Preparing to Write Grants

  1. Find the right fit. Carefully review the guidelines and only apply if your organization meets all of the criteria:

    • Your mission is clear and aligns with theirs
    • You are in the geographic location they require
    • You have the correct tax status
    • You are/are not a religious organization, depending on which they fund

    Depending on who makes the grant, the requirements could be more extensive. Make sure you meet every one. Don’t apply to an almost match. Grant reviewers receive many more requests than they can fulfill. They need a quick way to eliminate applicants, and not meeting the requirements is an easy one. Applying for grants that aren’t the right fit is a waste of everyone’s time.
  2. Understand your budget. The person writing the grant is usually not the same person who handles the finances. Make sure you understand your income and expenses before diving in. How detailed your budget needs to be will vary from grant to grant. In most cases, you will need to provide both an overall budget and a project budget. As a general rule, government grants have more strict requirements.

    • Know your program costs vs. your administrative costs. Find out which expenses are being classified as which. Wages for program staff can be categorized as program expenses. It’s important that your program expenses exceed your administrative expenses. A general rule is that you should be spending at least 60-65% on programs.

    • Be able to show multiple streams of income. It’s common for inexperienced grant writers to feel like having money will discourage funders from helping them because they won’t see the need. Don’t trust that feeling! It’s counterintuitive, but foundations would much rather see that you have money coming in from a variety of sources. They want to fund projects with the highest chance of success. For that reason, most grantors won’t want to be the first or only source of revenue for a project or an entire organization.

    • Know exactly what the money will go towards. While there are grants that are for general operating expenses, most are given for a specific purpose. Your purpose should align with the goals of the grantor and you should be able to demonstrate the specific associated costs.
  3. Gather supporting documents. Again, these requirements vary. Typically, you’ll need:

    • Project Budget
    • Overall Budget
    • EIN (Employer Identification Number)
    • Proof of tax status
    • Your most recent taxes or financial statements
    • A recent W9 form
    • Proof that you hold any legally required insurance (in most states, this includes general liability and workers’ comp)
    • Bios for Board Members and key staff
    • Salaries of the people involved with the project
    • An overview of your mission, programs, and impact (how many people you serve and client demographics such as geography, income, sex, gender, race, ethnicity).
  4. Outline your case for support. You will almost always be asked to provide a narrative that makes the case for why your mission should be funded. Use this part of the application to explain why your mission matters and what your programming means to the people you serve. Be passionate and matter-of-fact. Cite relevant statistics and personal stories when warranted. Try to appeal to both reason and emotion.
  5. Determine how success is measured. Many grant applications will ask you how you will measure the success of your programs. Oftentimes, the question of whether you met these goalposts is part of your grant reporting process, so make sure you are being as realistic and specific as possible. Don’t make promises you can’t keep (“we’re going to end child poverty in six months”) or be too general (“we’re helping low income kids”). Instead, choose a specific, realistic, measurable target (“these funds will be used to provide 42 elementary school children with backpacks and school supplies,” “this money will provide 6 families with food and shelter this winter”).