Q & A - How do foundations decide who to give grant money to?

I know this sounds like an elementary question to anyone who has worked in the non-profit field for any length of time.  But for many people who are just starting a non-profit, this is an important question.

The answer is complicated because there are actually many ways that a foundation will decide to give a grant.  The ones listed below are general in nature and not all criteria will apply to every foundation.  These are common, but the list is not exhaustive.

 

1. Field(s) of interest determined by the foundation’s board and defined in their bylaws.

 

2. Types of funding – Money isn’t money to a foundation.  If you want funding for a building, that’s a capital expense and not all foundations are willing to spend money on. Many foundations shy away from funding operating expenses although that restriction has eased a little in some cases with the state of the economy.

 

3. Relationships – Often a foundation will fund organizations and individuals they know and trust to do the most effective job with a grant.  Newcomers must establish these relationships over time and by proving they can do the job. Many foundations give a small grant in year one and assess performance, if an agency does well, sometimes subsequent requests can be larger.

 

4. Geography – Some foundations specify locations to give to excluding everyone else.  Some give nationally while others give internationally. It is important to look at previous grants funded to know where they will fund.

 

5. Types of Organizations – Foundations usually only give to other non-profit organizations so individuals have a harder time finding assistance from foundations directly.

 

Of course there are many factors that help determine the allocation of grant money.  These five are generally applicable to most foundations. It is imperative that grant seekers pay close attention to these five – at a minimum – in screening potential funding sources when seeking grants.

 

For more information about grant writing and non-profits see:

 

Grant Goddess Resources

http://grantgoddess.com/resources.html

Non-Profit Executive Directors: Do’s and Do Not’s for Using a Grant Writer

Executive Directors (ED) are busy people. They’ve got a lot to deal with from the day-to-day operational stuff to constant fund raising and donor-cultivation. Most ED's of large organizations have a grant writer on staff while in smaller organizations the ED may do most of the grant writing.  Some organizations choose to hire an external grant writer and that can create some confusion about the role of a grant writer.

 

Here are a few Do's and Do Nots for ED's as I have come to understand the proper use of an external grant writer.

Grant research
Do - Provide the researcher with specific direction on fields of interest, types of funding desired, existing grant maker relationships, level of funding desired, list of information desired for each grant maker.
Don't -  “Do Nots” in this category are failing to do the “Do” list!

Preliminary phone calls to assess interest
Do - Better to make these calls yourself; but, if you’re going to ask someone else to make them, have a detailed conversation about what it is you want funding for and how you want to provide the services.
Don't - Ask your grant writer to make these calls simply based on fields of interest.  It will waste everyone’s time and make your organization look unprepared.

Letter of Inquiry writing
Do - Ask your grant writer to write these for you.
Don't - Forget to read and edit LOI's carefully before they are mailed.

Grant writing
Do - Ask your grant writer to write these for you.
Don't - Forget to review, respond, and edit one or more drafts; provide adequate feedback; provide data and a budget; sign all necessary forms; get a copy of the final grant submitted.

Respond to inquiry phone calls from a grant maker
Do - Take these calls yourself.
Don't - Assume that a grant writer can replicate your ability to sell your mission and close the deal.

Some of the potential benefits to an Executive Director in using a grant writer are:

• Time savings;
• Consistent quality in grant applications;
• Higher funding rates;
• More applications being submitted; and,
• Fewer lost opportunities through consistent and timely research.

A grant writer can be a great asset to your organization when used in the proper way; however, the positive impact of hiring a Grant Writer can be minimized by asking them to carry out tasks they’re unqualified for, or by not providing adequate support.

