I have to admit that I’m not one to make new year resolutions, but there’s just something about starting “fresh” that gets me excited. Over the past few years, I’ve been unlearning waiting until the new year to start fresh and instead using each season,(honestly, each quarter, month, week, day etc.) to take a step back and reflect on the habits need to establish and the initial steps I need to take to prepare me to move towards the results I want to achieve.
Whether it’s January 1st, the end of the first quarter, or even the middle of the year, now is the best time to take a moment, evaluate how prepared your nonprofit is to win its first or next grant, and set your sights on making this your best grant year.
Below are 5 steps you can take to set yourself and your nonprofit organization on the right path for success.
Determine if you nonprofit is ready to apply for grants
You may be saying, “we’ve got our 501 © 3 certificate/determination letter, we’re ready to apply for grants!” However, being truly “grant ready” requires more than that. Grant readiness is your nonprofit’s ability to do good work, effectively manage money, and deliver results. Grant readiness is the #1 factor to grant success because, in order to get grant funding, your organization has to demonstrate to funders that it is prepared to manage the responsibilities of getting grant funding. The nonprofits that are “grant ready” have invested in building and maintaining a solid foundation.
So what does being grant ready look like? That means having a strong reputation and involvement in the community, relevant and impactful programs and services, strong leadership and management, including an active board of directors, good financial standing, systems in place to track their work and money, and clear mission, and strategic direction. It’s important that you have these elements as a strong foundation will increase your chances of getting and keeping grant funding.
If you’re a new and start-up nonprofits, you have to invest the time in building this solid foundation to be able to ask grant funders to invest in you. Then once your nonprofit has applied for and successfully receives grants, you want to as the kids say “stay ready so you don’t have to get ready”. This means making sure that you’re continuing to invest in these foundational areas so that you can stay ready for grant funding.
I know this might seem like a lot. However, it doesn’t mean you have the art of grant writing down or have a list of grants to apply for TODAY. What it does mean is that you are ready to take those next steps. You have the required legal registrations, financial systems, internal documentation, and organizational capacity in place. You know that if you find a grant opportunity that is right fit for your nonprofit, you have the information, documents, registrations, and systems needed to apply for it (and, hopefully, be successful with your application).
Clearly define your nonprofit’s mission, priorities, and community’s needs
According to grant funders one of the most common reasons grant proposals get rejected is unclear proposals due to vague and/or unrealistic program descriptions and organization mission statements. Grant funders are more likely to invest in nonprofits that present a clear picture of their work, the results produced so far, and how grant funding will help their organization make a bigger impact.
Before you start looking and applying for grants, you must have clarity on how your nonprofit’s mission, vision, and how the funding will be used to respond to the needs of the community. Ask yourself, does your nonprofit have a compelling mission statement? Is it unique and specific to what you plan to accomplish? Is your mission doable?
You also need clarity on how much funding do you need and by when do you need it?
Remember clarity leads to cash!
Focus on finding the right grants for your nonprofit
While there are hundreds of thousands of grants, not every funder or grant will be a fit for your nonprofit. A mismatch with the grant and grant funder’s interests or requirements is also the top reason why grant applications get rejected.
When you apply to the wrong grants, you’ll just end up with a pile of rejection letters. I’ll be honest, one of the biggest mistakes I made when trying to win my first grant was applying for every grant I found. I would find a grant, write and submit the grant application, and the response was the same every. single. time. Rejected!
Save yourself the time and frustration of applying for grants that you will never win by focusing only on the grants that are a match for your nonprofit’s work.
Get organized! Save key documents electronically
Growing up with a Jamaican mother has me cleaning and getting my whole house in order at the year. A clean and organized space just makes everything run smoothly. Organize your organization’s grant space by setting-up an electronic folder of some of the commonly requested documents for grant applications, such as
- Articles of incorporation
- Nonprofit status recognized by your state
- 501 (3) letter of determination from the IRS
- Your organization’s EIN number
- By-laws
- Annual organizational budget, including revenue and expenses
- At least 3 years of financial statements
- A copy of your most recent Form 990 (tax documents)
- Program results and budget
- Description of key partners
Save time by creating your “go-to” template grant proposal
According to the State of GrantSeeking Survey, the number one challenge organizations face when seeking grants is lack of time to complete grant applications. On average a small grant application can take at least 20 hours to complete while large applications, such as federal government grant applications can take at least 100 hours to complete (Charity Science). Adding to the challenge is that most grant applications have a 30-60 day turnaround time to the deadline. Talk about a time crunch!
In response, most people jump in, spending hours writing every single word from scratch, and then quickly become frustrated and stressed trying to make the grant application deadline. What if I told you there was an easier way. I’ve been able to complete even large grant applications for nonprofits in as little as 21 days by reusing language already written about the organization.
Set yourself up for success and less stress by creating one “go-to” document with responses to the common grant proposal sections and questions now.
Once you have responses for the common grant sections and questions written, anytime you have to start working on a grant application you can simply pull the information you need from your go-to grant proposal. When you have a go-to proposal as your starting point (and you know how to use it) – you’ll never have to start with a blank page every again and you’ll be able to knock out grant applications WAY faster and with less stress! Having a go-to grant proposal document in your back pocket will save you time and anxiety when it’s time to work on your next grant application.
The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.
It’s not too late to set your nonprofit up for a successful grant year. Today, set aside the time to prepare for the rest of the year by determining if your nonprofit is ready to apply for grants, clarifying your mission, priorities, and identifying your community’s needs, gathering and organizing commonly requested grant application documents, and creating a go-to document with responses to the common grant proposal sections and questions.
