Tips for Successful Grant Writing

Just think about what it must be like to be a program officer at a large foundation. Every day, the mail and email bring new proposals to be considered, most from very worthy and qualified nonprofits. Each must be read through and digested to decide if the foundation should consider them or not.

Now think what’s it’s like to open one of those proposals and encounter bad grammar, stilted use of language, jargon, and catch phrases. My guess is that that proposal moves to the bottom of the pile.

Now imagine opening a proposal written in a conversational tone. It feels like someone from the nonprofit is right there explaining to you what they do and why they deserve funding. The proposal doesn’t try to impress you with highbrow language, but rather with the quality of work done by the nonprofit. Top of the pile for this one!

On my web site, you can read more about writing well in "Writing a Proposal They Will Want to Read."

There are a number of excellent online databases to use in researching potential funders. Some of these I evaluated in my article in The Nonprofit Times. But before you begin researching online databases, be sure you have checked your own database thoroughly.

Your past supporters are your most likely future donors, too. Have you provided several opportunities for them to give to your nonprofit? Not asking is a major fault of many fundraising programs. Never drop a funder just because you received a negative response. Your request may have been lost in the mail or just arrived at a bad time in their funding process.

Follow up with a respectful phone call to see if they can share what went into their negative decision about your grant. Program officers can usually be quite helpful in this regard. In fact, you might want to call them to find out what went into their decision when they gave you a grant! That would be even more helpful. The more you communicate with the funder, the better chance you’ll have for success in the future.