Are You Ready to Work with a Grant Writer?

Grants can be catalytic funding for a nonprofit. This type of funding can help you get the capacity you need for significant growth, launch a new program, hire staff, or take your agency to a new level of mission work. If you are trying to determine if your organization is ready for grant solicitation, consider these six important questions.

1.  Are your financial documents in order?

To be successful with foundation solicitation, the following financial documents should be easily accessible: most recent 990, financial audit, monthly and annual profit and loss statements and balance sheets, a board approved budget with revenue and expense projections, budget vs. actuals for the last fiscal year and current year to date, donor lists and revenue by donor type. If you are seeking funding for a specific project, you will need a project budget.

2.  Are you open to coaching?

The grant writer’s goal is to help you be successful. Good grant writers have an understanding of the funding community, its giving interests and other competing organizations. Your grant writer will likely have suggestions on how to be competitive with telling your story, along with outcomes tracking and your overall strategy.  

3.  Can you demonstrate impact?

Funders see their grants as an investment in social change, so they want to know your track record and goals associated with the impact of your programs. Working through a logic model can help you articulate your program’s impact. It is vital that you track outcomes that reflect your organization’s results. For example, if you are implementing workforce development programs, what percentage of your clients are attaining a living wage job? How do you define living wage? In what timeframe are they achieving this success? How long are they staying employed? Benchmark your goals against other similar programs and know what success looks like for your program. If your outcomes are not aligned with other similar programs in the area, be able to explain why.

Funders are knowledgeable about their giving interests and it is your job to prove that your programs are competitive in regard to impact. If you are looking for funding for a new program, you must have your program flushed out completely (a logic model can help with this) before you can ask for funding. Funders are unlikely to give money for a vision. They want to fund an evidence-based, well thought-out plan of action that will likely result in social change.

4.  Do you have the budget to work with a grant writer?

Depending on your strategy, you will want to make sure that you have between $1,500 - $4,000 per month to spend with a grant writer. Grant writers who promise a certain number of grant applications per month for a flat fee can be an economical approach to getting out a lot of asks, however, these types of agreements can be inefficient as there are not always a set number of applications to submit each month. Also, this narrow scope of service leaves little room for customization, strategy and flexibility. An hourly rate with a monthly cap of hours gives more flexibility for the grant writer to help you strategically select the applications that have the greatest alignment with your mission and program focus. This type of payment structure also gives you and your grant writer greater flexibility for customizing the application and working together to maximize your overall grants strategy. It is considered unethical in the profession of fundraising to work on a commission basis.

5.  Are you ready to do your part?

You play an important role in the grant-writing process. The grant writer depends on you to ensure that they fully understand your organization and can tell your story effectively. Review their proposals carefully and communicate if they are missing something important. Always keep your grant writer in the loop on changes within your program or agency.

It is also your responsibility to cultivate funders. These are your relationships. Just like all other types of fundraising, building relationships with grant funders is key. A good grant writer can help you develop a strategy to cultivate foundation relationships, however, you are responsible for developing these relationships. The grant writer will not promise funding, introductions to funders or develop these relationships for you.    

6.  Do you have appropriate expectations?

Grant solicitation is a long-game fundraising strategy. It can take 6-12 months to realize the results from a grant application. If you need quick money, grant solicitation is not the right strategy for that. Do not go into a trial relationship with a grant writer for three months and then feel disappointed when you don’t see results. If you are new to grant solicitation, it is unlikely that you will have results in that timeframe. Plan on working with your grant writer for a minimum of a year and then evaluate the results and the relationship at that point.

Remember that your grant writer plays a role in the process, but they are not the only player. Your organization’s staff members have important roles to play as well. Your chances of receiving grant funding increase with each box you can check:

• Your organization meets a clear community need and can demonstrate results. (organization role)

• Your organization has a strong presence and reputation within your mission-focused community. (organization role)

• Your organization has a relationship with the foundation or has been actively cultivating it. (organization role)

• Someone involved in your organization has a relationship with the foundation. (organization role)

• Your proposal is closely aligned with the foundation’s giving interests. (grant writer role)

• You have previously submitted a proposal to the foundation. (organization/grant writer role)

• A foundation representative has had a site visit at your organization. (funder role)

• The proposal is concise and compelling, including a demonstration of community need and the organization’s impact. (grant writer role)

Occasionally, we are asked about rate of return for our clients. While it may seem that this question makes sense and will help you understand a potential rate of return for your investment, grant writing doesn’t work that way. Our rate of return for one client has nothing to do with your potential rate of return. Some of our clients do a really great job of building relationships with funders, and when we submit proposals on their behalf, they are warm leads with a high likelihood of funding. Others are just getting started with grant writing and their proposals are basically an introduction to their agency. Some of our clients have small budgets, so we are very strategic in how we use those funds to apply for those opportunities where the mission work most closely aligns with the funder’s giving interests. Other clients have large budgets, and they want to try for funding opportunities that are more competitive with higher odds. A better question for a grant writer is to ask them to share how they determine success and how they will help you create a successful strategy to reach your goals.

Wise Resource Development’s primary referral source for clients is local funders, such as United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, Communities Foundation of Texas, and The State Fair of Texas. We pride ourselves on these referrals because it reflects the quality of our work product. We write proposals that reviewers like to read – they are clear, compelling and competitive. Want to learn how we can help you with grant writing? Schedule a consultation today.