 

Related Posts:
Working with a Grant Writer: You Get What You Pay For
Good Grant Writers are like Wedding Planners

Related Creative Resources and Research Services:
Grant Writing Services
Non-Profit Services

The Ten Best Things about Being a Grant Writer

1. Being paid to write.

2. Finding money to fund energy and ideas.

3. Helping other people achieve their dreams.

4. Supporting worthwhile causes.

5. Competition.

6. Ability to work anywhere, literally.

7. The broad range of topics to write about.

8. Working with a variety of people, in a variety of locations, across a variety of agencies.

9. Working with highly motivated people on a mission.

10. Calling a client to tell them their grant was funded!


I heard a great example given last week in a meeting. The speaker told us all to write our name with our dominant hand, simple, easy. Now, he told us, write your name with your other hand. Hard isn’t it? I had to agree, my scribbled name attested to it.

He said to us that working where you are gifted is like writing with your dominant hand, it’s easier and it flows out of you. But trying to work outside your gifts will make your life feel like you’re writing with your other hand. It’s harder and less productive; it just doesn’t feel right.

Maybe the example hit home even more strongly for me since I am a writer, but it resonated for me. Grant writing feels like writing with my right hand, that's probably the best thing about being a grant writer for me.
Related Posts:
Relax - Tell Your Story
Are You the Bear or the Salmon?

Grant Writing Mission: Demonstrate the Effect of Your Cause!

Lack of success in grant writing to foundations usually means that the applicant is trying to convince a grant maker that the agency's cause IS the grant maker's desired effect. In other words, a good cause isn't enough, grant makers expect the cause to have an effect on their field of interest.  Many times the cause an applicant is promoting has no direct impact on the field of interest; there may a sliver of attachment but slivers of impact don't generate grant money.

The correct approach is exactly the opposite. The convincing grant is the one that presents a cause that makes a grant maker say “BINGO, BULL'S-EYE, that cause has DIRECT IMPACT on my field of interest!" There must be clearly a demonstrable connection between the cause and the effect (on the field of interest).

Ways to improve your chances of securing grant funding:

1. Be absolutely clear about what your cause is. You must know what fields of interest your cause directly impacts. Your mission must inspire that “AHA! DIRECT IMPACT!” moment for the grant maker. Remember, round pegs in round holes and square pegs in square ones.

2. Validate the effect of your cause.  It does not matter if your cause is innovative or common the effect must be demonstrated.

3. Try to get in front of as many people as possible to talk about your cause. Expect to answer a lot of tough questions. Use these meetings to learn and to fine tune your arguments.  Use them to explore all possible linkages to the fields of interest your cause serves.

4. Rally people to your cause. Collaborate and give up some control! Don’t be afraid to reach out to potential partners. Don’t be afraid to bring in powerful Board members. Don’t be afraid to share the vision with others. Many organizations fail to thrive because there is a leader who climbs up on their philanthropic high horse and rides off without the constituents, the Board members, or even the staff! Feed your cause by sharing it and being inclusive; you’ll only starve it if you hold it by the throat.

Grants are given to agencies with a worthy cause that can demonstrate DIRECT IMPACT within a field of interest.  Agency leadership must be clear on what the cause is, who to include, what the impact is/could be, and where the likely funding sources are.

Related Posts:
Taking Your Grant research Beyoind the RFA
Grant Writing - Don't Chase the Money
Photo Credit - Asif Akbar

Grant Writing is Like Lasagna

Lasagna is one of my favorite Italian foods - it’s the complete package, if you make it right, that is. A good lasagna has layers of perfectly cooked pasta, tomato sauce, Italian sausage, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, and I even like to add a little cheddar cheese. Of course, it’s layered several times with all this good stuff!


Now a good grant is similar to a good lasagna! That’s right people, it really is! You have to write a grant in layers, like making nice lasagna. There’s the needs section (layer), the program design section (layer), the project management section (layer), the sustainability section (layer), the evaluation section (layer). And while each section/layer is distinct - like the sausage and the sauce of my favorite lasagna - there’s also a little bit of intermixing of ingredients/repeating of information.

That’s right! You can write a needs section and never mention it again but you will end up with an inferior lasagna…er, grant. You need to repeat the layers, when it’s appropriate. If the needs you describe are met by the project design - as they must be – then a mention of the needs layer is warranted in the project design layer to reinforce the deliciousness of the design.

