1 THE STATE OF GRANTSEEKING FACT SHEET ORGANIZATIONAL COMPARISON BY ANNUAL BUDGET SPRING 2013 The State of Grantseeking Spring 2013 is the sixth semi-annual informal survey of nonprofits conducted by GrantStation and PhilanTech to help illustrate the current state of grantseeking in the U.S. During February and March 2013, 1,017 nonprofits of different sizes, in different geographies, and representing different issue areas completed the survey online, reporting on information based on the last six months of 2012. Organizational size determined by annual budget is a key factor influencing the grantseeking experience. When viewed through the lens of budget, variations among organizational profiles and grant management profiles including mission focus, organizational age, service area, staff size, grant activity, median grant award size, and government funding levels help us to understand the state of grantseeking in 2013 at a more granular and actionable level. Annual Budget The State of Grantseeking Spring 2013 Report makes references to small (budgets under $100,000), medium (budgets between $100,000 and $999,999), and large (budgets of $1,000,000 and over) organizations. This fact sheet allows us to delve into organizational variations among the nine budget levels defined in question ten in The State of Grantseeking Spring 2013 Survey. Organizational Profile by Annual Budget Range Organization location and service area 1 predominance for respondent organizations is delineated by annual budget. Larger organizations serve populous areas, while smaller organizations tend to serve less populous areas; population density is an indicator of budget size. 1 http://www.census.gov/geo/reference/ua/urban-rural-2010.html The Census Bureau s urban-rural classification is fundamentally a delineation of geographical areas, identifying both individual urban areas and the rural areas of the nation. The Census Bureau s urban areas represent densely developed territory, and encompass residential, commercial, and other non-residential urban land uses.
2 Only organizations with annual budgets under $50,000 most frequently reported a rural service area (30.2%). Fewer than 15.0% of organizations with annual budgets over $250,000 reported rural-only service areas. Urban clusters were the most frequently reported service area for organizations with annual budgets between $50,000 and $250,000. Organizations with annual budgets over $250,000 most frequently reported urban service areas. The frequency of organizations in areas serving the populations of rural, urban cluster, and urban areas also increased with organizational budget size. Organizational age also increases with organizational budget size. By budget size, the red highlighted cells in the chart shown below indicate the greatest response rate to the organizational age range; the green highlighted cells indicate the second greatest response rate.
3 It takes time to achieve very large annual budgets; 97.8% of organizations with budgets over $25,000,000 were also over twenty-five years of age. Conversely, 82.0% of organizations with budgets under $50,000 were also under twenty-five years of age. Budget dollars are necessary to employ staff. Staff size increases in correlation to budget size, ranging from all volunteer organizations with annual budgets under $50,000 (69.2% of the budget range) to organizations that employ over 200 persons with annual budgets over $25,000,000 (82.0% of the budget range). By budget size, the red highlighted cells in the chart shown below indicate the greatest response rate to the organizational staff size range. For all respondents, the top five mission focuses were education (14.7%); human services (12.9%); arts, culture, humanities (10.3%); health care (8.2%); and housing and shelter (6.4%). For some budget analysis, the education mission focus is broken out by organizational status as an NPO versus an institution. The most frequently reported budget ranges within the most frequently reported mission focuses are as follows: Human services focused organizations (12.9%) most frequently reported annual budgets between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000 (27.6%). Arts, culture, and humanities focused organizations (10.3%) most frequently reported annual budgets between $100,000 and $250,000 (25.0%). Health care focused organizations (8.2%) most frequently reported annual budgets over $25,000,000 (20.5%). Educational NPO organizations (8.0%) most frequently reported annual budgets between $100,000 and $250,000 (26.4%). Educational institutions (6.1%) most frequently reported annual budgets over $25,000,000 (46.8%).
4 Housing and shelter focused organizations (6.4%) most frequently reported annual budgets between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000 (30.0%). Youth development focused organizations (5.6%) most frequently reported annual budgets either under $50,000 (25.5%) or between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000 (25.5%). Community improvement focused organizations (5.3%) most frequently reported annual budgets between $100,000 and $250,000 (32.7%). Social services focused organizations (5.2%) most frequently reported annual budgets between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000 (33.3%). By budget size, the red highlighted cells in the chart shown below indicate the greatest response rate to the mission focus; the green highlighted cells indicate the second greatest response rate. The following page shows, by annual budget range, the top ten mission focuses. Larger budgets are required to support some mission focuses. Missions that focus on civil rights and social action, diseases and medical, crime and legal related, and philanthropy first appear in budget ranges over $1,000,000.
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6 Grants Management Profile by Annual Budget Range Organizational reliance on grant funding was affected by budget range. Organizations with budgets between $100,000 and $1,000,000 relied on grants more consistently than other organizations, with less variation between funding percentage ranges. Of organizations with annual budgets under $50,000, 56.7% relied on grant funding for less than ten percent of their budget. Organizations with larger budgets (over $1,000,000) had less reliance on grants as a percentage of their annual budgets than did other organizations. Of organizations with annual budgets over $25,000,000, 65.5% relied on grant funding for less than ten percent of their annual budget. For example, educational Institutions, of which 48.6% had annual budgets over $25,000,000, showed the least reliance on grant funding, with only 12.9% of respondent organizations reporting that grants provided over a quarter of their annual budget. By budget, the red highlighted cells in the chart shown below indicate the greatest response rate to the grant funding percentage of budget; the green highlighted cells indicate the second greatest response rate. All survey respondents (30.8%) indicated that private foundations were their largest source of grant funding, followed by Federal grants (22.7%) and state grants (13.4%). Less than ten percent of organizations indicated each of the other sources (community foundations, corporations, local government, and other sources) as their largest funder. Religious groups, private gifts, and the United Way were most frequently mentioned within the other sources response. Still the most frequent source as the largest grant funder, private foundations increased by 13.7%, from 27.1% of respondent organizations in spring 2012 to 30.8% in spring 2013. All government funding decreased as the largest grant source, with state grants showing the largest decrease (- 11.8%). Organizations with annual budgets between $50,000 and $250,000 most frequently reported private foundations and community foundations as the largest source of total grant funding.
