Increasing Your Grantseeking Success Rate

If you are charged with writing grant applications for your nonprofit organization, then you know that all too often this task can become routine.  Driven by perpetual deadlines, a mass of continual forms to fill in and the constant search for current constituency
demographics can push even the best grant writer into a mechanical thinking and writing mode. This can lead to more misses than hits.  In other words, a lot of time and resources are being spent chasing grant opportunities, but the return rate for funded
grants is less than 75 percent of requests submitted.  This article is a quick primer on ways to increase your grantseeking success rate.

Work with the most recent guidelines.  Visit the funder’s Web site, call or write for specific application guidelines and a copy of their Annual Report (the report will tell you the types of agencies and projects that were funded in the previous fiscal year).  Often if the
funder has a special grant application form or format, it can be downloaded from their Web site.  Note: some funders post their Annual Reports online.

Make sure your organization and your funding idea meet the funder’s eligibility criteria.  Check the applicant eligibility section of the funder’s guidelines.  Your organization’s specific need for grant funding should mirror the funder’s area of interest; you should be located in their geographic funding area and your need for funding should escape any of their published limitations.

Adhere to the submission protocol.  Honor the funder’s requirements for how to approach them for a grant request.  For example, if print guidelines ask that a letter of inquiry be submitted first, then upon the funder’s review you will asked to submit a full proposal, adhere to the method of first contact protocol.

Pay attention to technical specifications.  Follow instructions for the font size, page limitation, spacing requirements and mandatory attachments.  This is an area where doing your own thing can get your application eliminated from funding consideration based on noncompliance.

Use up-to-date information to describe your organization.  Introduce your organization by giving the funder a brief history and a bulleted list of major accomplishments.  Write about your current programs and activities and provide only the information related to the project for which you are seeking funding support.

Describe your constituency with factual, current statistics.  Use demographic information released in the past five years for your service population.  Only cite older data when showing a progressive incline or decline in a population characteristic that strongly supports the need for grant funding as an intervention strategy.

Share your collaborations with other community-based organizations.  Create a table with two columns: Community Partners and Roles.  Use this to list all organizations you have a working agreement with to provide some level of participant or end-user services.  Remember, the partners on this list should write letters of support for inclusion in the attachments.

Describe the problems, needs or issues that grant funding will solve with compassion and facts.  Select compelling words and phrases to convey the problem.  Use a liberal dash of gloom and doom (the dire need for grant funding) and drama and trauma convince the funder that the current situation has no chance of improving without intervention).  Present charts and other  needful”
narrative to paint the picture—telling it like it is!

Plan and write a winning program design.  Capitalize on input from your stakeholders (board members, other staff, clients and volunteers from your organization) to write a strong and direct purpose statement; develop short- and long-term goals and measurable outcome or process objectives; present budget-related activities  and implementation strategies; and a include realistic timeline for fulfilling  the grant-funded promises.  Present a  management plan that shows personnel responsible and internal accountability  for grant-funded activities and expenditures.

Learn to write a comprehensive evaluation plan.  Remember, all programs or projects need to be  evaluated for effectiveness.  Write an  evaluation plan that covers all bases.  Discuss who will be on the evaluation team and who will be responsible  for monitoring and collecting data.  Terms that are important to include: logic model, impact statement,  qualitative and quantitative, formative and summative, and dissemination.

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