A good lasagna would be incomplete with only one set of layers. It takes multiple layers to make a first class lasagna and repeating salient/savory points of the grant sections/layers make a grant come together like a good lasagna.

In example, if you say in your needs section that you have a waiting list o 30 parents for a particular program, then you want to point out that the parenting program you are proposing to implement in response to the need will accommodate all 30 parents on the waiting list and maybe even a few more! Abundanza, you have sausage in the first layer, and even more sausage in the second layer! TASTY!

So write your grant like a lasagna, write it in the layers specified in the RFA and then make sure you repeat the most delicious parts of the layers so that your lasagna is complete and not a single layered impostor that nobody will want to eat; and if they do, one they won’t give a 5 star rating.


By: Derek Link, Non-profit Consultant and Expert Grant Writer
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If you're interested in more of Derek Link's obsession with how grant writing is like food, try some of these other posts:
 
Grants Are Like Box Lunches
 
Grants Are Like Sausage
 
Some Grants Are Like Peanut Butter
 
Grants Are Like Donuts
 

An Expensive Day as a Freelance Grant Writer

Non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link, shares some thoughts about his expensive day this week:

Some days just cost more than other days. I can go for a week without spending much money except on gasoline and food. But then there are days like today when the universe just seems to have its hand in my pocket and it’s cleaning out my wallet with a vengeance.


I suppose that one of the best things about being a freelance writer is the fact that if your car breaks down, you can go to work in the coffee shop. Well, rather, you have the freedom to link to the Internet and work remotely and you don’t actually have to check with anyone about it.

But if you are an employee, you need to notify your boss or supervisor that your car broke down and that you’re stuck working remotely. You may need to take time off to get the car fixed which has an impact on your income whether you lose vacation time or personal leave, it’s all the same thing -  money out of pocket.

A freelance writer can pretty much work wherever their computer is and can link to clients and needed online resources wherever they have an Internet connection. That’s a pretty nice thing about freelancing.

One issue about working remotely is that it gets expensive quickly. For instance, this morning, I dropped off the car at the mechanic. I then had to take the light rail to a meeting which cost money, and the light rail back which cost money, and then used Internet at a coffee shop which cost money, and bought coffee at another coffee shop which I learned did not have Internet so that was a wasted cup of coffee.

So in addition to paying $150 to the mechanic, and buying light rail tickets, and buying cups of coffee to use Internet services, it is turning out to be a fairly expensive Wednesday. I don’t like spending money, so an expensive Wednesday is not what I was planning on when I went to bed last night.

But that’s the free-wheeling life of a freelance grant writer, you never know where you’ll be working tomorrow and the expenses are out of your own pocket, there’s no accounting department to submit receipts to for reimbursement, when the universe decides to clean out your account, it’s kind of like the IRS, there’s simply nothing that can be done to stop it.

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Writing a Grant Abstract

Non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link, shares some ideas for writing a grant abstract:

An abstract is a short summary of your grant narrative, it gives the reader the big picture and should motivate them to want to learn more about your proposal. You’ll be required to submit an abstract for most proposals, but it is rarely part of the scoring criteria. This does not minimize its importance however, because it may be the first part of your application the reader sees.

These are the basic components commonly requested in an abstract. Be sure to read the Request For Proposals (RFP) carefully to see if there is a specified outline for you to follow that may deviate from this list below:

1. Statement of Purpose: Who is applying? What does this proposal do, who does it serve, where is it located? What is the proposed grant period?
2. Goals and Objectives: List or summarize the goals and objectives that this proposal seeks to address.
3. Management Plan: Summarize the key features that ensure your project will be professionally managed. Adequate budget, agency commitment, supervision, commitment of resoruces, etc.
4. Evaluation: Describe the key features of your evaluation methods and plans which will ensure that the project is properly monitored and that outcomes will be accurately measured.

Remember that most abstracts are limited to a single page so you must be brief and to the point. I suggest that you write the abstract before you write your proposal so you have the whole proposal clearly in mind before you begin to write the detailed narrative.

