The stage is about: your nonprofit has a sturdy mission assertion, secure applications, and sufficient workforce capability to commit time to grant searching for.
Your workforce feels excited to begin making use of on your first grants, however wait. Whereas all funding is useful, is each grant really definitely worth the time to use for it?
From researching funders to writing grant proposals to assembling all of the required paperwork, making use of for a grant is an funding of your time. Once you examine grant alternatives rigorously, you’ll discover that a few of these investments provide higher advantages than others!
Earlier than getting too deep into the appliance course of, you could make sure you select one of the best alternative on your nonprofit.
Prioritization is a useful talent for grant writers, and there are tried-and-true checks you should use to really feel assured in your selections. As you analysis grants, ask your self these 4 essential inquiries to uncover the true ROI of every alternative.
1. Does the funder give to organizations like ours?
Simply because a basis gives funding doesn’t essentially imply they’re prepared to supply it to your nonprofit. Each grantmaking group has its personal targets and preferences, and it’s as much as nonprofits to substantiate whether or not they test sufficient of the funder’s packing containers earlier than making use of.
Check whether or not a funder is prone to think about a nonprofit like yours by:
- Checking the funder’s philanthropic assertion. Most grantmakers clearly spell out what they’re on the lookout for from potential awardees of their philanthropic mission statements. They generally give attention to particular mission areas, geographic areas, or beneficiary demographics.
- Researching previous grant recipients. The easiest way to foretell what a grantmaker will do sooner or later is by digging into their previous. Whereas many foundations require you to rummage via their Kind 990s to seek out earlier awardees, others will publish profitable proposals on their web site. Whether or not you discover a trove or just some morsels of knowledge, use this information to see in case your nonprofit matches the identical profile as previous recipients.
- Coordinating an introduction. Should you’ve completed the primary two steps however nonetheless aren’t fairly certain in case your nonprofit is an efficient match, attempt to meet with the inspiration. Be taught Grant Writing gives some recommendation about tips on how to strategy these exploratory conferences:
“On this assembly, your purpose is to not promote your group or proposed mission. As an alternative, be curious. Be taught. Objectively consider in case your organizations are a very good match for one another. Should you convey this mindset shift to your assembly, you should have a way more sincere, significant, and productive dialog. In any case, nothing is worse than spending a ton of time on a grant you haven’t any likelihood of profitable. Be skeptical till you might have sufficient optimistic information factors to substantiate the grant is price your time and sources to pursue.”
Begin your grant analysis off on the correct word by conducting major analysis. Search grant databases for key phrases associated to your nonprofit. For example, an environmental nonprofit devoted to retaining the Mississippi River clear may filter grant alternatives to Mississippi and search key phrases like “clear water,” “air pollution discount,” and “sustainability.”
This strategy helps you discover grantmakers who’re possible enthusiastic about you and will increase your probabilities of profitable from the minute you sit down to put in writing the proposal.
2. Is the grant too aggressive?
A widespread mistake grant writers make is aiming too excessive too quickly. Whereas it’s good to have excessive aspirations, keep reasonable. For many nonprofits, this implies avoiding competing with hundreds of different organizations for just some profitable spots.
Within the grant writing world, a useful rule of thumb is that nonprofits ought to solely apply for grants they’ve not less than a 20% likelihood of profitable.
The workforce at Be taught Grant Writing additionally teaches a technique for approximating a funder’s competitiveness. Examine the variety of earlier candidates to a funder’s funding cycle to the variety of grants awarded to calculate their tough win charge. (This info might typically be accessible on-line, however contacting the funder along with your questions is commonly simpler.)
Put one other means, this rule of thumb additionally means you don’t essentially must rule out grants with many candidates if there are additionally many winners.
For instance, the Nationwide Endowment for the Arts is among the greatest federal funders for inventive organizations, and one among their grant applications obtained nearly 2,000 candidates in 2023. That’s a variety of competitors!
Nevertheless, nearly 1,000 of these candidates additionally received funding. That offers this system an unimaginable win charge of round 50%, however is that this the entire image?
Similar to with our first grant prioritization check, analysis is your good friend right here. Digging a bit deeper into the NEA, we see that of the just about 1,000 winners, lower than 100 have been first-time candidates. These organizations can definitely nonetheless win funding (and infrequently do!), however they’re clearly up in opposition to skilled opponents who already know what the NEA desires.
