Making Your Grant Stand Out From the Crowd
Overview
Grant writing is a necessary part of the long-term financial health for any non-profit. However,
many organizations do not take advantage of all the grant money offered each year because
they either do not know how to write a successful grant proposal, or the task just seems too
daunting to try. In this Topic of the Month, we will present five easy and effective steps for
making your grant proposal stand out from the crowd. Whether requesting for a non-profit or for
research, use these 5 steps:
1. Find a grant (preferably local, optimally where you know one or more of the trustees).
2. Request the grant guidelines and highlight how your organization matches the
foundation’s funding priorities.
3. Express the need for such a project (What benefit will this bring the community? How
long will it last?).
4. Prepare detailed financials (Where is this money going? How well can you stretch
your grant dollars?).
5. Proofread and submit well before the deadline (Have a few critics unaffiliated with
your project who can give you honest feedback).
Finding Grants
When researching grants, the best place to start is often right at home. Because local grant
makers have a better understanding of your shared community, they will often have a better
understanding and framework for how the money is needed and how your mission will be
beneficial. This is helpful for you because there is shared experience to pull from and common
context to draw on.
It is important to keep in mind that the size of a non-profit can be a factor. Larger non-profits
may not find the support they need at home in the same way a smaller non-profit might. Don’t
forget to take this into consideration as you complete your research.
Further, draw on relationships or connections you already have and continue to build them. If
your organization has any personal connections to the grant provider or any of the trustees, you
will have an increased chance of getting funded. Regardless of previous connections,
establishing a personal relationship with the organization early on in the application process will
help you in the grant-writing process - build relationships and maintain them!
Finally, make sure that in the process of looking for grants, you focus on those that are
generally or specifically meant for organizations or projects like yours. You do not want to waste
time applying for a grant from a foundation that does not support the type of program or project
for which you are requesting funding. For example, many foundations limit the amount of
general operating support they provide, while other foundations will not fund capital projects.
Other foundations will broadly fund your area of interest but may have limitations. These
requirements are very important and should guide you in your research.
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Matching Your Request to Grant Guidelines
One of the best ways to stand out in the grant writing process is to clearly demonstrate how
your organization meets the stated goal(s) of the foundation. First, take a look at the
foundation’s core values. If these are not explicitly stated, they can often be found in the history
of the foundation. Some foundations value urban programs while others value nonprofits in rural
areas. Some foundations value serving youth, while others focus more on caring for the elderly.
Some value diversity of thought while others value diversity of geography. If you share core
values with the foundation, be sure to highlight this fact in your grant proposal.
Second, it can be helpful to incorporate key words or phrases from the foundation’s guidelines
into your proposal. If the foundation refers to the population you serve or services you provide in
a slightly different way, be sure to modify your proposal to match their wording. For example, if
you run a program that is called After-school Youth Program, and it is for children ages 13-16,
and the Foundation’s guidelines indicate that they support after-school programs for young
adolescents, make sure that you refer to your program participants as “young adolescents.”
Throughout the grant-writing process, be sure that you are following the grant guidelines and
answering any questions that are laid out in the application process. While it is tempting to have
a generic proposal you send to many foundations that fund similar projects, in order to have
your grant stand out, you need to fully customize it for each foundation. As you demonstrate
specifically how your program or organization meets the guidelines, it is important to remember
that you cannot exaggerate or slightly alter your organization’s mission or programs to better
match the foundation’s funding goals.
Once you read and pick out concrete requirements and qualifications of the guidelines, you can
begin to create an outline that specifically highlights the eligibility of your organization in regard
to those guidelines. Be sure to highlight how your nonprofit is different from others that provide
similar services. This is particularly important if you are a small nonprofit that may not have an
established name in the community. Demonstrate how much your organization already helped
the community. Highlight your organizational strengths. This is your organization’s opportunity to
shine, so make sure that the grant’s guidelines are providing the right spotlights.
Establish the Need
Another way to stand out in the grant-writing process is to very clearly establish the need.
Because nonprofits are serving people who need their services each day, it can be easy for staff
to assume everyone is aware of the need for the service that the organization provides. When
writing a grant, it is critical to not make any assumptions concerning the funder’s knowledge of
the needs and goals of your organization.
When presenting the need for the organization, Cathedral recommends using both qualitative
and quantitative approaches. The qualitative approach uses a story or testimony to demonstrate
the need for your services while the quantitative approach will provide statistics or data that
show how important your program is. If you run an after-school program, here are examples of a
qualitative and quantitative demonstration of need:
Qualitative
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John had been struggling with succeeding in school for years. Even though he was only ten
years old, he had already been suspended six times from school. John was referred to us by the
school’s principal. When he first started attending our program, he was disruptive and had
difficulty focusing on completing his homework. We assigned John to a personal tutor, and
through the development of this relationship and a high level of individualized care, John has
been able to catch up to his peers in school and is now excelling in math and reading.
