10 Insider Tips for Winning Grants

Applying for a foundation grant is a bit like applying for college. Each applicant wants to come across as a good fit for the institution. But in many ways, applicants are working in the dark. “There’s a lot of information that you as the applicant really don’t know unless someone like a program officer has held your hand throughout the process,” says Mary Galeti, a volunteer grant evaluator for the Unfunded List and vice-chair of the Tecovas Foundation.

Because few grant seekers have access to foundation decision makers, we asked program officers and others who review proposals how nonprofit applicants can improve their chances of success. What would they like to see more of (or less of) in grant proposals?

Here’s what they advise:

1. Go beyond the basics when doing your homework. Don’t limit yourself to what’s on the “about” page of the foundation’s website. Danny Harris, San Jose program director for the Knight Foundation’s Community and National Initiatives program, says it can be helpful to talk to other grantees about the foundation and ask them how it interacts with applicants. Use them as a sounding board, he says. “Yes, it may be a small or competitive environment in some markets, but it can be a great way to get more information.”
2. Understand the grant maker’s current focus. It’s not uncommon for foundations to rethink the areas they support. Just because you were familiar with a foundation last year doesn’t mean the same focus and guidelines still apply. It’s important to understand where a grant maker is now, says Theresa Deibele, housing opportunities portfolio director at the Meyer Memorial Trust. The trust recently went through a major restructuring and now focuses on grants that advance equity. Nonprofits that were familiar with the foundation’s broader focus might not fit into one of its new areas of interest: community strength, the environment, housing, and education for vulnerable Oregonians.
3. Keep the writing clean and clear. Grant writers often use language in proposals that is much more complex than necessary, says Ms. Galeti. “I wish every grant writer would take a journalism class and make it really easy for me to understand exactly what you’re asking for― the who, what, when, where, why, and how and how much.” Make an effort to write with concise and focused language, she says.
4. Get an outside perspective on your application. “Give your proposal to somebody who doesn’t know what you do,” says Tamela Luce, a senior program officer at the HealthSpark Foundation, which focuses its grant making on improving the overall health and wellbeing of residents in Montgomery County, Penn. Asking someone neutral to read your proposal and tell you where it’s unclear can be very instructive. “We all get so close to our own work and our own projects that when we write about it, often we think we’re conveying one thing and we’re not, or we’ve missed on some key things,” she says.
5. Describe how your work differs from, and complements, the work of similar organizations. Explain what makes your group special, even if the application doesn’t explicitly ask. Saying your staff is committed or that your charity is really great at providing services won’t cut it, says Ms. Luce.

“When I was working at a women’s fund [Women’s Way], invariably in every cycle I would get six to seven proposals that all said, ‘We’re running a girls’ empowerment organization for girls from X, and we’re going to take them out for X number of weeks and at the end they’ll have improved self-esteem.’ It became challenging for me and my grant-reading committee to distinguish all these organizations,” she said. Frequently, none of them received funding. “It wasn’t clear that they even knew about each other,” she says, and they did not convey “what made them special” compared to their peers.

6. Focus on how capable your organization is, not on being one of a kind. Claiming that your group is unique is not a good strategy, says Ms. Deibele. Saying yours is the only organization in the country that does what you do may prompt a program officer to do more research and fact checking about your organization, says Elspeth Revere, a consultant and former vice president at the MacArthur Foundation. “That’s not a good place to start.” “What we really look for are organizations that are effective,” says Ms. Deibele.
7. Thoroughly explain financials. Not everyone is a statistician, but you should be comfortable with numbers when you share materials, Mr. Harris says. Make sure you can describe success in quantitative and qualitative ways. When you’re submitting a budget along with the narrative portion of your proposal, make sure you understand the story those financials tell so you can explain them upfront and respond to a grant maker’s questions. “If you submit a budget with a deficit, maybe there’s a good reason for that,” says Ms. Luce, “but understand what that may convey to the funder and explain anything out of the ordinary in advance.”
8. Honesty is the best policy. Many grantees are not so keen to share vulnerabilities or say what’s not working, says Mr. Harris, who likens the process to dating. “Look for the places where you can be honest and upfront, even on your first date with a foundation,” he says. “You might not want to share all of your baggage and family history, but be upfront and honest when you can.” He further cautions, “Explore the concept of dating before you get married.” Try a smaller project or two together before going in jointly on a major multiyear program.
9. Seek the grant maker’s advice. Grant seekers should feel free to reach out to program officers to discuss their proposals, says Lisa Loeb Stanga, a program officer at the University of California’s California HIV/AIDS Research Program. “When I was on the grant-seeking side, I heard this advice frequently, but now that I’m on the grant-making side, I find it remarkable how few applicants have this habit,” she said in an email. “Part of my job is to ensure that I’m not providing different access to one grant seeker compared to another. In practice, this means that you won’t get a call from me with advice.” But that isn’t a reason that charities shouldn’t initiate a conversation.
10. Be thoughtful about how you use your time with grant makers. “When you have an opportunity to sit with a foundation official, think about how to use the time to listen,” Mr. Harris says. It’s not all about your pitch or presentation. Leave time to ask questions or to let the program officer share thoughts and feedback. And when you set up a call or a meeting, be honest. If you want to make a pitch, ask for permission to make a pitch, Ms. Galeti says. “Don’t try to be their friend and then sideswipe them with the ask for cash,” she says.