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How Did I Learn Grant Writing? - Derek Link

Non-Profit Consultant and Expert Grant Writer, Derek Link, provides the first contribution to our How Did I Learn Grant Writing?" series:

Often people ask, "How on earth did you learn grant writing?"  Obviously it isn’t one of the careers that a high school counselor suggested and I’d wager it’s not one of the careers indicated by any career assessments.

My entry into the world of grant writing started when I took a job in which I was expected to write “Continuation Applications” for federal grants the agency secured before my tenure in the position. Fortunately, the consultant who wrote the grants originally was under contract to assist with evaluation and I was soon under his grant-writing tutelage.

My new mentor liked my writing style which tends to be direct and to the point.  After his contracts with our agency ended, he asked me if I was available to moonlight with his company as a freelance grant writer, so I asked my boss if he’d object to me doing that.  My boss gave me the green light and before long my nights and weekends were spent at the computer pecking away at grant narratives.

Now I don’t want to give you the impression that I was some grant-writing prodigy, some technical-writing-Mozart sitting blindfolded at the computer whipping out successful narratives: I most certainly wasn’t!  My mentor was a brutal and brilliant grant editor and he wielded a micro-cassette recorder as he read my narratives providing biting, insightful commentary which I often swore at (I’m not proud of it but it’s true) as I listened to the comments revising my writing again and again.

Another key thing I did to learn grant writing was take a grant writing class.  The class I took was rather basic, especially after my recent experience in writing grants but it did reinforce some important concepts and practices vital to becoming successful.  The grant writing course taught things like organization, writing style, voice, use of data, integration of the RFP outline, etc.

So in summary, my process to learn grant writing involved a number of things including:

1. I had a job that required me to write grants.
2. I had a great mentor.
3. I had the motivation to persevere in the learning process.
4. I took a grant writing course.

The intellectual exercise of writing a grant is still a great challenge.  Being able to hold the whole program in your mind as you write ensures continuity and clarity and requires you to be fully mentally present throughout the process.  I find grant writing to be a strenuous mental exercise. Learning to write grants will kind of make your brain sweat.

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Help! Grant Writer Drowning in Paper!

This post was written by Non-Profit Consultant and Expert Grant Writer, Derek Link, but I must admit that his desk looks quite tidy compared to mine. The issue he struggles with is the same one I struggle with, except that the piles of paper on my desk are threatening to take over. This is how it always is at the end of the grant writing season.  Now I have the joy of cleaning it up. Enjoy Derek's thoughts.  Can you relate?

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It’s hard not to get buried in an avalanche of paperwork as a grant writer. Sometimes my desk starts to look like a paper recycling operation. I collect so many pieces of information necessary to the work, grant samples, a grant outline, pieces of research, books, booklets, digital disks, notes, charts, graphs, tables - some of it hard to find, and some of it needed once for one sentence, and then never used again.

The trouble is that when I do some research and toil away to find some precious piece of information for a grant, I tend to place a value that piece of paper that it may not merit. After all, if I can find it once, I can find it again, so why am I in angst about throwing it away? The truth is that my filing skills are not going to make it any easier to find in a file cabinet anyway. I’d be much better off doing another Google search or creating a bookmark for the location.

I’m afraid that my computer desktop looks a lot like my physical desktop much of the time. I place things there that I am working on and then before I get them filed away neatly and logically where I can find them the next time I need them, I am on to the next task and these files sit there sullenly until I get annoyed at the clutter and throw them in the virtual trash can.

I know I should be more organized and diligent about keeping order in my papers and megabytes but I don’t often have the motivation to do those things. I used to have a secretary to hand things off to. I’d say to her, “File this please”, and she would, and when I needed it again, she would know where to find it. It was magical.

But alas, for many years now I have been my own secretary and on Secretary’s Day I am not tempted to treat myself for my excellent work. In fact, if I could find a stack of pink slips, I’d give my inner secretary one.

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Don't make these 5 grant writing errors!

Download this free Budget Detail Worksheet to help you with your grant budget development.