In conditions like these, the query of competitors turns into a bit sophisticated. Is the grant simply usually too aggressive based mostly on the numbers, or is it too aggressive for a nonprofit like yours? Within the latter case, modify your strategy. Slightly than leaping straight into the deep finish with an enormous federal grantmaker just like the NEA, check out shallower, much less aggressive waters till you’ve constructed up your grant writing abilities.
3. Do we now have a relationship with the funder?
Solely 28% of U.S.-based foundations settle for unsolicited proposals (i.e. from nonprofits they’ve by no means met earlier than or haven’t explicitly invited to use). For nonprofits on the lookout for new grant alternatives, these numbers damage.
One vivid spot: About half of all the highest funders with over $100 million in property do settle for unsolicited proposals. However that also leaves a ton of grants your nonprofit can’t apply for!
Earlier than judging these grantmakers too harshly, think about their views.
The Ford Basis is an enormous grantmaker that accepts unsolicited grant proposals. Over one 12 months, they obtained over 144,000 grant-related inquiries and proposals for lower than 3,000 profitable spots.
Consider the work that goes into reviewing all these functions! Only a few grantmakers have the capability to deal with that, so most maintain the door closed.
And for individuals who do apply, these numbers imply solely a 2% likelihood to win a Ford Basis grant, means beneath our 20% threshold.
At its coronary heart, grants are one other kind of fundraising, and all fundraising is constructed on relationships. When you have a powerful relationship with a grantmaker, they’re extra prone to think about your software or invite you to use. To construct these relationships, strive:
- Attending conferences. Grant writing and nonprofit conferences aren’t simply an opportunity to fulfill fellow grant writers but additionally to attach with funders. Some foundations even host workshops particularly about their grant alternatives.
- Asking board members to look their networks. Your nonprofit’s board has many tasks, and one among them is to do the networking for you. Ask well-connected board members to look via their many associates and see if any have connections to grantmaking foundations.
- Sustaining correspondence with previous grantors. Should you’ve obtained a grant, nice! However as a substitute of taking the cash and solely offering obligatory experiences, go the additional mile along with your reporting and proceed to remain in contact. Not solely will retaining this connection sturdy enhance your odds of profitable funding once more from them sooner or later, however some grantmakers are buddies with different grantmakers—and so they is likely to be keen to present you an in with their associates.
When you have a powerful relationship with a grantmaker, and so they’re keen to just accept a proposal, it’s nearly at all times price it to use. You’ll have greater probabilities of profitable, however even if you happen to don’t, you’ll maintain that relationship sturdy for the subsequent time round.
4. Is the grant price the price of making use of?
Whether or not you might have an in-house or freelance grant author, grant writing is an expense similar to every other use of your time and sources. Between analysis, writing a proposal, and assembling crucial supplies, many hours go into submitting a grant software, and also you received’t know if you happen to’ve generated worth from these hours till you hear again from the funder.
With this in thoughts, some grants might merely not be definitely worth the time wanted to use for them. Whereas a $1,000 grant is sweet, it’s rather less good while you notice you spent $2,000 price of workforce time incomes it.
Together with on the lookout for high-value grants, make your nonprofit an environment friendly grant-writing machine by:
- Researching alternatives often. An ineffective strategy is to dig via grant databases, discover about 8-10 grants, and apply for these till the alternatives dry up. As an alternative, make discovering new grants part of your common grant workflow. There are a lot of well-liked grant database choices that span all price range ranges.
- Creating templates. Whereas each grant proposal must be tailor-made to the grantmaker, particulars about your group possible received’t change between grant functions. Create templates of widespread grant sections that may be shortly added to your proposal and refined slightly than rewritten from scratch each time.
- Having paperwork prepared. Most grantmakers ask to see the identical supplemental paperwork from candidates, so guarantee amassing them is simple. Get the ball rolling early by doing all your analysis and securing wanted paperwork so that you don’t get caught ready in your board to log out on one thing proper earlier than a deadline.
Grants are an funding, and the return on that funding depends upon a number of components, together with your nonprofit’s priorities, grant writing expertise stage, capability to use, and extra.
Don’t fall into the entice of going for giant, shiny grants that simply find yourself losing your money and time! This will result in a detrimental spiral of misplaced grants and your board ultimately deciding forgo them as a income supply altogether.
As an alternative, know your nonprofit’s strengths and apply these checks to establish grants you might have a good shot at profitable. This fashion, you may give attention to quite a few grants which can be definitely worth the effort.
Grants seem to be free cash, however are they really? Sure and no. They require cautious thought, preparation, time, and sources. Grasp the artwork of grant prioritization, and also you’ll set your group up for extra funding received extra effectively.