GRANT WRITING 101
Highlights 2016 Gifts to Charitable Organizations For the charitable organizations receiving contributions, 2016 was a year of growth across the board. Giving to all nine major types of charitable organizations increased in 2016. Giving to international affairs, human services and public-society benefit organizations all grew. This growth is in spite of relatively few widely publicized natural disasters, which often increase contributions to these types of organizations. Environment and animals charities; arts, culture and humanities organizations; international affairs nonprofits; and health causes experienced the largest jumps in contributions.
Grant Writing 101 Grant Writing 101 I. Prospect Research & Tracking II. Preparing the Proposal III. Follow-Up
STEP ONE: Prospect Research & Tracking
Do Your Research Be Prepared Foundations generally give based on subject and geographic region. Look for funders whose interests match your organization's mission, programs, populations served, and locations served. Don t approach a funder if you don t match their giving interests. Keep your outreach organized.
FREE Tools for Finding Grants Foundation Directory Online is Foundation Center's searchable database that provides comprehensive and accurate information on U.S. grantmakers and their grants. You can search based on subject, geography, grantmaker type, type of support, trustee names, and many other search fields. Philanthropy News Digest (PND) Foundation Center Publishes news, RFPs and notices of awards. Keyword searchable back to 1995 to find media coverage of individual and institutional donors and their gifts. Updated daily. guidestar.org You can access Form 990s of foundations and other nonprofits; and GuideStar also offers a very flexible search engine to dig deeply into all that data. Grants Roundup The Chronicle of Philanthropy Grant descriptions and deadlines. Drawn from The Chronicle's extensive listings. Grants.gov Online portal to all federal funding opportunities within the United States. Animal Sheltering Fundraising Resources: Archive of articles and tips from Animal Sheltering magazine (published by HSUS) on increasing income and donations The Lion's Share: A blog that offer fundraising resources for animal welfare organizations
STEP TWO: Preparing the Application
Prepare Yourself to be a Winning Grant Writer Time to meet with program staff to get their input and to plan the content of the proposal Time to write the proposal Should we apply or not? Define the decision-making process Is it an Executive Director decision? Board decision? Grantwriter s decision? Designate the writer of the proposal. Identify the process who will be involved in reading, editing, making changes, re-writing, final draft of the proposal? Who has final say on the content of the proposal? Who prepares the budgets to accompany the proposal? Who will make phone calls to prospective funders to build a relationship? Who talks with and meets with Board members about their role? Who will sign proposals on behalf of the agency? Who will be responsible for grants administration --tracking and reporting to the funder?
A Checklist of Items* you may need Federal tax exemption letter Mission Statement Board of Directors w/bios Advisory Board Bios of Key Staff Org Budget (annual) showing multiple sources of revenue and types of expense Program Budget(s) for each major program or service of the agency Financial Statements showing monthly revenue and expense, year-to-date revenue and expense, compared to the Annual Budget 990 for most recently completed fiscal year Audit (or year-end financial statement for smaller nonprofit agencies) Record of past Foundation/Corporate/Government funding for 1 3 years Letters of Support Newspaper publicity articles (recent) *When submitting an on-line proposal, you may be asked to upload some of these attachments, such as your Audit, 990 Form, current Financial Statements, etc. So you must scan in these documents and create a file that can be uploaded along with your written proposal.
Proposals Come In All Shapes and Sizes Letter of Inquiry 1-2 page letter on letterhead describing the organization and the program that you are seeking funding for; if the funder likes the concept presented in the LOI, they will invite a full proposal. Cover Letter Usually one page; summarizes the proposal; on letterhead; signed by the Board President or Chair and the Executive Director. Proposal (three to ten pages) Often there is a cover page supplied by the funder, and then you attach the proposal on white paper, following the guidelines. On-Line Application Forms Funder provides an on-line template for information on your agency, programs and funding need -- and you fill in the boxes and submit the application electronically.
Read the grant application carefully Highlight all questions you must answer and materials you have to include. Underline key words or phrases you might want to emphasize. Follow the directions and be sure to include all required attachments.
