weeks 5–8 |
Promote program, train participants, collect signups |
HR / L&D |
Comms team, assets, intranet access |
|
Matching & Launch |
Weeks 9–10 |
Match pairs, distribute guide, hold kickoff event |
HR / Program Mgr |
Calendar tools, leadership engagement |
|
Midpoint Review |
Month 3–4 |
Pulse survey, feedback sessions, course correct |
HR |
Survey tools, mentor/mentee availability |
|
Wrap-Up & Evaluation |
End of Program |
Final surveys, impact report, recognition, next steps |
HR / L&D |
Reporting tools, stakeholder availability |
Your proposal isn’t a wishlist; it’s an execution plan. By giving a crystal-clear timeline, assigning responsibilities, and flagging dependencies early, you’re showing stakeholders that this isn’t just another HR experiment. It’s a well-oiled rollout with built-in accountability.
Brancher’s admin dashboard lets you coordinate timelines, send automated comms, and track participation from launch to wrap-up — so nothing falls through the cracks.
RELATED: What Does a Mentoring Program Administrator Do?
You can have the smartest mentoring program design in the world, but if you can't speak to cost and ROI like a CFO, you’ll get shut down fast. This is where you stop thinking like a program lead and start thinking like a strategist. Show the investment. Show the return. Show you’ve done your homework.
Let’s talk returns because mentoring doesn’t just “feel good.” It pays off, and the numbers back it up.
Now do the maths. If you retain just two high-potential staff who would’ve otherwise left, you’ve covered your program cost. Easily.
Bottom line? Don’t pitch mentoring as a cost centre. Pitch it as a strategic investment in retention, capability, and culture—one that delivers measurable returns at any budget level.
Many Brancher clients reduce program admin time by 80%; especially for large-scale programs where manual tracking and matching would eat up weeks of staff time.
RELATED: Brancher's ROI: Understanding the ROI of Mentoring
If you can’t prove your mentoring program works, you’ll never get repeat funding; or leadership trust. Defining success upfront isn’t optional; it’s mandatory. You need hard numbers and human stories to tell a complete, convincing story.
Quantitative metrics tell you the hard facts. These are your KPIs, your bottom-line indicators. Pick the ones that directly reflect your program objectives:
Qualitative metrics capture nuance and emotional impact. This is the fuel for your storytelling and case studies:
Tie every metric back to your original SMART objectives. If your goal was “reduce early-career turnover by 20%,” retention is your headline. If you aimed to “build a leadership pipeline,” promotions and qualitative leadership readiness feedback become your proof points. With this, you’ll deliver an airtight evaluation plan that makes it impossible to say no next time around.
Brancher includes built-in survey tools and automated feedback collection - making it easy to track engagement, outcomes, and satisfaction without another system.
RELATED: How to Start Measuring a Mentoring Program's Success
A strong mentoring program proposal isn’t just a document - it’s your blueprint for success. You’ve got to nail the problem definition, set clear objectives, design a practical program, map out a realistic timeline, budget smartly, and plan how to measure real impact. Don’t forget to tackle risks upfront with solid mitigation strategies.
Now, it’s time to stop planning and start doing. Begin drafting your proposal, run a small pilot to prove the concept, or get leadership involved early to build momentum and buy-in. The quicker you act, the sooner your organisation will reap the benefits.
Use this mentoring program proposal template to create a proposal that your leadership team can’t ignore. For an easy, scalable way to manage your program, consider partnering with Brancher — a leading mentoring software supplier that’s helping organisations make mentoring simple and effective.
A compelling proposal includes a business case, SMART goals, program structure, timeline, budget, and success metrics.
Typically HR or L&D leads the draft, with input from executives, IT, and operations.
4–6 pages is ideal. It's enough to cover strategy without overwhelming readers.
Use hard data on retention and promotion. Show how keeping even two employees offsets the cost.
Yes. This article includes a free mentoring program proposal template you can download and customise.