New grant samples are now available on GrantSample.com. Take a look. Sometimes, seeing a sample of a successful grant can give you the ideas you need to succeed!

Avenues to Grant Writing Success

Of all the things I’ve done for a living, grant writing is the most challenging. Oh, I’ve flipped hamburgers at McDonalds through the great Big Mac rush of ’74, I’ve put out forest fires during the summer of the great Marble Cone fire in ’77. Why, I’ve even planted flower bulbs for the frenetically manic Ms. Taylor (all names have been changed to protect the innocent).

But grant writing, my friends, demands concentration beyond correcting alternating tulip bulb colors to accent the curtains in a crazy woman’s parlor window (she was inspired by Monet no less). Grant writing is an intense and detail-oriented craft that combines fact with planning to create a sort of future-based fiction.

So, how do you learn to be a good grant writer? If becoming a grant writer is your goal, then I suggest these avenues to that end.

Avenue One – Take a class from an expert grant writer like Veronica Robbins . An experienced grant writer can give you a head start by sharing tips an secrets of the craft that will save you learning them on your own.

Avenue Two – As I’ve recommended before, I suggest you read some grants. You can either volunteer as a reader in a grant competition, or you can get some sample grants to read in your spare time.

Avenue Three – Start your own blog and begin to write on it as frequently as you can. Writing is a skill and a skill takes practice to perfect. And don’t be surprised if your writing is never perfect, but practice is the only road that will take you closer.

I wish you well in your travels and on the road to becoming a grant writer. Grant writing is a tough and rewarding job in which you’ll meet lots of interesting people. You get to help energetic people find money for brilliant ideas!

By: Derek Link, grant writer and non-profit consultant

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Is Your Organization Ready for Grant Writing?

Non-profit consultant and expert grant writer Derek Link addresses two of the most common objections to grant writing:

I’ve heard time and again from organization leaders and Board members either that; 1) “We don’t write grants because they are too much work;” or 2) the ever present stand-by, “The problem with writing grants is that the funds go away.”

If you’re saying these things, I suggest to you that #1 is half true; implementing grants is work, but whether a grant is too much work depends on what you are applying for. Argument #2 is simply shortsighted.

Let me dispel these arguments one at a time. The “grants are too much work” argument mostly relates to whether or not the grant appropriately fits the mission of the organization. I’d agree with this argument if an agency was only going after a grant to expand their budget and the activities fell far outside their mission. On the other hand, if an agency with existing funds could serve 100 senior citizens with hot meals; but given grant funding could expand and take everyone on their waiting list up to 150, would this be considered too much work, or just part of what the agency’s mission is all about?

The premise of the second argument, “grants go away,” is almost always true, but it is an invalid reason not to apply for the money. Why wouldn’t an agency like the one in my prior example take a three year grant to feed 50 seniors, even knowing that the money was going to end? Would the temporary nature of the grant be a good argument not to provide the hot meals for the 50 people? Or is not applying simply easier than making cuts at the end of the funding? A lot of good could be done in those three years; and during that time, a case could be built for finding the money elsewhere by demonstrating the need for the services and the efficacy of the agency delivering them.

The best reason for not grant writing is because it is outside the mission of your organization. Don’t be scared away by the expansion in services a grant will provide and don’t be deterred because at the end of the grant funding you may well have to cut your grant budget and maybe even reduce your staff. Grants do a lot of good for a lot of people, even it’s only a temporary infusion of grant funding. Yes, sometimes there are grant regulations to follow and special grant records to keep, but in the end, if grant writing supports your mission, your arguments against applying for grants should be carefully evaluated.

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If your organization is ready to write some grants, consider participating in an online seminar or taking an online grant writing course through the Online Learning Center.

Check out the other grant writing resources at grantgoddess.com!

Grant Writing is like the World Cup

Non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link, shares his ideas about how grant writing is like World Cup soccer. His opinions about soccer are not shared by everyone here at Creative Resources & Research, but his grant writing thoughts are pretty much spot on.