7 Corporations and other grant sources were the most frequently reported largest source of total grant funding by organizations with budgets under $50,000. By budget range, the red highlighted cells in the charts shown below indicate the greatest response rate to the largest source of grant funding; the green highlighted cells indicate the second greatest response rate. Reporting of the federal government as the largest source of total grant funding was most concentrated among organizations with annual budgets over $5,000,000. State government funding was more frequently the largest source of total grant funding for organizations with budgets over $500,000. Local government grants were the least frequent largest source of total grant funding.
8 All respondent organizations that received grant awards of $50,000 or more increased by 8.5% (51.3% of organizations in the spring 2013 report versus 47.3% of organizations in the spring 2012 report). Awards of $10,000 or less decreased by 23.2%, affecting small organizations for which the under $10,000 category accounted for 54.4% of all awards. Awards ranging from $500,000 to $1,000,000 also decreased. The corresponding increase in awards ranging from $10,000 to $500,000 and over $1,000,000 suggests that the funders did not stop giving, but instead altered the amount of their awards. The median of the largest grant award is a good benchmarking tool for organizations. The drilldown by budget range shows wide variation in the size of the median grant award, ranging from $10,000 for organizations with annual budgets under $50,000 to $513,213 for organizations with annual budgets over $25,000,000. This level of detail is necessary for accurate organizational comparisons. The median award size coincides with the size of organization budget and staff. For example, Educational Institutions have the highest median grant awards, the highest budgets (64.5% are over $10,000,000), and the largest numbers of staff (62.9% employ 200 or more persons). The largest number of respondents from organizations with annual budgets between $50,000 and $25,000,000 applied for more grants in the last six months of 2012 than they had applied for in the last six months of 2011. The largest number of respondents from organizatations with budgets under $50,000 or over $25,000,000 applied for the same number of grants in the last six months of 2012 as they applied for during the last six months of 2011.
9 Increased numbers of grant applications resulted in increased numbers of awards. Organizations with annual budgets over $10,000,000 had the most success when measured by the percentage of increased applications versus increased awards, followed by organizations with budgets under $50,000. While organizations with annual budgets large enough to support dedicated grantseeking staff fare better in grants activity than do smaller organizations, any increase in applications results in increased numbers of awards.
10 Challenges to Grantseeking by Organizational Budget Size Challenges to grantseeking change as organizations grow in budget size. Smaller organizations are most frequently concerned with the grantwriting process: finding time, staff, professional grant writers, and mission-specific grants. As organizations grow in budget size, their concerns include building relationships with funders and competition in addition to finding mission-specific grants and the time and staff to write them. Organizations with the largest budgets most frequently find challenges in economic conditions and reduced funding, as well as in managing internal organizational issues. Lack of time and/or staff was the top challenge reported by those surveyed; it was also the first or second greatest challenge for all organizations with budgets under $5,000,000. Organizations with budgets under $5,000,000 employ twenty-five or fewer persons, and organizations with budgets under $500,000 employ five or fewer persons or rely on volunteers. Lack of time and/or staff was not reported as one of the top two greatest challenges to grantseeking by organizations with annual budgets over $5,000,000. These organizations employ over twenty-five persons, and organizations with budgets over $10,000,000 predominantly employ 200 or more persons. Researching and finding mission specific grants was the second greatest challenge reported by those surveyed; it was also the first or second greatest challenge for all organizations with budgets under $500,000. No organizations with budgets over $500,000 reported researching and finding mission-specific grants as one of their top three challenges. Reduced funding was cited as the first or second greatest challenge to grantseeking by organizations with annual budgets over $1,000,000. These organizations also reported that government grants were the source of their largest awards. For organizations with budgets over $5,000,000, government grants were the largest source of funding for 60.0% of respondents. Economic conditions were also cited as the first or second greatest challenge to grantseeking by organizations with annual budgets over $5,000,000. By budget size, the red highlighted cells in the chart shown below indicate the greatest response rate to the grantseeking challenge; the green highlighted cells indicate the second greatest response rate. The bolded percentage is the greatest response rate to the challenge across all budget ranges.
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12 METHODOLOGY This survey and the corresponding report present a ground level look at the state of grantseeking, and were not scientifically conducted. The survey was conducted online using Zoomerang. The survey was open from February 8, 2013, through April 8, 2013, and received 1,017 responses. It was promoted through the GrantStation Insider newsletter, a PhilanTech email newsletter, NTEN and TechSoup media, many partner organizations, and various social media outlets, including Facebook and Twitter. ABOUT GRANTSTATION GrantStation offers nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and government agencies the opportunity to identify potential funding sources for their programs or projects as well as the resources to mentor these organizations through the grantseeking process. GrantStation provides access to searchable databases of private grantmakers that accept inquiries and proposals from a variety of organizations, profiles of Federal financial assistance programs, state-level financial and technical assistance resources, and a growing database of international grantmakers. Our Mission: GrantStation is a premiere online funding resource for organizations seeking grants throughout the world. Providing access to a comprehensive online database of grantmakers, GrantStation helps nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and government agencies make smarter, better-informed grantseeking decisions. We are dedicated to creating a civil society by assisting the nonprofit sector in its quest to build healthy and effective communities.