Editor's Note

Under pressure to do more with less, many nonprofit professionals find themselves performing tasks outside of their regular job scopes. Not surprisingly, many fundraising professionals end up searching for grants and writing grant proposals. Grant seeking and writing can be an arduous and frustrating task. That's why this issue of Fundraising Well is dedicated to helping you successfully manage the grant process, providing you with basic grant seeking strategies and tips for writing an effective grant proposal.

Want to meet your fellow Blackbaud software users?
Find out how other organizations overcame the same challenges you're currently facing at Blackbaud user groups — a benefit for clients who participate in our software Maintenance programs. These are top-notch educational forums designed to help you find solutions to your challenges. View the current user group schedule and register online.

Interested in hosting a user group at your organization?
Contact us at usergroups@blackbaud.com for more information on the benefits of being a host, as well as how to become one.

Basic Grant Seeking Strategies

Important Steps to Take Before Seeking a Grant

According to the U.S. General Services Administration, the federal government awards more than $300 billion in grants annually. Therein lies a huge opportunity for nonprofits to find funding to advance their missions — and that amount doesn’t even include the grants awarded to nonprofits from private foundations!

So how can you help ensure that your organization gets its share? Not only does your organization need to do really well at what it does, but it needs to demonstrate that it fulfills a specific purpose that is desperately needed by the community it serves.

Often misunderstood, grant seeking does not just involve searching for financial support. Grant seeking becomes a reflection of your organization and the work it does. These crucial steps will help you better prepare for the long road ahead:

1. Prepare an outline of exactly what your organization aims to accomplish. You’ll need to be able to prove that your organization has a specific purpose that is not only feasible, but is also innovative and unlike any other initiative.
2. Don’t assume that the grants committee will understand or relate to your mission. This is a common mistake. Case studies and facts that demonstrate the need for your project will help funders connect with your organization and its mission.
3. Develop a plan that predicts the project’s outcome — not only the outcome upon the project’s completion, but what it would accomplish at least a year afterward.
4. Carefully plan your budget. This will be a major topic that a grants committee will review. The budgest needs to be accurate, honest, and straightforward. Keep records of how you arrived at financial estimates so you’ll be able to answer specific questions.

The Best Resources for Finding Grants

There are two major areas in which to look for a grant: foundations and federal, state, and local governments. Government grants are the easiest to research, but foundation grants can unfortunately be hard to find. Here are some resources for both:

Foundations:

1. The Foundation Center: In addition to providing helpful electronic newsletters that outline the latest available grants, The Foundation Center’s Web site contains the “Foundation Finder,” which allows you to look up the contact information and summaries of foundations for which you know the names.
2. GuideStar: Register for free, and you’ll have access to Form 990s, 990-PFs, and other tax forms on nonprofits, including foundations.
3. Community Foundation Locator: Sponsored by the Council on Foundations, this site allows you to click on a U.S. map to pull up a list of the local community foundations with links to their sites.
4. Your local library: Many libraries throughout the U.S. subscribe to nationwide databases, such as the Foundation Directory Online, which allows you to search for foundations by location, geographic focus, type of support, and grant-maker’s name.

Government Grants:

1. Grants.gov: This government Web site contains useful information for nonprofits and includes announcements of federal grants. You’ll find a list of government grants posted within the past seven days, and you can sign up for email notices.
2. Federal Register: This Web site, provided by the U.S. General Services Administration, also provides useful information for nonprofits, including resources on grants.

The most important thing to remember when writing a grant proposal is that grants committees are bombarded with countless proposals. In order to be effective, yours must stand out and grab the committee’s attention — quickly and succinctly. Here’s an outline of a grant proposal:

1. First Page Summary: This will be the most important section of your proposal. It is your chance to capture the reader’s attention and him or her reading. Here, you should provide details about:
   
   • The problem your organization plans to address
   • How your organization plans to solve the problem
   • The amount of funding your organization needs to complete the project
   • The organization’s purpose, qualifications, and expertise

   Each of these topics should be covered in just a few strong sentences. This might be the only section of your proposal that gets read.

2. Body Pages: If you get the grants committee reading this section, it’s a huge accomplishment, and you want to keep them reading. Don’t lose them with exhaustive details. The professionals at community foundations are usually more interested in investing in people, not just problems. Make sure to connect with the audience by making it personal, instead of just factual. In this section, be sure to:
   
   • Provide details about why your project is necessary. Provide case studies, pictures, or anything else that can help the reader connect to the cause.
   • Describe the project your organization plans to accomplish. Don’t get too bogged down with details — just the nuts and bolts are necessary.
   • Provide an overview of the project’s budget. Be sure to include expected expenses, such as personnel, administrative, project, and overhead expenses. If each cost is straightforward, explanation is not necessary.
   • Finally, provide an argument as to why your organization is qualified to carry out its objective.
   
   
3. Conclusion: Every grant proposal should contain a conclusion. Here, you should look forward and summarize the impact that the project would have on the community, if funded. This is your chance to provide hope for the future and inspire the reader to action.

Of course, the grant proposal is not the only piece of the puzzle. Your grant proposal should never reach a foundation without the foundation expecting its arrival. You should also research the foundation’s specific requirements for applying for a grant, if they have any. If your proposal is rejected, call the foundation to ask how it could be improved. Many grants aren’t awarded until a second or third revised proposal is submitted. Persistent grant-seekers tend to be rewarded the most.

Latest and Greatest

You received this email because you are subscribed to Fundraising Well. If you would like to unsubscribe, please visit unsubscribe.blackbaud.com to manage your subscriptions.

If this email was forwarded to you and you would like to receive a free subscription, please visit http://www.blackbaud.com/profile/adduser.aspx and create an account. You'll be able to opt in to receive Fundraising Well and other Blackbaud publications at the bottom of the form. Once you create an account, you can manage your subscriptions at http://subscribe.blackbaud.com.

The information contained herein should not be construed as legal or professional advice. If you have questions about how this newsletter's content applies to your organization, you should seek advice from appropriate professional counsel.

© 2006 Blackbaud, Inc. All rights reserved.