Grant-writing can be very challenging for nonprofit organizations, especially for organizations that don’t have an in-house grant-writing staff or even a dedicated grant writer. Depending on the nature of your nonprofit organization, “grant” might be a dirty word!
And yet, pursuing grants is often an important and even crucial component in the nonprofit world. Some organizations would not exist without grants.
Every grant is different, of course, and so is every nonprofit organization. No one set of tips is likely to apply directly to every grant or organization, but here is a collection of five insider tips taken from numerous advice articles and guidance from across the Internet.
- Make sure everyone understands the Request For Proposals (RFP) or Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA)
This first tip comes from information provided by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). A part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and headquartered in North Bethesda, Maryland, HRSA is the primary federal agency charged with improving access to health care services for those who are uninsured, geographically isolated, and medically vulnerable. In their guidebook for grant writers, the HRSA recommends that the RFP or FOA first be read thoroughly, perhaps repeatedly, and by more than one person. A meeting should then follow to ensure the requirements, procedures, and deadlines of the RFP or FOA are comprehended completely and that the organization has the wherewithal to successfully complete the funding request or proposal. Importantly, the HRSA guidelines also caution organizations that they should investigate whether they will have the capability to comply with any after-funding reports or other forms of accountability.
- Do your research
On the website of the science journal Nature, it’s recommended that before undertaking a grant proposal, the grant writer should conduct extensive research–not necessarily about the grant objectives or its subject matter, but about the history of the grant itself. Grant award information is typically easy to acquire, and you should acquaint yourself with your organization’s odds of winning a grant award before expending lots of time, effort, and talent. “Competition for grants has never been more intense,” the article states. For example, the U.S. National Science Foundation received 49,415 proposals in 2017 but funded just 11,447 of them, which means fewer than 25 percent of the proposals were accepted while tens of thousands were rejected by a single organization in the course of a single year. If you find that the odds of winning a grant are statistically within reach, the journal Nature suggests, then extend your research to past successful proposals or requests.
- Pay close attention to your budget section(s) and the stories they tell
In an advice article from the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF), they recommend that funding requests be transparent, forthright, and clearly stated. “One of the most common weaknesses seen in grant applications is that the applicant does not present a clear financial story” (emphasis added). NEEF is a Congressionally chartered 501c3 nonprofit that complements the work of the US Environmental Protection Agency by “creating opportunities for people to experience and learn about the environment in ways that improve their lives and the health of the planet.” Their grant-writing advice goes on to say: “Make sure that the project budget is a direct translation of the narrative in fiscal terms. Additionally, if the grant would only partially support the project, show where the rest of the funding will come from. It is especially important to include matching funds as well as other funding sources (foundation, governmental, corporate or otherwise).”
- Double-check everything, and then double-check it again
From the nonprofit fundraising website Donorbox, comes a simple piece of advice to thoroughly double-check your grant’s submission requirements before you hit “send.” Once again, each grant and proposal is different, but Donorbox furnishes the following double-check checklist:
-Spelling, calculations, and due dates
-Documents, forms, and attachments
-Document formatting requirements (font size, page numbers, page count, section sequencing)
-Signatures and organizational authorization (signatures?)
-Budget figures and totals (check your math)
-Have a clear contact from your organization
It should probably go without saying, but in order to have enough time and personnel to perform quality control and quality assurance on your proposals, you will likely have to complete the proposal or request quite a while before it’s actually due. This means setting firm internal deadlines.
- Start early
Following on the last bit of advice from the previous tip, one common recommendation echoed all across the Internet is to start early. Why is it that so many grants run into deadline trouble? Every situation is unique, but there are two big reasons. First, grant proposals and requests can be intimidating, complex, and often relegated to personnel who have other, pressing responsibilities, so grant proposals often get set aside and put off. Secondly, unforeseen complications seem to always arise during the grant-writing process–a missing piece of mandatory information, the vagaries of budget development, and the general truism that grant-writing almost always takes longer than it seems like it should. Nonprofits must internalize this reality and simply not allow grants to be put off for even one day–start early and work steadily.
Sources:
https://www.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/grants/apply/writestrong/grantwritingtips.pdf
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03914-5
https://www.neefusa.org/7-tips-writing-effective-grant-proposal
https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/grant-proposals
https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/grant-proposals-or-give-me-the-money/
