Say it with me: “We will not chase grants.”

Do you feel like you’re always up against the clock with grant applications, but don’t want to miss out on much needed funds? It doesn’t have to be that way.

If you've worked in nonprofits long enough, you've probably been asked to or have completed a grant application within a short window. Sometimes requests for proposals (RFPs) have a short 30-day window, or you're alerted to a grant that's due in a few short days. 

That’s hardly enough time to gather the information needed to develop a strong proposal. Grant funding deadlines can sneak up like that, and you don't want to be the unfortunate staff or board member putting together a proposal and budget last minute. Or worse, miss this funding opportunity. And while the mightiest nonprofit professional could develop and submit a proposal in whiplash time, who wants that stress? Instead, just like with other areas of fundraising, it's essential to be strategic about grant seeking.

Enter the Grant Research & Funding Strategy. Your roadmap to guide the grant opportunities you will pursue for the year. By implementing a strategy and preparing the associated deliverables, your organization can be thoughtful about where you invest your time, energy, and resources to apply for grants that are well-aligned to your program or project. The goal here is a return on investment, so focus on grants your organization has a strong chance of winning and ticks all the boxes for aligning with your mission, funding needs, and grant management scope.

So how do you determine if a grant is well-aligned? Here are a few questions I recommend asking yourself:

✔️ Does your organization meet the eligibility requirements?

✔️ Does the funder’s mission align with your organization’s?

✔️ Review the grant maker’s 990 or website, have they awarded grants to programs and organizations similar to yours?

✔️ What’s the award amount? If awarded, would the amount be enough of an ROI to justify the time spent applying. 

✔️ Does the grant maker indicate a specific award period? If you’re looking for funding for the fall and the grant maker stipulates funding is awarded in late fall for a spring start, that would be a mismatch.

✔️ How many awards will be awarded and what percentage of proposals are typically awarded? Sometimes the grant RFP will specify. And it is often worth contacting the funder to see if that data is available.

✔️ Review any grant management requirements, are they ones you can reasonably manage and do they seem in alignment with the award amount? Personally, I wouldn’t waste my time on $5,000 grants with burdensome reporting requirements.

These are just a few considerations when making a decision on whether to pursue or pass on a grant opportunity. The point is to pause and reflect before chasing the funds because your time is too valuable for that.