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I  never played organized soccer; which assumes that it is organized, which I cannot attest to by watching. I just don’t get it most of the time. I don’t understand why there isn’t more scoring, and why most shots aren’t even close to going in the net. I don’t understand heading or why they aren’t forced to wear helmets to do that. It gives me a headache just watching a header.

And then there are the guys lolling on the ground after getting tripped, which I must say that to anyone who put on a football uniform (American Football), or who played competitive basketball, or who ran through the catcher at home plate, grimacing like death is approaching on the ground while clutching body parts really looks a tad wimpy. I’d much rather see an Inspector Clouseau rebound after a good tumble onto the soft grass with a crisply delivered, “Of course I am all right”.

But, since I never played soccer, I can only compare it to what I know, grant writing.

The Warm-Up – I see the players jogging around, bouncing on their toes, swinging their legs from side-to-side. I do similar things to prepare for grant writing, I begin by making coffee, organizing my materials, reading a grant sample, booting the computer up, putting out the cat, etc.

First Half – It starts a little slowly with the sides testing each other - a little rough sometimes as the defenders try to establish themselves as tough guys (they usually aren’t the ones rolling around the lawn, they’re the ones who cause other guys to).

It’s the same with grant writing. I read the rfp, make a grant outline, organize my data, skirmish with my client about getting me more data, find some research - sort of testing the boundaries of what I know and what I need to learn fast.

Half Time – Now I haven’t seen a locker room scene with the soccer coach making great “Knute Rockne” speeches to the soccer players. My guess is that it doesn’t happen like it does in American Football with the coach exhorting the players to greater levels of courage and violence. It’s probably more like an English Tea, with round café-style tables and cups with saucers and a gentle discussion about strategy and stiff upper lips while white-gloved masseuses give nice shoulder rubs.

So I treat grant writing half time the same way. I make more coffee, maybe have a snack, read about massage chairs in the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog, or eat lunch if the time of day is right. Sometimes, I will do a small household chore like take out the trash, or pick vegetables in the garden.

Second Half – Now the guys on both teams are getting tired and they’ve already had their high tea so there’s really nothing to look forward to. They tend to complain more to the referees in the second half. They also tend to lay down on the turf more curled and grasping shins hoping to get a penalty or a rest.

Grant writing is the same. By the second half, you’re tired and cranky and you’d rather lay down on the floor of the study than continue but there’s no referee to stop time so there’s nothing left to do but slog it out and finish. There are times when I’d really like to see a red card and get kicked right out of a grant, but there’s little hope of that happening.

Now that I’ve written this, I can see that the World Cup isn’t really that much like grant writing at all. But you do kick the narrative around until you’re exhausted with it, and the game is over. When the deadline finally comes, the referee blows the whistle and the game is over then there’s nothing more you can do about the result of all your work; you just hope it was good enough to put the ball in the net.

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Now is a great time to register for an online grant writing seminar or course through our Online Learning Center.  Learn grant writing when it's convenient for you.

Focus on Your Mission for Grant Writing Success

Non-profit consultant and grant writing expert, Derek Link, shares some important thoughts on how focus on your mission can lead to grant writing success:

Sometimes when I need to write a blog post, I’ll sit there in front of the blank screen, and unfortunately, my mind is as blank as the screen. So I just start to write, as I am now, waiting for a spark of inspiration. Just like some well-intentioned non-profits, I just want to “do” something, I haven’t a clue what it is yet.

Chasing the money isn’t an effective way to achieve your vision. Your grant seeking should be driven instead by the mission of your organization. Your mission is the “what we DO.” A mission should be laser-like and specific, and it has to lead logically to your vision.

People sometimes call me and say, “We want grants but don’t know how to write them, can you do that for us?” I say, “I’d be happy to help you. What do you need grants for?”

This is where the conversation can bog down. The client responds generally, “Oh, you know, we work with kids and we do recycling, so…well… grants for just about anything to do with kids or the environment would work. I’ve heard there’s lots of grants out there for kids and environmental projects.”

