How to position your organization to have the best chance of success at grant writing
While there is enormous competition for every grant dollar, there are many things you can do to position your organization to have the best chance of success at grant writing: 1. Have professionally prepared letterheads and envelopes, and a professionally prepared, maintained, and updated website. Many prospective funders look at applicant's website. Don't have the home page of your website announce an upcoming event that occurred six months ago.
2. Have email and a fax number, in addition to a business phone number. Fax machines are very inexpensive and can be set up to share a phone line with your phone number. Many prospective funders ask for your fax number. Saying you don't have one is very unprofessional.
3. Have at least six to eight members on your board of directors, with a diversity of professional backgrounds, gender, and ethnicity. The minimum number of board members required by the State of Texas for a nonprofit corporation is three, but this number is too small to meet the governance and diversity preferences of many funders. Contrary to what you might have heard, you can't have too many board members. To prospective funders, every board member serves as an endorser of your organization and helps give your organization credibility. Have at least one board member with professional expertise in fundraising, accounting/finance, law, and marketing. All board members should make financial donations to your organization.
4. Before having your Form 990 and audit completed, make sure the allocation of expenses on your statement of functional expenses is reasonable. And "reasonable" means a large allocation of expenses to program, versus management/administrative and fundraising. If less than 75% of total expenses are allocated to program, your chances of funding are greatly reduced. And make sure that your accountant records direct special event expenses "above the line," meaning as a credit against special event revenues rather than as fundraising expenses. This will help keep your fundraising expenses as a percentage of total expenses low.
5. Complete your Form 990 as soon as possible after your fiscal year-end. You don't have to wait until right before the due date to submit it. Complete this form even if your organization is not required to do so.
6. Have audited financial statements, if it is at all financially feasible. If you have audited financials, have the audit completed as soon as possible after your fiscal year-end. Though an audit can be expensive, some prospective funders will not even consider your application without an audit.
7. Have accurate and current internal financial statements. If a prospective funder wants recent financial statements, it won't suffice to say that your most recent financials are six months old.
8. Have a detailed and reasonable budget for expenses and revenues for your total organization, and for each individual program within your organization. Make the line item descriptions on your budget clear and understandable. Don't use internal acronyms or jargon that an outside reader won't understand.
9. Have a legible copy of your IRS 501(c)(3) letter that is less than five years old. Make sure your IRS letter includes your Section 509(a) status; you should be 509(a)(1) or (2), and not (3). Contact the IRS at 877-829-5500 for an updated letter if yours is more than five years old or if it does not contain your Section 509(a) status.
Recent grants received by our clients include:
$30,000 for a mental health advocacy organization - for general operating expenses
$30,000 for an organization providing services for women seeking to leave the sex industry - for general operating expenses
$15,000 for a health and dental clinic for low-income, uninsured clients - for their health and dental services for adults
The topic of our next blog on Tuesday, June 14th, will be “Words of Wisdom about Grant Writing.”
Bookmark this page, or make it one of your favorites, for your convenience.
Murray Covens, Principal