QENO Executive Director Roundtable March 25, 2010 GRANTWRITING 201: Making The Ask That Will Last No matter who you are writing for or how much you are asking for, these are six things that typically need to be completed or discussed before you sit down at your desk to write a top‐
notch proposal. 1. Relationship‐Building: Have you made contact?  Whenever possible, get to know the staff of a funding organization. Conversations with foundation and agency staff should be able to help you make a well‐informed and reasonable ask.  Tell your story often, not only when you are asking for money. Communicate regularly. 2. Do Your Research: Do you like what you see and will they?  Know the funder. Understand their priorities. Think strategically about how you align.  Know the national and local trends related to your issue area.  Search for best practices as they relate to measuring your successes. 3. Your Case for Support: Can this marriage work?  Funders often define for you how they want you to communicate your case. They will ask about your history, current challenges and successes. You know how to make your case and it is often not in answering the questions they ask. Find a way to tell the story you want to tell. It might not fit neatly as a part of their series of questions. But you know the part of your story that makes an impact on people. Use it somehow, somewhere.  Clear. Concise. Succinct.  Use data. Measureable data. 4. Evaluation: How will you know if you are meeting expectations?  Funders expect you to follow best practices and measure your impact.  Know your data. Share it convincingly.  Make sure you understand the expectation of the funder as it relates to evaluation. Do you have the resources to measure everything they want you to measure?  Connect with the experts. Find someone who is intimate with your work and they can help you find the right tools to evaluate what needs to be evaluated. 5. Sustainability: Is this going to be a long‐term relationship?  Project support needs a year two and three game plan.  General operating support needs a long‐term game plan.  Capacity building support needs to prove real impact. There might not be a need for a long‐term funding game plan, but you need to be able to prove that the money will help make an organizational shift.  An important relationship between sustainability and collaboration exists. 6. Collaboration: Why do they need to know you are seeing other people?  Define for the funder how the collaboration is real. In other words, are you referring clients to one another, sharing information and using each other to stay on top of the “pulse” of your shared clientele? Or are you doing all of those things and sharing resources that make each of your programs stronger?  When you think about whom to collaborate with, think about what you need. Do you need space? Do you need expertise? Do you need a constituency for your services in another county? These are all things that might cost next to nothing for a collaborative partner and will show the community (including current and potential funders) that you are making the most of your resources. Resources  The Foundation Center, www.foundationcenter.org: Certain information available to the public, more specific funding opportunities and research available with subscription  The Philanthropy Journal, a program of the Institute for Nonprofits at NC State University: www.philanthropyjournal.org/. This has a section specifically dedicated to North Carolina giving, news, and trends. It also has information about upcoming NC workshops and events.  NC Gives: www.ncgives.org, North Carolina’s initiative for inclusive philanthropy.  Grants.gov: www.grants.gov, a searchable site that lists government grants  Trends in Charitable Giving in North Carolina, 1997‐2006. Published by the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, The Urban Institute. http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/411891_NC_charitable_giving.pdf