My non-profit organization wants a grant. Now what?
There are grants available for almost anything you can imagine, however, if your non-profit organization is not ready to apply for grants, your organization will miss opportunities.
Small grants may be widely advertised, but large grants are typically by invitation only. Some grants have very brief windows that they are accepting applications, and most grants are a competitive process. While almost any activity is eligible for a grant, several costs related to that activity are ineligible for a grant. Typically, operational costs are not eligible for grants, and a demonstration of own-source revenue such as membership fees/user fees and fundraising is needed for a successful application. It is valuable to plan a multi-year grant application schedule, so that your organization is ready to apply for grants as they come available.
How can we best position our organization to be ready to apply for a grant?
Recognize that grants are a competition, and that preparation is the key to success. Plans get funded, dreams don’t.
Your organization must satisfy every requirement of a grant, prior to making an inquiry. This means having basic documents ready to share externally, such as a current corporate registration, annual meeting minutes, financial statements, and a strategic plan. If any of these documents are out of date, the chances of success are slim. Any grant specific requirements, such as membership and program attendance numbers, charitable designation, audited financial statements, project charter, case for support, business plan, fundraising plan, marketing plan, completion of pre-application education programs, demonstration of economic impact of past programs, board and employee policies, community consultation results, and letters of support from partner organizations must be ready prior to inquiring about a grant.
We’ve been applying for grants but have been awarded very small amounts. How do we get bigger dollars?
Put yourself in the funding agencies shoes, and think about how your organization helps the funding agency achieve their priorities. The funder wants to see particular outcomes when they spend money, and articulating these outcomes is important. The key point is that funders have specific needs and expectations when it comes to issuing grants, and a good idea that does not help them achieve their own goals will not be funded. Sell your organization in the way the funding agency wants.
Larger grants usually require a demonstrated history of success and stability, an existing relationship with the funding agency, and existing partnerships with organizations that have overlapping mandates. Being able to clearly articulate consistent success over time is important. Granting agencies have a wide range of requirements, but they are all looking for likelihood of success, in one way or another. Any ad hoc partnerships, initiatives, or programs are viewed as high-risk endeavours by grant agencies.
The available grants don’t fit closely with what we want to do. Now what?
This is a question to be asked during your strategic planning process. Should the organization change in order to be eligible for grants, or should it pursue other opportunities? For most organizations, the answer is that grants alone are not enough, but grants will continue to be an important part of the total funding needed, and adaptation to a changing grant landscape will always be vital to success.
We applied for grants but have been denied. What should we do now?
It is always valuable to request a meeting with a grant agency to learn how to improve for next time. Take the approach of wanting to improve, avoid criticizing the agency or it’s process, and don’t take the rejection personally. Before the meeting, review your application and the grant requirements as you understand them, and come to the meeting prepared with questions. Do the goals of your organization and the goals of the granting agency align closely, or is it an uneasy fit? If a program cannot demonstrate sufficient alignment with the priorities of grant funders, consider offering the program in a different form.
We want to apply for a grant, but the granting agency doesn’t know who we are. What should we do?
Approaching a prospective funding agency is similar to making a sales call; you need to offer what they want, not what you have, and this means investing time into developing your understanding of how specific funding providers and their specific programs operate. The time commitment required for this pre-application work can be considerable.
An effective method for developing this understanding is networking within your sector. Many grant funding programs are supported by pre-application training programs run by the same employees who administer the actual grants; participating in these pre-application training programs is critical to building the rapport that successful applications are built on. Grant funding agencies are run by people, and people have to know who you are in order to fund you.
What does a successful grant application look like?
Remember that it’s a competition. You need to not only provide what the funding agency wants to see, but can demonstrate why you will be successful. Use your strategic plans, operational plans, fundraising plans, evaluation plans, and a history of delivering on your previous goals to tell a story of success, reliability, and improvement. A successful history of delivering on previous grants on time and on schedule can make or break an application.