Standard Cover Letter Outline (a short version of the full length proposal) Ask for the gift why you are writing and the funding request Describe the need Explain what you will do Provide organizational data
Typical grant Outline I. Executive Summary II. Statement of Need III. Project Description IV. Budget V. Organization Background VI. Conclusion
Executive Summary Three to six paragraphs. Summarizes the problem your organization seeks to address and why your proposal fits the funder s guidelines and interests. Problem a brief statement of the problem or need (one to two paragraphs) Solution a short description of the project that includes what will take place, the benefit, how and where it will operate / work (one to two paragraphs) Funding requirements an explanation of the amount of money required for the project and future funding plans (one paragraph) Organization and its expertise - name, history, purpose, activities and capacity to carry out the proposal (one paragraph)
Statement of Need Three paragraphs that allow the reader to learn more about the issues, presents the facts and evidence that support the need for the project and establishes your expertise to address the problem. Use accurate, specific facts / data to support the project and illustrate the need. Provide an example that hits home. Provide hope (i.e. don t just talk about how bad run-off from development, emphasize what can be done about it.) Put a human face on it, provide real life examples and emphasize the needs of those served.
Project Description Nuts and bolts of the project Describe the project in a way that is interesting & compelling. 1. Objectives - Define measurable improvements in behavior, performance, process or a tangible item that will result from the project. 2. Methods - A detailed description of the activities leading to achieving the objectives that includes how, when (project timeline), and why the methods will work. 3. Staffing / Administration A short description of the number of staff, their qualifications and what they will be doing. 4. Evaluation A description of how the organization and the funder will know the project is a success. What methods will be used to evaluate success? What types of measures qualitative or quantitative? Remember that success is not just completing a list of activities what is the impact of the activity on achieving the objectives? Who will measure success? 5. Sustainability Since funders rarely want to make a long term commitment to one organization, they want to know that the project will attract other funders. Evidence of current funding (for larger projects) is helpful and may be requested.
Budgets Project Budget: Provides a summary of direct and indirect expenses, as well as anticipated revenue, for the completion of the project. For ease of understanding, this summary is usually in the form of a chart and includes narrative to explain anything unusual. Organization Budget: For small nonprofits with just one program, the proposal budget and organizational budget might be the same. For larger nonprofits, an organization-wide operating budget accounts for everything the nonprofit spends to carry out, evaluate and administer all its programs and activities.
Sample Organization Budget SOURCE REVENUES REVENUES Operating Revenue Adoption revenues $250,000.00 Veterinary revenues $100,000.00 Govt Contracts $50,000.00 Other $2,000.00 TOTAL $402,000.00 Non Operating Revenue Development revenues $500,000.00 Special Events revenues $100,000.00 In Kind donations $24,000.00 Estate revenues $120,000.00 TOTAL $744,000.00 TOTAL REVENUES $1,146,000.00 EXPENSES FY16 BUDGET Program Services Pet Sheltering Services $457,000.00 Community & Outreach Services $10,000.00 TOTAL $467,000.00 Important to Breakout Supporting Costs SUPPORTING SERVICES Management and General $250,000.00 Fundraising and Development $424,000.00 TOTAL $674,000.00 TOTAL EXPENSES $1,141,000.00 INVESTMENT RETURNS $300,000.00 YEAR ENDING ASSETS $305,000.00
Project Budget Sample Project Budget Project coordinator/researcher 30,000 Backhoe and skilled operator 79,500 (moving 500 tortoises; 15 burrows a day at $1,200 per day) Skilled technician 30,000 (processing tortoises for research at recipient site) Vehicle Maintenance & Usage 8,800 (relocation transport; 22 round trips at $400 each) Lodging, meals for burrow assistant 6,650 ($100 per day) Total $154,950 2014 Committed Funding: Folk Peterson Foundation ($30,000), Sabin Family Foundation ($10,000), D.R. Horton ($50,000 **Donated for Backhoe operations).
Organization Background History, mission, project fit within the mission, structure, programs and expertise, board, activities, staff, audience served, special needs of audience, why we are needed, and number of people reached through our programs. (1-2 pages, max) Conclusion A concluding paragraph or two that is used to make a final pitch for the project.
Review the proposal and the requirements. AND Make sure you mail or deliver it in time to meet the deadline. A late application will look sloppy and may not even be considered.
STEP THREE: Follow Up It s important to follow up whether you are awarded or declined a grant.
Questions?? Thank you