paper trail of whom they release information to and why.2 When you know where the weakness is in your grant application, develop a plan for rewriting.You want to rewrite the weak sections of your narrative and ready it for submission to other grantors and even for future resubmission to the same grantmaking agency that rejected the first request. Grantors usually allow you to reapply in the next funding cycle (the next year).
Chapter 2
Preparing for Successful Grantseeking
IN THIS CHAPTER
Typically, new and/or small nonprofit organizations that want to apply for grants are not always grant ready. Grant readiness is the foundation or framework for successful grantseeking. In this chapter, I show you how to determine if your organization is grant ready. In addition, I show you how to build your governing board’s capacity, assess your organization’s capacity, create a grantfunding plan, and most importantly, how to increase your chances for successful grantseeking.
Grantseeking Readiness Priorities for Nonprofits
These are the questions to ask. If you answer no, you need to work with the board of directors to help turn any no’s into yes’s. Also, don’t panic at the amount of no’s you end up having when you’re done with the checklist; just focus on one no at a time. It’s important to estimate a timeline for your anticipated grant readiness. Okay, let’s get started with the questions:
1 Does your organization have a staff member or volunteer assigned to grant writing? Remember, it’s important to get at least one person trained in how to research grants and write grant proposals. Having a consistent person assigned to these tasks is necessary for grantseeking continuity.
2 Does your organization subscribe to grantfunding alerts about public-and private-sector grantfunding opportunities? If you are truly serious about scoring grant awards, you absolutely need to keep updated on the type of available funding, what you need to write, and the deadlines for each application.
3 Do you have all of your organizational documents in a cloud folder so they can easily be accessible from any technology device at work, home, and elsewhere? When you find a grantfunding opportunity that has a close deadline (such as 48 hours from your discovery of the availability of new money), can you quickly prepare a funding request and attach the mandatory documents from your cabin in the mountain? Oh, by the way, did you know that grant professionals (grantwriters with experience, grit, and speedreading skills) never leave their homes without their laptops or tablets in the event they will have to prepare a grant application from the seating area of an airport gate, a hotel room, or the beach? Yep, grantwriters are in high demand and if they want to keep their jobs and clients, they must be able to be attentive, responsive, and ready to write anytime, anywhere.
Before you apply for grant funding (the pre-award phase)
Here are the documents that you should upload to a cloud folder (such as Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, or another one of your choice):
Updated mission, vision, and value statements
Current strategic plan
Current organizational chart
Current fact sheets and flow charts for all programs (how services are or will be delivered)
Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) or Memoranda of Agreement (MOAs) from a minimum of five community or regional collaborative agencies that are committed to providing matching funding or in-kind (soft cash) contributions
Accurate and thorough job descriptions for all program staff (filled as well as unfilled positions)
Updated résumés and bios for current staff (limit to maximum of two pages each)
Organizational budgets for current and next fiscal year
Current financial statements
Current financial audit report
Articles of incorporations and bylaws
Certificate of good standing from the state agency where the articles of incorporation were filed
Most recent IRS Form-990 (nonprofit tax return form) or 990-N (for newer nonprofits with minimal revenues during their most recent fiscal year)
Current data about your volunteers (number of volunteers, total hours per volunteer per year, and value of their contribution (https://independentsector.org/value-of-volunteer-time-2021/)
Current board of directors' policies and procedures
Current board of directors’ roster/list (member names, officers identified, terms, professional titles, affiliations, contact information, gender, and ethnicity)
Current boilerplate document that contains organizational history, including year founded, number and qualifications of staff, list of programs, mission, vision, values, awards, stories and testimonials, accreditations, certifications, and recent accomplishments
Current map of target area(s) for service delivery and demographics about the target population (those you will serve with grant funding)
Recent evaluation reports with program service-related outcomes and/or performance measures collected
Current logic model for every program
Current sustainability statement (must be created by the board of directors)
Evidence of capability to manage grant awards (accounting practices and evidence of a clear audit trail for expenses paid for with grant funding)
After you receive your first grant award (the post-award phase)
Well, you wanted to bring more money into your organization and that’s a great goal. However, is your organization ready to manage grant awards from small- to mega-amounts? Here’s a checklist for evaluating your
