Grant Building Blocks for New(ish) and Small(ish) Non-Profits

People ask me all the time how they can secure a large grant for their small, new non-profit. These are some of the tips I usually give:

1. Start with a smaller grant from a local funder, even if you lose money, to establish a record. Then perform as if it were a million dollar grant. Rarely will you be able to secure a large amount of funding without establishing a track record first.

2. Quantify and track the services that you are providing now. Your staff will surely resist. Don’t give in. Although it does take time away from direct services, gathering data about the effectiveness of your program is the only way to show you can handle a larger grant.

3. Partner with another larger organization that can use something you have. No use looking for an organization doing the same thing you are. Look for an organization that serves a different constituency, serves a different geographic area, or provides a different service in the same project area.

4. Demonstrate support from the community through establishing donor fundraising before you apply for grants. Other ways to demonstrate this are through a large audience on social media, an influential board, serving large numbers of people in existing programs, and drawing large numbers of people to events.

5. Make sure you know all the people in your area providing similar services. Because they are all more established than you, they are at a significant competitive advantage. You will need to find your niche, but you can’t do that until you are absolutely certain of what everyone else does.

6. Make sure you are aware of what best practices are in your service area. Funders who specialize in a specific area are very cognizant of evidence-based service models in their area of interest. After you research best-practices in your field, you then have to make sure the funder you are targeting is partial to that model of service delivery. For example, if the grantmaker thinks harm-reduction is an effective model to reduce negative consequences of drug use, then asking them to fund an abstinence only program will be a waste of your time.

7. Make sure you know what kind of language is preferred in your service area. The language of social services changes constantly and you need to be on the forefront. One rule of thumb is to use people-first language. For example, “Person experiencing homelessness” is preferred over “homeless” because it focuses on the person rather than their circumstances.

8. Sending out a bunch of proposals to see which one sticks is NOT a good idea. Each one has to be tailored to what the funder is looking for. Your long-term reputation is truly at risk when you do this because the funder will think you are amateurish and don’t do your homework.