I revise my question, “What is it you want to do?” If the response is still vague then I know they are just chasing money. It is sad to me that the truest answer for many struggling nonprofit organizations that call me is, “We need grants to fix a budget problem. And, we don’t really care what the money is for, we can do anything so long as we get the money.”

The clear, specific mission is vital in grant making for these key reasons:

1. It focuses your grant searching.
2. It defines who will (and won’t) fund you.
3. It is convincing because it logically leads to your declared vision.
4. Your full commitment to it inspires confidence in your ask.

If your mission is, "we want to improve the environment", then how can you convince a grant maker interested in reducing pesticide use that your recycling program deserves funding? Unfortunately, you probably can’t, because there is a mismatch in your missions. So if your mission is wide angled, like the environment, or youth, or senior citizens, you need to focus it down to what you are actually doing or want to do to help in those areas before you look for grants or you’re going to waste a lot of valuable time chasing money that’s not available to you.

Using a wide angle lens is not the way to find grants. It’s only a starting place to define your mission. Zoom in, then zoom in some more, and then get the magnifying glass out.

Grant seeking is a little like comparing the grooves on two keys (missions) to make sure they’ll fit the same lock; if one little groove is out of place, the key simply won’t unlock the funding for you.

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Want more information on how defining your mission can help you acquire grant funding?  Become a member of GrantGoddess.com and visit the Non-Profit Dream Center for step-by-step detailed assistance!

Where Do I Start? Advice for New Non-Profit Organizations

Here is some advice from non-profit consultant Derek Link for new non-profit organizations:

I get calls from leaders of new non-profit organizations periodically to help them raise money. Often these individuals have already gone through an awful lot of work to get their organization established. Usually they’ve already a) established a mission; b) written bylaws; c) established a board; and d) filed paperwork with their state and with the federal government to establish non-profit status.

They’re ready to find funds to get started and many think that foundations are the deep pockets they need to establish their services. Often at this point they’re a little frustrated because they’ve discovered that foundation grant seeking is difficult. They’ve probably written letters of inquiry with no return so they suspect they’re doing something wrong – because their mission is so worthy.

My guess is that what they’re doing wrong isn’t presenting the importance of their mission; it’s more likely to be that they haven’t built an internal case for funding – they very simply haven’t gotten started yet and foundations often see “start-ups” as risky investments.
Here is my advice to people wanting to start up a non-profit organization from scratch.

1. Build a budget and strategic plan before filing your non-profit paperwork.
2. Build an influential board that is willing to contribute financially or raise a percentage of the budget you need for year one.
3. Build your local network with agencies that care about your mission, that may either have a budget for your services, or who may include you in future grant applications to provide services.
4. Include other non-profits in your local network, including your local community foundation.

So, I suggest to you that you start your non-profit by building a local base of support before looking outside the community for funding. Foundations want to see that the local/impacted community is committed to your cause, and that you are doing a good job of establishing a solid business model for achieving your mission.

Learn When to Say "No!"

Non-profit consultant and grant writing expert, Derek Link, shares some thoughts on risk taking and when to say "no" to a client:

Grant writers who make a living doing freelance work take a big risk in doing so. It’s also tough because the nature of grant making, especially in poor economic conditions, is highly competitive. Your reputation can be injured with a client if the grant you’ve written fails to get funded; so, it’s important to know when to say “No, thanks” to a grant writing contract.

Not all grant clients are created equal, in each grant competition, some clients are more likely to be funded than others. This fact means you need to have a full understanding of the grant writing opportunities presented to you in terms of:

1. Funding Levels – How much money is available in a particular competition? If it’s a national competition and there’s only 12 grants available, it’s important to consider how qualified your client is in other areas.
2. Geographic Distribution – If your client is rural and the funding source only allocates a small percentage of the funding toward rural projects, then it’s important to look at other considerations to estimate likelihood of writing a successful proposal.
3. Demographic Preferences – If your client serves only English fluent adults and the funding agency has a preference for funding programs serving immigrants who speak a foreign language, then it’s important to look at other factors to consider the likelihood of funding.
4. Organization Preferences – If your client is a public agency and the funder previously has shown a strong preference for community-based organizations, then it’s important to consider as you evaluate their “fundability”. Maybe there is a CBO that can apply with your client as a partner, or maybe your client just needs a CBO partner to be a viable applicant.
5. Program Preferences – This is the old round peg in a square hole thing. If your client is trying to stretch the truth, or if they are trying for funding that clearly is outside of what you know the funder wants to give grants for, then you need to be very honest with the client about that.

