Times are Uncertain but it is Important to Keep Applying for Grants!

With the inescapable reality of the steep economic downturn, government bailouts, and dwindling endowments, many of us in the nonprofit community may be left afraid to even ask, “Is there anything left for us?” For many nonprofits, the demand for services is increasing and donations are decreasing. Yet, we may be wondering if it is wise to continue to invest scarce resources into applying for increasingly competitive foundation, state or federal grant dollars.

The changes in grant making in 2009 are more difficult to predict than you might think. Some grant makers report planning to increase their funding in ’09 to help nonprofits weather the economic storm, some are decreasing their giving in response to their own shrinking resources, and regardless of funding levels, many plan to shift their funding priorities and to make their funding decisions more strategic.

The only universal truth may be that the competition for grant dollars is getting fiercer.
But is that any reason to take your organization out of the game? I don’t think so – we need to keep asking. The old adage, “you can’t win if you don’t play” certainly applies to securing grant dollars as well.

I think we need to keep writing and to write smarter.

Now more than ever, it is important that funders get to know our organizations and our needs well. I think we should keep calling program officers and keep our applications on their desks. Even if they can’t contribute any funds now, they will be learning about our organizations and we’ll be beginning a relationship that could become fruitful in the future.

Grant seeking and grant writing are also skills that we shouldn’t let atrophy. Lingo changes, foundation’s priorities and scope change, federal and state programs begin and end. We also want to keep our own organizational profiles, needs statements and statistics up-to-date and ready for the next opportunity.

Foundations are narrowing the scope of what they will fund and changing their priorities. We need to respond by being more strategic about where we apply and make sure that our needs fit well within their priorities.

We should also be smarter about what we ask for. Projects with proven, quantifiable outcomes will be much more attractive to funders who are looking to have the greatest impact with limited resources. We should also look for ways to make grant dollars work harder for us. For example, we could use grant dollars to leverage other funding. Or we could propose a capacity-building project that will increase our organization’s ability to create a more stable funding base, such as, creating a fund development plan or cultivating a donor base.

While these are uncertain times for nonprofits, we should know that funders are not going to abandon us. They will work with us to make the biggest possible impact. For more information about writing smarter grants, don’t miss the “Getting Good at Grants” workshop on Tuesday, April 28, 2009. Go to NorthSky’s website for more details, http://www.northskynonprofitnetwork.org/workshops042809.shtm

Enjoy the week,
Freya Bradford, MSW
NorthSky Research and Project Manager

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