Quantitative
ABC After-school program serves youth ages 10-12 in Anchorage, Alaska. In Anchorage, 21%
of youth drop out of school by the age of 13. Sixty percent live in single-parent homes, and 54%
do not participate in any activities outside of school. Anchorage middle-school students score in
the bottom 10% of students in the country on standardized math and reading tests. ABC is one
of only three after-school programs in the entire state of Alaska that focuses specifically on
helping students improve their math and reading scores that, in turn, can help them be more
successful in life. (Example for illustrative purposes only).
Measure Your Mission
Once you have established your need and written about your project, the next step is to clearly
outline your evaluation process. In the past, organizations could get by on simply stating the
number of people they served or by sharing a few “success” stories. While qualitative data is still
helpful, it is important to not only outline what you view as success, but also outline how you will
measure success. Please review our Topic of the Month on Measuring Your Mission for
specifics on how to establish a robust evaluation program.
In general, you want to be sure that you are demonstrating numerically and through testimonials
that your program works. Many social service organizations provide programs that may be
difficult to measure. For example, if you have a food program, your measure of evaluation may
simply be the number of meals that are served each day. However, you can also consider the
impact of your program on volunteers. Have the people who help serve the food changed their
attitude about homelessness? Have they seen the need for their services? For the program
participants, you can determine the extent to which they have been connected to other
resources, such as medical or housing assistance.
Present Financials
Whether this is a multi-million dollar project or a $500 project, presenting your financials clearly
and concisely is a critical part of grant writing. Anyone who is capable of funding your
organization will want to see what you plan to do with the donation. Most organizations have a
suggested format for a budget; it is important that you use any suggested or required templates.
When reviewing an organization’s revenue, Foundations often look for the following:
• Evidence of board giving. This should ideally be 100%.
• Diversification of funds. Are you receiving donations from multiple sources? If you rely
on foundation support, do you have multiple foundations funding your work?
• Realistic revenue projections for funds that need to be raised.
On the expense side, Foundations want to see that your budget is generally in line with budgets
of similar programs or projects. Therefore, if you have any unusual expenses, it is important to
footnote these with a note of explanation. It is also helpful to outline the assumptions that are
associated with different expense items. In the example below, there are two ways to list salary.
Clearly, Option 2 is more easily understand.
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Option 1
Salary - $150,000
Option 2
Salary (2.5 FTE + benefits at 25%) - $150,000
It is also helpful to add a budget narrative that further explains your assumptions. In addition to
highlighting any unusual expense items, you can also highlight budget successes you have had
in the past.
Finally, it can be helpful to conclude the budget section by providing answers to the following
questions:
•
•
•
How many people will this project help?
How long will this project last?
Will this project eventually become self-sustaining?
Anticipating and addressing these questions in the financial section of your grant proposal will
give you a step up in comparison to other proposals.
Proofread and Submit
After the first draft of the proposal is complete, it is important to not only proofread it yourself but
also pass it around a group of professional peers that are (preferably) unaffiliated with your
organization. This is important for two reasons: first, it will help make sure that your proposal
isn’t filled with your organization’s lingo or acronyms; second, readers will have the opportunity
to ask questions about any vague areas in your proposal. It can be difficult for someone within
an organization to objectively describe a program or project. Further, feedback from someone
external to the organization can help you re-write and clarify your proposal. Remember that the
average foundation funder takes less than a minute to skim your proposal and determine
whether or not it is worth pursuing. If they encounter any questions, they are likely to decline the
proposal rather than searching for answers.
Finally, make sure that you turn in the proposal well before the deadline. Avoid paying for
express shipping, as this can highlight that your organization does not plan well and has no
issues with spending program funds on express shipping.
Conclusion
Grant writing is time consuming, but by taking time to fully develop your proposal and adding
key details, you can help increase your success rate.
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Articles for Further Reading
1. Guidestar is an excellent resource for grant writers. In addition to a blog, they also
feature a resource center and articles on grant writing:
http://www.guidestar.org/rxa/news/articles/2006/grant-writing-102-tips-from-successfulgrantwriters.aspx
2. Several colleges and universities offer grant-writing programs, including the University of
North Carolina: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/grant-proposals-or-give-me-themoney/
3. The Minnesota Council of Foundations offers a wide variety of resources, including
articles on grant writing:
http://www.mcf.org/system/article_resources/0000/0325/writingagrantproposal.pdf
Kimberly Reeve is a Director, Sterling Clay is an Associate, and Helen van Dalen is an Intern in
the New York Office.
For more information, please visit Cathedral Consulting Group LLC online at
www.cathedralconsulting.com.
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