Free lance grant writing is a tough business and the financial risk of running your own business is always a little scary. But saying "No" to a client who is clearly a bad candidate for a particular grant is thousands of times better than saying "Yes," taking their money, then having to explain why the grant wasn’t funded. Protect your reputation as a grant writer by learning to say "No" when you have to.

Related Posts:

Are You a Risk Taker?

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Superman, Where Are You?

We are facing a big deadline this week.  We have multiple grants due at the same time and everyone has his or her head down and nose to the grindstone, but we can always count on Derek to help us see the humor of it all.  Here are some humorous thoughts from non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link, on slowing down time when deadline time is racing closer.

Time flies when you’re approaching a deadline. I’m pretty sure that Superman is the only being, real or fictional, who can turn back time. If you’re approaching a deadline - mere mortal that you are – here are a few places you can go where in my experience time can actually slow down.

1. The DMV.
2. Customer service calls to the phone company.
3. Jogging on the indoor track at Sun City.
4. Meeting with an IRS agent.
5. A long line at the grocery store with a rookie cashier, a bad receipt tape, and a customer who’s using their debit card for the first time while arguing about the amount her single tomato was discounted.
6. The post office at lunch.
7. Watching the calendar after hiring a building contractor with a bunch of Better Business Bureau complaints.
8. Technical support calls from – or to – India with “Roger”, “Jason”, or “Howard”.
9. Auto dealerships after giving up your car keys.
10. Driving and waiting for the “Code 3” police car to pass you knowing you were five mph over the limit.
11. Waiting for a copier repairman or anything else on grant deadline day.

So if time seems to be going too fast and your deadline is staring you down like an angry railroad union member at the helm of a locomotive, take yourself away to a place where time slows down. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could merge these time warps and make it slow down for important stuff and speed up for annoying stuff? Oh Superman, where are you!?

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Related posts:

Grant Writing and the Space/Time Continuum

Stress Relief through Laughter

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Some Grants Are Like Peanut Butter

Here we go again..... Non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link, shares yet another food-related grant writing analogy.  What do you do when the words just get stuck in your head?

In all the time I’ve been writing grants, I find that some grants flow easily out of my brain to my computer and others get stuck to the roof of my mouth like a spoonful of peanut butter. I sit at the computer during those times like my old German Short-Haired Pointer “Tucker” eating peanut butter, just gumming and gumming and gumming but not able to free up the narrative.

It’s hard sometimes to figure out why I’m stuck with a grant, but often it’s because I don’t have a clear picture of the program I am writing. Oh, I know what the program is about, but I just can’t explain how it’s going to work. Here are a few things I try to get the narrative “peanut butter” off the roof of my mouth.

1. Develop a logic model for the project. This forces you to outline your thinking in a sequential (and logical) way.
2. Do a little reading about the topic area you are writing about. Sometimes that gives me the spark I need.
3. Talk more to the client about the program design and get them to expound on how they see it working.
4. Try to write the abstract. If you can’t write a summary of the project, this may explain the parts of it that you’re stuck on.
5. Revisit your goals and objectives. Sometimes your objectives are just activities and if they are, you’ll get stuck because you won’t have anything new to write about in the program section.

So when you’ve eaten a big gob of peanut butter and its stuck to the roof of your mouth and you’re sitting at the computer trying to get unstuck, try one of these five ideas. Hope it helps!

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Related Posts:
 
Facing the Blank Page (Or, Beginning to Write)
 
Try a Change of Perspective
 
Some Thoughts from the Coach on Setting Your Intent
 
A Few Words from the Coach about Focus
 
 
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